Great Outdoors Colorado’s (GOCO) Land Acquisition Program seeks to invest in land conservation projects that protect significant conservation values, connect people to place, create landscape scale connectivity, and bolster the health of people and communities.
Donor Name: Great Outdoors Colorado
State: Colorado
County: All Counties
Concept Paper Due: 10/24/2024
Deadline:  12/16/2024
Size of the Grant: Not Available
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
GOCO invites partners to work collaboratively to pursue land conservation goals that represent shared priorities among a community. Partners should consider community impacts and elevate diverse perspectives as they develop land conservation projects.
Partners are invited to submit projects for consideration that protect unique open spaces, natural areas, and agricultural lands with significant conservation values. These include projects that provide public recreation access, essential wildlife habitat and migration corridors, critical watersheds, waterways, and riparian ecosystems, scenic viewsheds and greenways, and farms and ranches. They will prioritize projects with the most significant conservation outcomes, including those that protect irreplaceable natural resources, provide places for people to connect to the outdoors, contribute to strong resilient ecosystems, and mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. They believe GOCO’s most impactful investments prevent imminent threats that are likely to result in a significant land use change or substantially impair the project’s conservation values.
The public benefits of land conservation are significant and multi-faceted. These multi-faceted benefits include protection of the state’s natural resources and ecological systems; supporting healthy communities by providing recreation and education opportunities, local food supplies, and contributing to fresh air and clean water; connection to the environment and a sense of place; and diversifying and supporting local economies. Funding for the outdoors can also be a meaningful equity lever in Colorado—and a means to address issues of disparity and disproportionality. As you develop your land protection project, they ask that you consider and articulate the multi-faceted benefits of your project.
To support the full scope of a land acquisition project and its intended outcomes, applicants may request funding, as needed, for the following components:

Land acquisition and due diligence costs,
Local capacity building through investments in existing staff, community members and/or consultants,
Community planning, organizing, and collaboration,
Habitat restoration,
Site specific management plans, and
Storytelling, project communications and celebrations.

Eligibility Criteria 
This program is open to entities eligible to receive GOCO open space and local government funds as listed below. Ineligible entities can partner with an eligible entity to apply. As always, GOCO strongly encourages partnerships.

Colorado municipality or county.
Title 32 special district eligible to receive distributions from the Conservation Trust Fund.
Political subdivision of the State of Colorado that includes in its mission the identification, acquisition, or management of open space and natural areas.
501(c)(3) non-profit land conservation organization that includes in its mission the identification, acquisition, or management of open space and natural areas, e.g., land trusts.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

For more information, visit GOCO.