Request for Interest: Grants for Tipping Point Species Working Groups
R2R will be inviting responses from existing and emerging multi-institutional Working Groups interested in applying for a grant to accelerate recovery of a Tipping Point Species (see eligibility details below).
This Request for Interest (RFI) will precede an invitational RFP process. Responses will help R2R gauge readiness, refine funding priorities, and tailor technical support across stages of the recovery process.
- RFI will open on December 1, 2026: Instructions and response criteria will be posted on Dec 1
- Responses due January 29, 5pm EST and will be emailed to R2R@georgetown.edu
Virtual Webinar: Tuesday December 8, 2026 at 4pm EST
Optional RFI Office Hours by appointment: Thursdays 2-4pm EST.
- December 3, 10, 17
- January 7, 14, 28
Sign up link will be shared when the RFI opens Dec 1.
Optional RFI Office Hours: at R2R NCTC workshop Jan 20-22 by appointment
Who May Apply
Responses are invited from Working Groups that meet the following minimum criteria:
Species Focus:
- Tier 1: Any U.S., Canada, Latin America, and Caribbean–based groups working on any Tipping Point Species. (See Table 2).
- Tier 2: Any U.S., Canada, Latin America, and Caribbean–based groups working on grassland bird or shorebird Tipping Point Species. (See Table 3).
Group Structure: Led by or affiliated with a multi-institutional Working Group representing diverse expertise and skills (biological, social, management, and/or community-based).
Purpose: Demonstrates the potential to advance species recovery through planning and/or implementation.
Available Funding:
Tier 1: Three 1-year grants available in 2027
Tier 2: Two 2-year grants available in 2027
Table 1. 2027 Available Tiers of Grant Support
Tier | Description | Duration of Award | Funding Level |
| Focus: Early-stage teams forming around a Needs: Initial coordination, leadership structure, in-person meetings, in-person workshops, identification of key partners |
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| Focus: Teams with established partnerships needing coordination or targeted technical support |
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Table 2. Eligible Tier 1 Tipping Point Species
| Red-Alert Species (44) | Orange-Alert Species (36) | Yellow-Alert Species (32) |
| Mottled Duck Steller’s Eider Spectacled Eider Greater Sage-Grouse Gunnison Sage-Grouse Greater Prairie-Chicken Lesser Prairie-Chicken Allen’s Hummingbird Ridgway’s Rail Black Rail Whooping Crane Wilson’s Plover Mountain Plover Bristle-thighed Curlew Hudsonian Godwit Kittlitz’s Murrelet Scripps’s Murrelet Guadalupe Murrelet Craveri’s Murrelet Yellow-billed Loon Townsend’s Storm-Petrel Ashy Storm-Petrel Band-rumped Storm-Petrel Cape Verde [Fea’s] Petrel Bermuda Petrel Black-capped Petrel Hawaiian Petrel (‘Ua‘u) Pink-footed Shearwater Red-faced Cormorant California Condor Florida Scrub-Jay Yellow-billed Magpie Bendire’s Thrasher LeConte’s Thrasher Bicknell’s Thrush Brown-capped Rosy-Finch Cassia Crossbill Chestnut-collared Longspur Thick-billed Longspur Bachman’s Sparrow Saltmarsh Sparrow Baird’s Sparrow Tricolored Blackbird Golden-cheeked Warbler | King Eider Long-tailed Duck Black Swift Chimney Swift Rufous Hummingbird King Rail Black-bellied Plover American Golden-Plover Piping Plover Hudsonian Whimbrel Short-billed Dowitcher Long-billed Dowitcher Lesser Yellowlegs Greater Yellowlegs Ruddy Turnstone Red Knot Stilt Sandpiper Buff-breasted Sandpiper Sanderling Pectoral Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper Dovekie Short-billed Gull Western Gull Great Black-backed Gull Glaucous Gull Least Tern Pelagic Cormorant Sprague’s Pipit Evening Grosbeak Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch LeConte’s Sparrow Eastern Towhee Bobolink Kirtland’s Warbler Pyrrhuloxia | Northern Pintail Black Scoter Eastern Whip-poor-will Yellow Rail American Oystercatcher Snowy Plover Bar-tailed Godwit Wandering Tattler Rock Sandpiper Marbled Murrelet Ivory Gull Horned Grebe Short-tailed Albatross Manx Shearwater Sargasso [Audubon’s] Shearwater Reddish Egret Spotted Owl Red-cockaded Woodpecker Olive-sided Flycatcher Pinyon Jay Wood Thrush Black Rosy-Finch Black-chinned Sparrow Field Sparrow Harris’s Sparrow Sagebrush Sparrow Henslow’s Sparrow Chihuahuan Meadowlark Golden-winged Warbler Cerulean Warbler Prairie Warbler Grace’s Warbler |
Table 3. Eligible Tier 2 Grassland and Shorebird Tipping Point Species*
| Red-Alert Species (10) | Orange-Alert Species (18) | Yellow-Alert Species (9) |
Shorebird Species | ||
| Wilson’s Plover Mountain Plover Bristle-thighed Curlew Hudsonian Godwit | Piping Plover Black-bellied Plover American Golden-Plover Ruddy Turnstone Red Knot Hudsonian Whimbrel Short-billed Dowitcher Long-billed Dowitcher Lesser Yellowlegs Greater Yellowlegs Stilt Sandpiper Buff-breasted Sandpiper Sanderling Pectoral Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper | American Oystercatcher Snowy Plover Wandering Tattler Bar-tailed Godwit Rock Sandpiper |
Grassland Species | ||
| Greater Prairie-Chicken Lesser Prairie-Chicken Chestnut-collared Longspur Thick-billed Longspur Bachman’s Sparrow Baird’s Sparrow | Sprague’s Pipit Bobolink LeConte’s Sparrow | Field Sparrow Harris’s Sparrow Henslow’s Sparrow Chihuahuan Meadowlark |
*If you have questions about the classification of your species, please reach out to R2R@georgetown.edu.