Festival Scholarships & Stewardship
The Indiana Dunes Birding Festival Stewardship Fund is IDBF's contribution to the Indiana Audubon Mumford & Keller Grants and Scholarship Program. This new dedicated grant based fund is set aside for research, conservation, and education related activities occurring both locally, regionally, and worldwide. Individuals and organizations wishing to apply should be doing projects that are in line with the mission of the Indiana Dunes Birding Festival, to celebrate the dunes area’s various birding habitats and bird watching opportunities to create a positive impact on the economic, conservation, and environmental education for visitors and residents. Continued funding for the Indiana Dunes Birding Festival Stewardship Fund comes from the annual silent auction event and participants like you. To donate to the Mumford & Keller Program or annual IDBF Silent Auction, email us!
Need-based Scholarships
The Indiana Dunes Birding Festival Stewardship Fund offers need-based scholarships for people to attend the festival. Applications are open year round and are reviewed starting January 1 of each festival year.
Apply now for the 2025 festival! Applications are due January 15, 2025.
Mumford & Keller Grants and Scholarships Program
General applications will be accepted beginning May 1 of each year. Application from the Stewardship Fund is made by applying through the Indiana Audubon Mumford and Keller Program. Deadline to apply is generally mid-August of each year. Ready to apply, visit here!
The Indiana Dunes Birding Festival silent auction has provided funding for the following organizations and projects since the event's inception in 2015:
Indiana Young Birder's Club
Westchester Bird Sanctuary
Moraine Ridge Wildlife Rehab Center
International Crane Foundation
Taking Flight Raptor Education Taking Flight into the Classroom
Lifer Nature Tours Interpretive Sign Project
Indiana DNR Field Guides to Farm Kids
Jenna McElroy Raptor Handling Education
Mary Gray Bird Sanctuary MOTUS Tower tags
IYBC North Chapter booth exhibit supplies
Songbirds of N Indiana education project
Outdoor Birding Station at Knightstown Intermediate School
Feather Fest with Fort Wayne Parks
Bluebird Nest Box Project with Carmel Clay Parks
Wildlife Ed at Community Christian School, Fayette County.
Pollinator Habitat at Reynold's Creek GHA, Porter County, IN
Wabash City Schools Pollinator Project
Sassafras Audubon Motus Tower Project at Goose Pond FWA
Humane Indiana Wildlife Lead Testing Project
Autonomous Recording of Marsh Birds with Dustin Brewer