The 2025 National Coastal Resilience Fund (NCRF) Request for Proposals, administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), supports the implementation of nature-based solutions to protect coastal communities from natural hazards while improving habitats for fish and wildlife. This national grant program is a collaboration primarily funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with additional funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), Occidental, and Shell USA, Inc. Projects funded through NCRF must address both coastal hazard risk reduction and fish and wildlife habitat enhancement.

Eligible projects must be located in U.S. coastal states, including Great Lakes states, territories, and Tribal lands. The geographic eligibility includes Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) 8 watersheds that drain to the sea or are tidally influenced. The program prioritizes nature-based solutions such as marsh and dune restoration, floodplain reconnection, oyster and coral reef restoration, and living shorelines.

NCRF offers funding in four categories: Community Capacity Building and Planning; Site Assessment and Preliminary Design; Final Design and Permitting; and Restoration Implementation. Applicants may only apply under one category per proposal. Awards for planning and design phases typically range from $100,000 to $1,000,000, while Restoration Implementation grants range from $1,000,000 to $10,000,000. There is no set award ceiling, and requests should reflect project needs and scale. Non-federal match is not required but strongly encouraged.

Key dates include a pre-proposal deadline of May 6, 2025, and a full proposal deadline (by invitation only) of July 17, 2025. Awards will be announced in late November or early December 2025. Projects must be fully operational by December 2029. All application materials must be submitted through NFWF’s Easygrants system.

Eligible applicants include nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations, state and territorial agencies, local and municipal governments, Tribal governments and organizations, educational institutions, and commercial for-profit organizations. Federal agencies and foreign entities are ineligible. DOD-related projects must be near but not within military installations and require support and compliance oversight from the relevant Military Service.

Proposals will be evaluated on criteria such as conservation outcomes, technical feasibility, community engagement, cost-effectiveness, scalability, and long-term sustainability. Each project must include relevant metrics from both the community engagement and ecological impact categories as specified in the RFP.

For program-related questions, applicants are encouraged to contact the regional staff listed in the RFP or email NCRF@nfwf.org. Assistance with the application system is available through the Easygrants Helpdesk. A pre-proposal webinar and proposal lab sessions are also offered to support applicants.