Applications Closed

Puget Sound Stewardship and Mitigation Fund

The Puget Sound Stewardship and Mitigation Fund’s goal is to mitigate past pollution runoff by supporting community-based efforts to protect or improve the water quality of Puget Sound.

The Fund was created by the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance (Soundkeeper), and it continues to be funded through enforcement actions brought by Soundkeeper and Waste Action Project, among others. These groups share the goal of bringing polluters into compliance with the Clean Water Act to promote cleaner water bodies and healthier fisheries.

The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment welcomes proposals from small grassroots conservation and environmental justice groups, but if your organization is really new or very small we urge you to consider applying to our California Environmental Grassroots Fund instead.

Fund Details

Maximum Funding Request:
Up to $40,000

Important Dates:
The Fund is closed for 2025, however, this Fund typically runs in the Spring and Fall.  Below dates are for reference only. We will update with 2026 dates as they become available.

Important dates for Fall:

  • July 2025 - RFP Announcement
  • September 26, 2025 - Applications Due
  • Early December 2025 - Grant Awards Announced

Let’s Connect:
Have questions or want to book a consultation? Connect with Timothy Bell, tbell@rosefdn.org.

Eligibility and Priorities

  • The applicant must be a 501(c)3 organization, fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)3, or a governmental or tribal entity. Nonprofit colleges, universities, university clinics and graduate programs are eligible to apply, but university overhead is limited to 5% of grant award.
  • The applicant must demonstrate the capacity to complete the proposed project, including experience in successfully conducting similar or otherwise related work in the past.

A map showing black circles that demonstrate the rough areas the Rose Foundation will consider funding water quality projects in for its Puget Sound Stewardship & Mitigation Fund.

Water quality projects within the black circles on the map may be eligible to apply for the Puget Sound Stewardship & Mitigation Fund. This map is valid only for the Fall 2025 funding round.

Geographic Eligibility:

  • South Sound, especially Budd Inlet and associated waters
  • Waters Associated with the Port of Tacoma & Commencement Bay
  • Central Sound between Seattle & Everett
  • Skagit River watershed and associated reaches of Puget Sound
  • North Sound & including parts of the Salish Sea and San Juan Islands
  • The Rose Foundation has a strong preference towards supporting locally-based, community-led projects. If your organization is statewide or national in scope, or has a large multi-million-dollar budget, we encourage you to partner with a locally-based group in your proposal.
  • Applications from environmental justice-oriented organizations are highly encouraged.
  • Projects that involve impacted communities and are centered around principles of equity will be given preference.
  • Projects designed to improve (or prevent degradation of) the water quality of Puget Sound and its watershed.
  • Project activities include water stewardship, conservation, outreach and education, restoration, and watershed protection.
  • Project proposals with strong community involvement and participation are especially encouraged.

Below is a list of common project types Rose has seen in the past several years. This list is not meant to be exhaustive but to give applicants an idea of projects Rose typically funds.

Water Quality Monitoring & Testing

  • Community science or monitoring programs where data will be used to update an agency’s dataset, help guide water-related policy decisions, or inform a community or neighborhood plan. There should be a clear purpose for the data collection and a plan its use.

Watershed Restoration

  • Project proposals may include some element of river, stream, creek, or other surface water improvement. This can include a wide variety of projects including removal of invasive species, planting native species in riparian areas, culvert removal, etc.

Green Stormwater Infrastructure Projects

  • Multi-purpose projects that reduce stormwater pollution and provide community benefits like water for community gardens, workforce development, or improve public/open space.
  • Becomes a springboard for community-driven programs that benefit both people and the Sound.

Emerging Toxic & Chemical Threats

  • Projects related to toxic and chemical threats where the substance in question poses a clear public health danger but may not yet be well regulated, for example “forever chemicals” such as those found in flame retardants, tires, chemical cleaners, etc.

Community Leadership & Capacity Building

  • Develop capacity for community-led stewardship related to improving the water quality of California watersheds. This effort should lead to identifiable actions community members can take to improve water quality through your project proposal.

***A Note About Environmental Education Projects

  • While we at Rose believe projects should include components to mobilize and educate community members, projects that are primarily education in nature with limited direct water quality impacts in the near term, are typically not strong candidates for this fund.
  • When engaging students, projects must include identifiable, near-term actions to protect water quality.

The following activities or types of projects will not be funded:

  • Endowment, land acquisition, capital improvement (unless proposed project directly improves water quality) or other similar projects.
  • Grants to individuals.
  • Grants to for-profit businesses.
  • Grants for general operating support.
  • Grants for projects in waters that are not listed in the geographic scope.
  • Most grants are for a one-year period; however, you do not have to ask for a one-year grant. It is permitted to request a shorter or longer grant period if that is what you need.
  • The maximum grant amount is $40,000 (even if requesting multi-year support).
  • Organizations that have been funded may re-apply ONLY in the next cycle after their grant report has been submitted.
  • After three consecutive years of funding, groups must wait two years before reapplying.

Steps To Apply

Please read these instructions carefully and follow them step by step.

1. Check Your Project’s Eligibility

Review Eligibility Criteria and Application Materials

Please read the eligibility criteria and priorities before starting an application.

Please read the following application instructions carefully and follow them step by step.

2. Create an Online Account
3. Complete and Submit an Application

FAQ

Two beekeepers in protective clothing tend to colorful beehives in a grassy field near an airport runway. An airplane is taxiing in the background with mountains visible in the distance under a cloudy sky.

Watch our recent How to Apply workshop intended for first time applicants and small organizations who do not directly engage in water quality efforts, but are invested in environmental justice work impacting communities in Puget Sound.

Yes and No. We support many projects that have an element of environmental education within the overall project work, however, environmental education should not be the primary focus of the project. That is, projects should focus on improvements to water quality or prevention of water contamination through “boots on the ground” restoration, improvements in environmental policy, etc. Environmental education, while important, does not meet our selection criteria in and of itself.

If your group is awarded a grant, you must provide a final grant report within one year of receiving the money, or before your group can receive additional funding.

Any signage or publicly distributed materials related to a funded project must display the following acknowledgement: Support for (Project Name) was provided by the Puget Sound Stewardship and Mitigation Fund, a grantmaking fund created by the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance and administered by the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment.

Meet Past Grantees

From grassroots community organizers to groups with nation-wide reach, meet the changemakers supported by Rose grants.

Several people work on a construction site in a forested area during autumn. They are surrounded by trees with colorful fall leaves. Coils of wire and a partially constructed structure are visible on the ground. A shadow of a person taking the photo is in the foreground.

Shared Spaces Foundation (SSF)

Grantee | Southwest Seattle

Shared Spaces Foundation, with a Rose grant, is transforming the vacant Heron’s Nest property into a green space and planning to return it to the Duwamish Tribe for continued stewardship.

A person in a high-visibility vest and a navy cap is using scientific equipment in a black case on rocky terrain. They appear to be conducting field research or testing, with various instruments and bottles visible. They are also wearing a mask.

Friends of Skagit Beaches

Grantee | WA

Friends of Skagit Beaches protects Skagit County shorelines through education, citizen science, and stewardship. With Rose funding, they’ll expand their volunteer program to three new cities, ensuring long-term shoreline health.

Funding Partners

The Puget Sound Stewardship and Mitigation Fund is supported by the citizen enforcement organizations Puget Soundkeeper and Waste Action Project. Any signage or publicly distributed materials related to a funded project must include the Rose Foundation and relevant partner organization’s logo.

Funding Board

  • Woman with short, dark hair smiling with hoop earings

    Evlyn Andrade

    Evlyn Andrade is a strategic, equity-driven leader with more than 20 years of experience advancing racial, environmental, and social justice across nonprofit, philanthropic, and public sectors. Grounded in lived experience as the daughter of immigrants and sibling to system-impacted brothers, her leadership is rooted in proximity, collaboration, and long-term movement building.

    She currently serves as a Senior Program Officer at Magic Cabinet, where she partners with communities and nonprofits to strengthen trust-based philanthropy and advance equitable grantmaking. Evlyn also works as a Philanthropic Advisor and Nonprofit Consultant, helping organizations align strategy, culture, and resources around equity and community impact.

    Her career bridges philanthropy, policy, and executive leadership, with a focus on directing resources and influence toward community-led solutions. She has led efforts within organizations to center environmental justice and racial equity, strengthening partnerships with grassroots communities, and has worked across local, regional, and national political campaigns to advance racial, economic, and climate justice.

    A UC Berkeley graduate, Evlyn also serves on the boards of The Russell Family Foundation and UnCommon Law, where she helps steward equity-centered governance and grantmaking. Her work reflects a lifelong commitment to shifting power, resourcing frontline leadership, and building institutions that are accountable to the communities they serve.

    In her free time, she enjoys traveling, hiking, snowboarding, meditating, and listening to audiobooks.

  • Smiling man in a white shirt.

    Willard Brown

    Rose Foundation Board President

    Willard Brown served as the Director of Housing and Environmental Programs at Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA), where he worked for 6 years after retiring from Seattle Housing Authority (SHA), where he worked for just over 34 years. Willard was a key employee and for the last ten years at SHA, served as Property Management Administrator for Redevelopment. He has served on the Advisory Council for African American Elders and currently serves on the Board of the Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) as he continues to fight for investments in Delridge’s infrastructure. Though Willard is retired from the DNDA, he continues to support environmental projects within the Delridge community and Longfellow Creek watershed and has been championing the restoration and protection of the Delridge wetland and Roxhill Bog. He is working closely with community members, local governments, and organizations to gain their support for these projects, increase community awareness of the environmental importance of the wetlands within the watershed, and significantly reduce area flooding and stormwater pollution entering Longfellow Creek. Willard is also actively involved in updating the 2035 Delridge Neighborhood Plan, is a Emeritus member of the Board of Directors of the Seattle Green Spaces Coalition, and has worked closely with City Council members to gain support for community-based organizations being able to own surplus properties and re-purpose them for community benefit.

  • Picture of woman with dark hair, flower blazer, and chunky necklace.

    Laura Fernandez

    Program Manager, Goldman Environmental Prize

    Laura serves on Rose Foundation’s Board of Directors, and was previously the Program Officer for the Puget Fund, helping invest millions in watershed protection in the Pacific Northwest. She has deep connections to water from her roots in the Andes mountains of Colombia and occasionally does open water swimming. Laura now manages outreach at the Goldman Environmental Prize, and practices participatory grantmaking as a Giving Circle Network member at the Latino Community Foundation. She received two B.As, in Geography and International Relations, from Florida International University, and Development Studies at the Geneva Graduate Institute. Whether playing soccer, enjoying local brews, or using a bicycle as her main means of transportation, she strives to be an active advocate for her broader Latinx community and social justice.

  • Picture of woman with glasses and dark hair in the wind.

    Pam Fujita-Yuhas

    Program Officer, Andy Hill Cancer Research Endowment Fund

    Pam Fujita-Yuhas serves as Senior Program Officer at CARE Fund, where she is responsible for planning, developing, and implementing CARE Fund grant programs and special projects as part of the CARE Fund’s strategy to advance cancer research and improve cancer care access. Prior to her work at CARE Fund, Pam served for over two decades as a Foundation Director for the NW Fund for the Environment where she co-managed the Foundations’s operations and grantmaking programs focused on community engagement, capacity building, native species protection and ecosystem management. A former volunteer coordinator of the Puget Sound Funders group, she also served on grant committees of the Social Justice Fund and the Seattle Foundation. An advocate for funder practices that center equity, communication and trust, she joined the Puget Sound Stewardship and Mitigation Fund Advisory Board in 2021 and became a member of the Rose Foundation Board of Directors in 2023.

  • B&W profile photo of woman with black beanie and long dark hair.

    Eloise S. Lee Harris

    Born and raised in Hawai’i, Eloise has a deep connection to open water and the issues that impact the communities and ecosystems that rely on healthy waterways. As a strategist and storyteller, she has 15+ years of experience supporting government, private, and nonprofit agencies in diverse industries throughout the U.S. and internationally. Since moving to the Seattle area in 2018, she is focused on projects and programs that prioritize the wellbeing of those systemically burdened by environmental harms. In addition to being a board member of Rose Foundation’s Funding Board, Eloise is a strategic communications consultant and sits on the board of Sustainable Seattle — a nonprofit working to create a more equitable and resilient Seattle — and guides the communications and marketing program of Friendly Hmong Farms as a volunteer — a Hmong-led Community Supported Agriculture venture in partnership with Hmong farmers and other farmers from Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities. She received her BFA in Film and Television Production from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and her MA in Asian American Studies from San Francisco State University’s College of Ethnic Studies. Eloise is the proud mother of a rambunctious seven-year-old, a firm practitioner of intersectional frameworks, and is anxiously awaiting her first Southern Resident orca sighting.

  • Smiling woman with curls in her hair.

    Cathy Lehman

    Senior Program Officer, The Harder Foundation

    Cathy is Senior Program Officer for The Harder Foundation, a private family foundation that supports biodiversity and healthy ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. She has spent the last 20 years working in various roles of philanthropy, environmental policy, community and economic development, social impact and grassroots organizing, and has served on dozens of community boards and commissions – including Bellingham City Council, and a governor-appointed commission for the state’s volunteerism initiative, Serve Washington. Cathy has a BA in Communications from Western Washington University, a Masters in Social Entrepreneurship and Change from Pepperdine University, and a Certificate in Sustainable Business from Pinchot University at Presidio Graduate School. She lives in Bellingham with her husband David.

Take the next step

Do you still have questions about this application process or need additional support from Rose Foundation staff? Here are some helpful resources.

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