The Foundation for Conservation of Atlantic Salmon (FCAS) is an independent, federally incorporated, non-profit organization, which was established through a one-time grant of $30 million from the Government of Canada. The interest generated from investment of the grant will be used to support activities related to the conservation of the wild Atlantic salmon and its habitat.

The goal of the Foundation is to help achieve healthy and sustainable wild Atlantic salmon stocks in Atlantic Canada and Quebec through partnerships among volunteer conservation groups, Indigenous organizations, governments, and others.

The Foundation wishes to promote and improve conservation planning and management at the watershed level, as an ecological and geographic unit, as the basis for promoting the most effective use of, and accountability for, funds made available for wild Atlantic salmon conservation initiatives.

There are several ways through which the FCAS is a strong resource for community-based organizations. First, it is a permanent source of funding for community-based conservation initiatives. Secondly, the FCAS promotes the importance and benefits of community partnerships as an excellent way to focus resources to address salmon conservation needs. Thirdly, the FCAS facilitates the sharing of information learned from the projects it supports so as many groups as possible may benefit from the experience and findings of conservation organizations and governments.

The ten FCAS Board members are volunteers who have agreed to contribute their skills, community leadership and professional expertise to wise investment and use of the FCAS trust fund.

Each Director is also a Member of the Foundation. There are 12 Members in total, two each selected from the 6 constituencies the Foundation represents: New Brunswick; Newfoundland & Labrador; Nova Scotia; Prince Edward Island: Quebec and Indigenous groups. Nominations for Member are solicited from within each constituency.

FCAS sets its goals and priorities with the input and advice of its six volunteer advisory committees. These six advisory committees consist of a Scientific Advisory Committee and 5 provincial advisory committees, one for each province. The Scientific Advisory Committee has two key roles. It assists the Board of Directors to develop overall priorities and strategy, and it recommends funding of scientific projects.

The Provincial advisory committees identify and prioritize provincial conservation priorities and recommend which provincial project proposals should be funded.

The Foundation is interested in funding innovative projects that will have a high probability of success with measurable results for on-the-ground conservation of wild Atlantic salmon and its habitat. Successful recipients will be asked to identify project performance measurement information.

The Foundation will consider eligible projects related to watershed planning, including feasibility, engineering and design, implementation, monitoring, or some combination thereof, from the following categories:

- Development of salmon and salmon habitat conservation plans for a watershed or sub-watershed (watershed planning)

- Conservation, rebuilding and restoration of wild Atlantic salmon habitat

- Conservation and restoring of wild Atlantic salmon stocks and populations

- Restoring access of wild Atlantic salmon to salmon habitat

- Public education and awareness of the importance of conservation of wild Atlantic salmon and its habitat

The FCAS promotes and supports conservation planning and management at the watershed level, as an ecological and geographic unit, as the basis for promoting the most effective use of, and accountability for, funds made available to its funded projects. Therefore, preference will be given to projects that have been identified as priority conservation needs in a watershed based management plan.

The Foundation also recognizes that wild Atlantic salmon and habitat conservation issues and needs vary according to each province. Proposals for funding must respond to the conservation priorities specific to the province in which the project will be located.

Yes. Proposals demonstrating, innovation, transferability in results and partnership are preferred.

Partnership: Proposals demonstrating partnership among the eligible groups are very important to the Foundation, therefore proposals demonstrating real, working partnerships will be considered favourably. Partnerships between Indigenous groups and community groups are encouraged.

Transferability: Proposals that offer transferability of information or broadly applicable benefit to other groups and jurisdictions are encouraged and will be given additional weighting in scoring.

The following groups are eligible to submit proposals to the Foundation:

- Non-governmental organizations (e.g. community-based conservation organizations, cooperatives, watershed-based organizations, etc.)

- Municipalities

- Educational institutions

- Indigenous groups and organizations

The proponent organization must possess the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract with the Foundation. Incorporation or registration of your organization under provincial or federal law will support this requirement. If your organization is not incorporated, it is suggested that you find a partner organization that is incorporated with which to present your proposal. In addition, a demonstrated track record of success in carrying-out salmon conservation initiatives will be considered favourably.

Our Advisory Committees review proposals to assess if they address provincial conservation priorities and contribute to FCAS goals and objectives. Projects will then be ranked and prioritized, and recommended proposals forwarded to the FCAS Board for approval.
It is important that applicants be clear and complete in providing requested information on the Project Proposal Application Form as this is the only basis on which proposals for funding can be assessed.
Performance measurement is important to the Foundation so the results and outcomes of funded projects contribute to improving conservation of wild Atlantic salmon must be identified and monitored. Therefore, proposals for funding must incorporate clear and concrete objectives, along with performance indicators to assess results and improvements in conservation. These performance indicators may be short-term or long-term, dependent on the project. (See performance measures below.)

The FCAS program funds conservation projects from the interest income generated by its trust fund. The Foundation seeks to provide a fair, balanced and predictable allocation of funding to each province, on an annual basis. The actual level of funding available to a province may, however, vary from year to year according to a variety of factors including interest income and changes in conservation priorities.

Awards for individual projects should not be less than $5,000 nor exceed a maximum of $100,000. Long-term (up to 3 year) grants are possible, and may be spread over a period of up to three years depending on the project.

Proposals for funding are received by the FCAS between November 1st and mid-December each year.

All proposals for funding must be submitted to FCAS staff via email which are available on the FCAS website. The website also has complete application instructions.

Project proposals are approved by the Board of Directors based on the advice and recommendations of the Advisory Committees and staff. Each proposal for funding is reviewed by staff to make sure it meets FCAS requirements. If it does, it is then referred to the Advisory Committee for review, scoring and ranking against other proposals. The review process is systematic and fair, based on the information provided by the applicant. The review criteria are outlined in detain in the application explanatory materials.

It is possible that the FCAS may become involved in fundraising development, however, competition with other NGO fundraising activities will be avoided.

The FCAS trust is professionally managed by recognized national investment management firms, selected following a rigorous interview and assessment process. The Board maintains an on-going review of performance to ensure that interest income from the trust is optimized, in accordance with prudent investment principles.

Everyone is welcome to participate in and contribute to the FCAS’s efforts to improve salmon conservation. There are several ways this can occur. First, you can become personally involved in the FCAS by becoming a member of an Advisory Committee or a Member of the Foundation. We are continually seeking well qualified individuals with such interest.

Alternately, as a registered charity in Canada, individuals and corporations may donate funds to support FCAS funded initiatives. Opportunity for directed donations to specific provinces or projects may be possible in consultation with the FCAS staff.

The FCAS offices are located in Fredericton, NB. Please see our contact page for further details. Visitors are welcome to visit by appointment.