Deadline Date: December 20, 2025
The CFA Incubator invites applications for its fourth round to support innovators developing practical and scalable conservation finance mechanisms that create lasting benefits for nature and people.
The focus areas of this opportunity include the following: empowers innovators to turn bold ideas into practical, scalable conservation finance solutions that deliver lasting, positive impacts for nature and people, select 16 projects developing innovative finance mechanisms for conservation, eight of these projects will receive grant funding of up to USD25,000, gain access to expert mentorship, targeted training, and peer learning, supports the creation of new and scalable approaches to conservation finance, ventures and financial products that can generate a return, policy, regulatory, or non-profit finance mechanisms that create enabling conditions for sustainable conservation funding, focuses on idea-stage and early-stage initiatives, propose a novel, finance-based approach to a conservation challenge that delivers measurable conservation outcomes or sustained financing, demonstrate a credible pathway to long-term financial sustainability or conservation impact, intensive training and mentorship program designed to strengthen business planning, financial structuring, and implementation readiness, expected outputs may include a business plan, feasibility study, financial model, investor pitch deck, or implementation roadmap.
Participants also gain access to a global network of conservation finance practitioners, enabling meaningful collaboration and knowledge exchange.
This initiative supports the development of mechanisms beyond traditional conservation enterprises, encouraging a range of concepts including return-generating ventures, financial instruments, and enabling policy or regulatory frameworks that contribute to sustainable conservation funding. The program welcomes submissions from all sectors, including public institutions, private entities, civil society organizations, and independent entrepreneurs.
Eligible projects must be at the idea or early-development stage and must propose innovative, finance-based solutions that address conservation challenges while producing measurable environmental outcomes or sustained financing structures. While profit generation is optional, projects must demonstrate a clear plan for long-term financial viability or conservation impact.
Selected teams will take part in a structured training and mentorship program aimed at advancing their readiness for implementation and investment. Throughout the program, participants work toward developing key outputs such as feasibility assessments, financial models, business plans, pitch decks, or implementation strategies that prepare their concepts for future scaling and funding.
For more information, visit CFA.
