Federal funding chaos has put more pressure on Prop 4—it’s widely seen as a potential backstop to disappearing federal funds. But “the state can’t fill that federal funding gap,” says Jennifer Norris, the executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Board. At least, not all of it.

That’s because as a bond funding measure—a long-term loan the state is taking out—Prop 4 is intended to support long-term capital projects. “The state wants to invest in things that have longevity beyond investments,” Norris says. Capital projects mean people can think big: this funding can support major land purchases, create new parks, or start long-term restoration efforts. Locally, that could mean projects like protecting 600 acres of critical Bay-Delta bird habitat in Contra Costa County, or wildlife crossings for Highway 17 in the Santa Cruz area, according to a list compiled by Together Bay Area (TBA), a regional coalition of local environmental groups.

But certain kinds of support are off the table. Prop 4 money cannot support ongoing stewardship and scientific research, education programs, continuing public access, or other operational costs of a project, Norris says. That funding—especially for projects supported before by federal dollars—must come from elsewhere, like general state funds or private donors. 

Because Prop 4 money will be competitive, Jessica Little, who is TBA’s policy lead, says it’s also a great chance to build new partnerships and collaborations. “This scarcity mindset of them versus us, there’s no space for that any more,” she says. She’s thinking about how Together Bay Area members can coordinate their projects on a regional scale, so groups can get more done. Prop 4 requires that 40 percent of its money go towards disadvantaged communities and tribes, and 10 percent must go to severely disadvantaged communities. “Multibenefit projects with partners are going to be more competitive because they check a lot of boxes,” says Little. 

More details—and possibilities—for the kinds of projects Prop 4 could support can be found on Together Bay Area’s Prop 4 Resource Hub.

It’s going to be a few months till the deluge arrives. Right now, the state Legislature is debating the details of what money is going where. The fine print of the budget will likely be hashed out by mid-June. Agencies will get access to the new budget beginning July 1. After that, if they haven’t already, they must set out grant guidelines, open applications, and then approve grants. 

Four agencies shared information with Bay Nature about their timelines.

• State Coastal Conservancy: Pre-applications are now open on a rolling basis. An early action budget bill already allocated $31 million in wildfire money to the SCC. The agency will likely approve the first Prop 4 grants at its September board meeting at the very earliest. It is hosting application office hours on May 4. Register here. 
• Wildlife Conservation Board: The agency opened pre-applications on April 21; the first Prop 4 grants will likely be reviewed at its November board meeting. Watch a recording of an informational webinar here. 
• California Natural Resources Agency: Grants will open once CNRA hashes out its new guidelines after July 1, says Julie Alvis, the deputy assistant secretary at the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA). “Everybody’s timeline is going to be a little different.”
• California State Parks: After the budget is approved, State Parks will hold focus groups and public hearings about the new funding, followed by four to six months of application workshops to prepare prospective grantees, says Richard Rendon, the chief of the Office of Grants and Local Services at State Parks. Grant applications will open in 2026.  

Most of the money won’t start flowing until after the state Legislature finalizes the budget, by mid-June. One exception is the State Coastal Conservancy, as well as several local conservancies, including the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and California Tahoe Conservancy. That’s because the Legislature passed an early action bill allocating money to them for wildfire resilience ahead of the normal budget process, meaning the State Coastal Conservancy has $31 million it can start awarding much sooner. However, these grants must still be approved at its next board meeting, in September.  

For prospective grantees, it may be worth starting now anyway. As agencies hustle to get money out the door, they may post grant opportunities with relatively short deadlines—by the time you see it, you might not have enough time to prepare a high-quality application. Little recommends people start diving into which agencies are getting money, what their missions are, and what projects their Prop 4 money can fund. 

Sorry—there’s no one-stop shop for this. Prop 4 money will be distributed by over 30 individual agencies (to see which ones, scroll up!). So to find grant opportunities, “you have to be an expert in identifying who has the funding,” says Little at TBA. 

California’s online grants portal will centralize some information for grant applications once they are open. And Alvis at CNRA says her agency will aim to share upcoming opportunities through listservs and social media. You can subscribe to CNRA’s listserv here.

It takes a lot of effort to put together state grants, which can be hundreds of pages long. Recognizing this, the State Coastal Conservancy and Wildlife Conservation Board use a “pre-application” model, aiming to save potential grantees time and effort. That process starts with putting together a short project narrative to share with agency staff. After the staff review it, they can follow up for more details and invite candidates to submit the longer, comprehensive application. 

As such, Norris, at the WCB, recommends that prospective applicants get in touch with agency staff early to begin refining their projects. Regardless of whether the agency you’re targeting uses pre-applications, it’s still worth getting started, Little says. “If I were going to seek funding, I would write a project description, so I am clear on my story and what I’m trying to sell to an agency that is aligned with the right funding source. And then I would get ready to see guidelines roll out.”

The general parameters of how money is allocated—what voters approved—won’t change. But within those parameters, the “details of how and when to appropriate funds is squarely a decision the Legislature will make through legislation,” says Jason Sisney, the budget advisor to the Speaker’s Office in the California State Assembly. While the total money available to agencies over the bond’s lifespan has been fixed by the voters, how much money each agency gets this year—and what programs they can use it for—depends on the outcome of May’s budget process. For the Wildlife Conservation Board, for example, Norris says, the Legislature could specify that money go toward specific programs or geographies. 

Some of Prop 4’s bond money may also be tapped to make up a “likely significant deficit” in the general fund, says Sisney. Little says this could backfire: because bonds only fund capital projects, she says, “stewardship and public access and programming … would theoretically go away,” if general funds to support them were replaced by Prop 4. 

The Wildlife Conservation Board will allocate its $1.3 billion in bond money for projects that adhere to its strategic plan—which, coincidentally, is now open for public comment. As the budget rolls out, California State Parks will hold hearings and focus groups to help guide their grant implementation. You can sign up on agency websites for notifications of grant opportunities (they’re linked in our chart above). 

Little also recommends contacting state representatives to tell them about the priorities you have for the budget. “We need the state to help our communities continue advancing climate resilience projects,” she says. “Representatives want to know what projects, especially those potentially funded by Prop 4, are happening in their district.” You can find your representative here. 

Don’t despair. CNRA’s Alvis emphasizes that this is the first year of funding in what will be a multi-year bond. The current proposal will make $2.7 billion of the $10 billion available this year. “Even if [you] might have a project that is just at the infancy stage right now, keep working on it,” she recommends. “In three years, there’ll still be grant rounds happening.” 

Big state grant applications are “a lot,” agrees Little—especially for smaller organizations. But agencies are working to make Prop 4 more accessible, including by taking feedback from prospective applicants on what they need and what obstacles they’ve encountered in the past. Here are a few of the issues on their radar:

• Advance payments will be possible. State grants typically provide funding via reimbursement—which is prohibitive for small organizations that don’t have a lot of cash on hand. Prop 4 grant recipients will be able to get advance payments if they fill out a form indicating why they need it. 

• Indirect cost rates remain low. For some, grants are a losing proposition because by law they don’t cover much of the staff time and organizational infrastructure projects need. “What NGOs find is that it costs them money to manage the grants themselves. Not awesome for them,” says Little. 

Alvis says she knows the barrier the indirect cost rate can pose, and CNRA will “try to meet folks halfway” to make Prop 4 accessible. But ultimately, applications with lower indirect costs will likely be looked at “more favorably,” says Norris from WCB. Small organizations can also think of other ways to maximize the grant funding—by partnering with larger organizations, for example, like regional land trusts. 

One silver lining of tackling this intimidating process, according to Little: “If you do it right the first time, you’ll be trusted to do it again.” Little is hoping it becomes a chance to set new collaborative norms for conservation work. “We can’t keep competing against each other in our own backyard,” she says.