Promoting Conservation, Protecting Species
Brookfield Zoo Chicago administers the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Endangered Species Fund. Projects should focus on conservation and research of specific threatened, vulnerable or endangered species or a specific habitat that is of high biological value or that is substantially threatened (IUCN Red List). This includes projects that will quantitatively assess population and environmental status with indications for best conservation strategy and projects that will help achieve sustainable relations between local people and the species of concern. Proposals that are focused around simple, fundamentally sound projects with measurable outcomes that can be reached are given higher priority.
CBOT Endangered Species Fund is open to SSC Specialist Group Chairs and Officers, AZA/WAZA Chairs and Officers, and all interested researchers. Groups should select and submit only one proposal per funding cycle that has been ranked as the highest funding priority and endorsed by the group. Individual researchers may submit only one proposal per funding cycle. The Fund supports small projects of approximately $1,500 to $7,000. It should be noted that no international travel will be funded by the grant.
The grant application submission period is currently closed and will reopen in 2025. Questions regarding applications may be sent to CBOT@brookfieldzoo.org.
For informational purposes, access the evaluation rubric here.