Audubon and Toyota Invite Applicants for 2014 Fellowship and Innovation Grants

NEW YORK, July 8, 2014 /3BL Media/ – Toyota TogetherGreen, a conservation initiative of the National Audubon Society and Toyota, is pleased to invite applicants for its 2014 fellowship and innovation grants program. The program supports and fosters diverse, community-driven conservation projects that result in sustainable and innovative solutions.
 
This year, Audubon will award 20 Toyota TogetherGreen fellowships to promising and proven individuals to help them advance their environmental work and leadership skills. Each fellowship includes a $10,000 grant to develop and execute a community conservation action project, professional development opportunities and access to numerous networks and events. All fellows will be required to conduct a 12-month community-based action project to achieve measurable outcomes that address conservation goals.
 
Innovation grants will also be awarded to 20 cutting-edge conservation projects that involve communities traditionally underrepresented in the conservation movement, with a focus on habitat, water and energy preservation. All grantees will be required to build strategic organizational partnerships to help generate impact and long-term results.
                                                                                                                                                
In 2008, Audubon and Toyota created the Toyota TogetherGreen initiative through a $20 million grant – the largest donation in Audubon’s 104-year history. With this support, Audubon has expanded the scope and reach of its conservation action nationwide. Audubon and Toyota TogetherGreen have trained more than 695 conservation leaders, improved over 30,000 acres of habitat, conserved over 15 million gallons of water and captured $10.5 million worth of volunteer time in 295 cities across all 50 states.
 
In hundreds of communities, the program helps tens of thousands of people take conservation action, including a congregation in Chicago’s South Side that hosts organic farmers markets for residents with little access to healthy food, veterans who are healing war wounds through ecological restoration, and prisons that help restore habitat for the threatened Silverspot Butterfly in Oregon.
 
Audubon and Toyota TogetherGreen are changing the face of conservation in America by tackling tough problems with creativity, innovation and a diverse array of perspectives. From religious groups to inner-city students to low-income communities, Americans from all walks of life have gotten involved in this movement. Audubon and Toyota welcome those who are passionate about the environment and its preservation for future generations to apply.
 
The deadline to apply for a Toyota TogetherGreen fellowship or innovation grant is 6 p.m. PDT on Friday, August 15, 2014. Visit www.togethergreen.org/fellows  and www.togethergreen.org/grants  for application guidelines, selection criteria, eligibility, benefits, and online applications for both programs.  For more information contactinfo@togethergreen.org.

###   About Audubon
The National Audubon Society saves birds and their habitats throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon's state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, Audubon's vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more at www.audubon.org and@audubonsociety.

About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands.  Over the past 50 years, we’ve built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants and directly employ more than 40,000 people.  Our 1,800 North American dealerships sold more than 2.5 million cars and trucks in 2013 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.

Toyota partners with philanthropic organizations across the country, with a focus on education, safety and the environment.  As part of this commitment, we share the company’s extensive know-how garnered from building great cars and trucks to help community organizations and other nonprofits expand their ability to do good. To date, Toyota has contributed more than $700 million to nonprofits in the U.S.  For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyota.com/usa.

Media Contacts

Agatha Szczepaniak, Audubon, aszczepaniak@audubon.org, 212.979.3197
Amy Gross, Toyota, amy.gross@rlmfinsbury.com, 646.805.2037