Agency

The National Geographic Society is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization that pushes the boundaries of exploration to further our understanding of our planet and empower us all to generate solutions for a more sustainable future.

For almost 130 years, we’ve funded groundbreaking scientists and explorers and shared their findings with the world. We sponsored Hiram Bingham as he brought back stories from Machu Picchu, documented Robert Ballard’s quest to find the Titanic, and supported Jane Goodall’s study of chimpanzee behavior. 

Our explorers continue to push the boundaries of knowledge. To date, we’ve given out more than 13,000 grants to scientists and conservationists whose work is making a significant difference in the world. We support critical projects like the Big Cats Initiative, which has helped stop more than 2,600 big cat mortalities in the wild, and the Pristine Seas project, which has helped protect more than 5.2 million square kilometers of the ocean’s last wild places.

And with our planet’s future at stake, we’re focused on the guardians of that future: our children. Our education programs give teachers the tools they need to engage students of all ages, reveal our interconnected world, and inspire new generations of responsible citizens, explorers, and changemakers.

The National Geographic Society awards grants for conservation, education, research, storytelling, and technology through its Committee for Research and Exploration. All proposed projects must be novel and exploratory, and be of broad interest. National Geographic Society grant-funded projects should be bold, innovative, and transformative.

National Geographic welcomes applications from around the world, and specifically encourages applicants from outside the United States to apply. Applicants planning to work outside of their home country should include at least one local collaborator on their team. The Committee will not usually consider applications that support strictly laboratory or collections work. Grants are awarded on the basis of merit and exist independent of the Society's other divisions.