The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Website
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is a federal agency whose mission is to sustain and promote fish, wildlife, and plant resources through private and public partnerships. The NFWF is unique since it can leverage and pool funding from federal, state, tribal organizations, businesses, NGOs, and individuals. Under this umbrella, the NFWF launched the Delaware Estuary Grants Program in 2003 to financially assist local organizations working to protect and improve the estuary and its watershed regions. This is one of the leading grant programs for the estuary.

With funds provided by Clear into the Future, DuPont became the key corporate sponsor for the NFWF 2007 Delaware Estuary Watershed Grant Program. These funds will be leveraged with other funding sources to support restoration projects, such as fish restoration and restoration of emergent fresh water wetlands.

Deliverables include - Broad based funding support to grassroots, community based environmental organizations engaged in restorating and improving the Delaware Estuary.

The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary Website
The Partnership is a nonprofit organization established in 1996 to take a leadership role in protecting and enhancing the Delaware Estuary, where fresh water from the Delaware River mixes with salt water from the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of twenty-eight Congressionally designated National Estuary Programs throughout the coastal United States working to improve the environmental health of the nation’s estuaries. Its staff works with partners in three states to increase awareness, understanding, and scientific knowledge about the Delaware Estuary, the region’s most important cultural, economic, and recreational resource.

Penn State University / Pennsylvania Sea Grant Program Website
The Pennsylvania Sea Grant Program has the mission of supporting research, education and training in aquatic sciences, and is administered through the Penn State University system. Currently the program has two major offices in Pennsylvania - one in Erie, the other in Chester, PA. The office in Chester, PA was granted funds to support three important efforts: one for a teacher workshop to provide training and education on watersheds to teachers in the Philadelphia region; a second for children from low-income communities adjacent to the Delaware Estuary to learn outdoor skills, study plant and animal communities, and recreate; a third for support of an invasive species network that monitors the movement of Zebra mussels and other organisms that are beginning to reach the Delaware River, and tributaries such as the Schukyill River.

Deliverables include - workshop for teachers; workshop, equipment and field camp for low-income groups residing along the Delaware River; and, improvements to the monitoring network focused on invasive species that are beginning to reach the Delaware River.

New Jersey Audubon Society Website
The New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) is a privately supported, not-for profit, statewide membership organization. Founded in 1897, and one of the oldest independent Audubon societies, NJAS has no connection with the National Audubon Society. The New Jersey Audubon Society fosters environmental awareness and a conservation ethic among New Jersey's citizens; protects New Jersey's birds, mammals, other animals, and plants, especially endangered and threatened species; and promotes preservation of New Jersey's valuable natural habitats. The funding for NJAS will facilitate the development of a new application of the Cornell E-bird web site to enable reporting of individually-marked shorebirds with other relevant information. This work also integrates well with the mission of the Missipillion Wildlife Center. Development of one comprehensive data portal and dataset will enable researchers to answer a variety of questions concerning shorebird migration ecology including estimation of survival, stopover duration and population size; routes and chronology of migration relative to geographic features and other environmental phenomena (e.g., weather events), and identification and mapping of critical stopover locations as the basis for flyway-wide protection.

Deliverables include one central data portal for all Delaware Estuary marked bird data to ensure important information is not lost or misdirected, volunteers receive instant feedback on the bird they reported, analytical and mapping capability to view resighting data, and project/researcher information.

The Nature Conservancy - Delaware Chapter Website
The Nature Conservancy, Delaware Chapter, has a mission to preserve and enhance important habitats within the state, and is affiliated with the national chapter of The Nature Conservancy. In addition, TNC-Delaware serves as the affiliate of The National Wildlife Federation in Delaware. In their request, TNC is proposing to use monies to develop a Rapid Conservation plan / workshop for Delaware. The Rapid Conservation Plan / Workshop is important for TNC as it will provide them the focal point to bring together conservation organizations and other stakeholders to prioritize areas for preservation and, in some cases, outright purchase of critical upland habitats in Delaware. There currently is no plan or central document that provides a strategic framework for undertaking conservation in the Delmarva Peninsula. The Clear into the Future grant and the Rapid Conservation Plan will be important not only to conservation organizations in Delaware, but also to state and federal agencies that are working on similar issues in Maryland and Virginia.

Deliverables include - Rapid Conservation Plan for Delaware, applicable to the Delmarva Peninsula, Delaware Estuary.

Delaware Nature Society Website
The Delaware Nature Society has the mission of preserving greenspace and other valued habitats, public education, conservation and the operation of two key research facilities / preserves (Ashland Nature Center, Abbotts Mill) in Delaware. They have an important role in bringing together diverse groups of volunteers to undertake monitoring of streams and creeks throughout New Castle County, and have been a major source of education and training to children and young adults throughout Delaware. For project A: The data produced by the volunteers are used by state and federal agencies to augment their own databases, and to provide information relevant to management decisions in the Delaware River watershed. This particular request is designed to improve the status of the StreamWatch Program, and watershed outreach relevant to Brandywine Creek (trib to the Delaware River). The funds will also be used to improve web-based access by the public to water quality and other information relevant to the protection and enhancement of Brandywine Creek and other tributaries in New Castle County. For project B: 4th Grade Delaware Bay Project - will provide the tools necessary for children at selected schools in the Christina School District to participate in field sampling of the Delaware Bay. It is expected that this effort in the spring of 2008 will also provide an opportunity to showcase "Professor G" during one or more of the field trips.
Deliverables include - user-friendly website for Stream Watch databases, including mapping and other features; purchase of equipment and other materials, including support services for 4th graders to conduct scientific sampling and study of the Delaware Bay.

The Delmarva Ornithological Society Website
The Delmarva Ornithological Society has a mission of promoting bird watching in the Delmarva Peninsula, and fosters educational programs for youth and adults to increase awareness and understanding of the importance of birds to ecological health. Members support local and state governments in conducting surveys and identification of migratory and resident birds in their respective states, and in supporting education and outreach conducted by conservation groups at the local, county and state level. In 2007 the funds provided by Clear into the Future went to support the first-ever Delmarva Bird-a-Thon. Members of the DOS engaged in surveys and identification of birds within the Delmarva region, supported by funds from individuals and groups. The funds collected through the Bird-a-Thon were then provided to The Conservation Fund for the purchase of habitat in southern Delaware critical to the maintenance of the endangered red knot.

Deliverables include - support for the purchase of critical red knot habitat by The Conservation Fund.