Chapter Rewards Guidelines
The Mule Deer Foundation supports mule deer and black-tailed deer habitat management, research, youth programs, public outreach projects, and more through our Chapter Rewards program. The program is designed to incentivize MDF Chapters in their efforts to raise funds for MDF through banquets and other events by making a percentage of the net revenue of an event available to support conservation projects in the community where they were raised.
The following guidelines clarify how the Chapter Rewards program works and things to keep in mind when developing and submitting a project proposal.
- Acceptable uses and eligible projects consist of habitat conservation projects and conservation education projects, support for local youth or other conservation-minded groups are considered on a case-by-case basis. Funding for interpretive displays with ad conservation message will be considered.
- Projects that support capital construction, administrative, overhead, or indirect costs is prohibited.
- Proposals for equipment will be considered on a case-by-case basis and be limited to equipment used for conservation (GPS/radio collars, telemetry receivers, antennas, trail cameras, etc.).
- Proposals are encouraged to pool resources with other chapters, State and Federal agencies, and MDF partner organizations in support of landscape-level projects.
- Each state is encouraged to develop a Project Review Committee (PRC) to solicit, coordinate, and review projects which are recommended for funding.
- Project proposals must be submitted through an MDF Regional Director or MDF Conservation staff and developed for specific purposes.
- MDF Regional Directors have a schedule and process for submission of proposals, please consult with the contact in your state for more information.
- Proposals are reviewed by a national MDF Project Review Team monthly.
- In cases where there are more proposals than funding, the Project Review Team will select projects based on need, urgency, and amount requested. In some cases, funding will be less than requested in order to accommodate as many requests as possible.
- Approval letters are sent within 30 days of final approval, if a project is not approved MDF will visit with you about the reasons and what can be done to resubmit for approval.
- Funding provided through this program is valid for 12 months from approval with a possibility of extension based on request.
- Project completion reports and acknowledgement of MDF support are required if a project utilizes these funds.
If your Chapter is interested in submitting a proposal for Chapter Rewards to address priority conservation needs in your region, reach out to your Regional Director for more information or send a request to Projects@muledeer.org
