CLP Future Conservationist Award

Benefits & funding

• Project grant of up to US$15,000 per team.
• Up to US$2,500 of the grant may cover per diems for team members’ time or essential project support.
• One member of each winning team attends the Conservation Management and Leadership workshop, a nine-day in-person course CLP schedules for June or July of the award year.
• Long-term advisory support from CLP staff and the three partner organisations.
• Membership of the CLP alumni network, which carries travel grants, regional training in conservation leadership, fundraising and writing, and mentoring.
• Teams that deliver may later apply for the Conservation Follow-Up Award (up to US$25,000) and the Conservation Leadership Award (up to US$50,000).
• CLP funding must make up at least half of the total project budget, so teams need to raise the remainder elsewhere.

Eligibility

• Teams of at least three people. There is no upper limit, though most teams are three to five.
• All members must be nationals of the country where the project takes place. One non-national is allowed with written justification.
• Early career means no more than five years of paid work in the conservation sector. Time spent on a PhD or other study does not count towards that limit.
• No minimum level of education. Applicants from any educational background may apply.
• The project country must be a low- or middle-income country in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern and South-eastern Europe, or the Middle East. High-income Caribbean and Pacific island economies also qualify, as do Argentina, Chile, Panama, Uruguay and Seychelles.
• High-income countries and countries under UN, EU, UK or USA sanctions are not eligible.
• Nationals of low- and middle-income Balkan states, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Mali, Nicaragua, the West Bank and Zimbabwe must contact CLP before applying.
• The project must target a species the IUCN Red List classes as Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable or Data Deficient, or a species facing an urgent conservation need. On multi-species projects, at least one species per taxonomic group must meet this test.
• Projects must be new work of three to twelve months, not the continuation of an existing project.
• Team members cannot be paid employees or contractors of BirdLife International, Fauna & Flora or the Wildlife Conservation Society.
• An applicant may hold only one CLP project at a time, join at most three Future Conservationist projects in total, and act as team leader no more than once.
• Tuition fees, scholarships, conference attendance and consultant salaries are not funded. Laboratory work, gene storage and captive breeding are supported only in exceptional cases.
• Applications must be written in English.

Application process

1. 1
   Read the annual guidelines, the checklist and the step-by-step portal guide on CLP’s Help & Resources page.
2. 2
   Assemble a team of at least three eligible members and agree the target species, field site and objectives.
3. 3
   Draft the proposal and a detailed budget, justifying every line above US$1,000 and showing where the rest of the funding comes from.
4. 4
   Send the draft to a CLP alumni reviewer inside the review window (10 November to 5 December in the 2026 round) and watch the live question-and-answer webinar.
5. 5
   Submit through the online portal at awards.conservationleadershipprogramme.org before the deadline. Applications sent by email are rejected.
6. 6
   Wait through four review stages: eligibility screening, expert reviewers, assessment by the three partner organisations, and a final judging panel.

Program timeline

1. Alumni reviewer window opens for the 2026 round

   Nov 10, 2025

2. Live question-and-answer webinar, recording published afterwards

   Nov 26, 2025

3. Last date to request feedback from an alumni reviewer

   Dec 5, 2025

4. Application deadline, 23:59 GMT

   Jan 9, 2026

5. Conservation Management and Leadership workshop for one member per winning team

   2026-06 to 2026-07

6. CLP announced the 2026 winners, 13 projects across 12 countries

   Aug 3, 2026

7. Next round

   CLP has not published 2027 dates. The 2026 guidelines went online in October 2025.