Innovative Finance for National Forests Grant Program
Program Summary
The Innovative Finance for National Forests (IFNF) grant program supports the development and implementation of innovative finance models that leverage private and public capital other than US Forest Service (USFS) annual appropriations. The goal is to enhance the resilience of the National Forest System (NFS) and adjacent lands as well as deliver commensurate returns to stakeholders.
The IFNF grant program seeks to:
- Leverage private and public capital other than USFS annual appropriations to support agency priorities;
- Deliver measurable social, ecological, and financial outcomes to multiple stakeholders;
- Demonstrate solutions that promise improved financial sustainability for land management;
- Chart a path to scale in addressing landscape-level challenges on and near National Forests;
- Generate lessons learned to incorporate in agency management and decision making.
IFNF grants are supporting innovative finance models that:
- Enable debt or equity financing from public or private sources to pay for the upfront costs of a project that will be paid back over time by project beneficiaries (payors);
- Access new or existing markets for environmental goods or services;
- Access user-based fees or contributions;
- Increase pace and scale of implementation by blending multiple sources of funding or finance;
- Employ any combination of the approaches listed above.
Program Update March 2026
There is not currently an IFNF Request for Proposals.
Check this site for updates or subscribe to the Endowment’s newsletter to receive information on new RFPs.
Projects Lessons Learned
The following Briefs and Blogs were researched and authored by Gordian Knot Strategies (GKS), a strategic advisory firm specializing in conservation finance and innovative funding mechanisms for natural resources. GKS served as a core strategic partner to the National Partnership Office of the USDA Forest Service and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities throughout the design, implementation, and evaluation of the IFNF grant program.
GKS brought deep expertise in blended finance, public-private partnerships, and impact investment to help shape the program’s architecture and build practitioner capacity across the field. In addition to developing the conceptual and analytical frameworks that informed the program, GKS conducted a rigorous independent program evaluation, generating actionable lessons learned that advance both practice and policy in forest finance.
The insights, analyses, and reflections contained in these materials represent a significant contribution to the growing field of innovative finance for public lands and natural resources. They will serve as an enduring resource for investors seeking to deploy capital into nature-positive outcomes, as well as practitioners designing and managing conservation finance programs at scale.
Previously Funded Projects
For more information, view the IFNF Infographic:
