Applications Open: Boring Fund 2025 with $80,000 in Grants Available
Applications Open: Boring Fund 2025 with $80,000 in Grants Available
Think about the last incredible nature documentary you watched. Maybe it was a high-stakes chase between a snow leopard and a goat on a mountainside, or a hidden camera capturing the secret life of a rare jungle frog. You see the stunning visuals, the dramatic moments, and the heroic scientists. What you probably don't see is the person who spent three weeks labeling thousands of blurry camera trap images to train the AI that found the leopard in the first place. You don't see the coder fixing a bug in the GPS tracker's firmware, or the community manager answering questions in an online forum for conservationists.
This behind-the-scenes work is what makes modern conservation possible. It’s the foundation upon which all the exciting discoveries are built. But let’s be honest, it can sound a little… boring.
Funders love to back the next big thing: a revolutionary drone, a groundbreaking AI model, a flashy new app. It’s much harder to get support for the less glamorous, but absolutely necessary, tasks that keep the whole system running. This is where the Boring Fund comes in. It’s a special grant designed to support the essential, often-overlooked jobs in conservation technology. For 2025, the fund, in partnership with Arm, is making $80,000 available to people and projects doing this critical work.
This is a call for the maintainers, the organizers, the documenters, and the community builders. It’s for anyone whose work is the solid ground that lets others reach for the stars. If you're working on a project that strengthens the conservation tech world from the inside out, this is your opportunity.
What is “Boring” Work and Why Does It Matter?
The term “boring” isn't an insult here. It’s a badge of honor. It refers to the foundational activities that are so fundamental, they often become invisible. But when they fail, the entire structure can come crashing down. The Boring Fund is looking for projects that tackle these specific areas. Let's break down what they are and why they are so important.
Community Management
Imagine a global network of scientists and volunteers all using the same camera trap technology. They have questions, they discover new techniques, and they run into problems. A community manager is the person who builds and nurtures the space where they can connect. This could be a forum like wildlabs.net, a Slack channel, or a Facebook group.
Without this management, the community would be a chaotic mess of unanswered questions and lost knowledge. A new user might give up in frustration, and a brilliant solution found by a researcher in Brazil would never reach a team facing the same issue in Indonesia. This work involves organizing discussions, welcoming new members, and making sure the space is safe and productive. It’s the social glue holding the technical community together.
Cybersecurity
Conservation projects handle a lot of sensitive information. Think about GPS locations of endangered rhinos, or data on illegal poaching routes. What happens if that information falls into the wrong hands? A security breach could lead poachers directly to the animals the technology was meant to protect.
Cybersecurity in this field isn't just about protecting against financial loss; it's about protecting lives. This “boring” work involves setting up firewalls, updating software to patch security holes, and defending against threats like AI bots that can spam forums or try to steal data. It’s the digital armor that keeps conservation efforts safe. A project without good security is a disaster waiting to happen.
Data Mobilization
Scientists have been collecting data for decades. Somewhere in a university basement, there might be a hard drive full of historical bird migration patterns or handwritten notes on plant species from the 1980s. This data is priceless, but if it’s just sitting there, it’s useless.
Data mobilization is the process of getting this information into a usable, digital format. This could mean scanning old records, labeling thousands of images for an AI to learn from, or organizing a massive dataset so it can be easily searched and analyzed by researchers worldwide. It’s a slow, methodical process, but it can unlock decades of knowledge and give us a much clearer picture of how our world is changing.
Documentation and Guidance
Have you ever tried to assemble furniture with no instructions? That’s what it’s like for a scientist trying to use a new piece of conservation tech without good documentation. A brilliant tool is only as good as its user manual.
Creating clear, comprehensive documentation is a detailed and often tedious task. It involves writing step-by-step guides, explaining technical jargon in simple terms, and creating tutorials that walk users through the process. This work ensures that technology can be used correctly and effectively by people all over the world, regardless of their technical background. Good documentation saves countless hours of frustration and makes technology accessible to everyone.
Expert Intervention
Sometimes, a community gets stuck on a really tough problem. Maybe it’s a complex statistical analysis or a tricky bit of hardware engineering. An expert intervention means bringing in a specialist for a short time to share their knowledge and help the community get unstuck.
This could be funding a data scientist to host a webinar on a new analytical technique or paying a software engineer to solve a persistent bug in a community tool. It’s a targeted injection of expertise that can elevate the skills of the entire group and solve a problem that was holding everyone back.
Events and Networking
Progress often happens when people talk to each other. Organizing events, whether they are online webinars or in-person meetups, is a powerful way to build connections and share ideas. These gatherings allow a biologist in Africa to learn from a tech developer in Europe. They create a space for collaboration where new partnerships can form and innovative solutions can be born.
Planning these events involves a lot of administrative work: scheduling, promotion, and technical setup. It might not be as exciting as the research itself, but these gatherings are the catalyst for future breakthroughs.
Knowledge Transfer
In many organizations, expertise is stuck in one person's head. If that person leaves, all their knowledge goes with them. Knowledge transfer is the deliberate process of sharing expertise across teams and organizations.
This could involve creating a mentorship program, documenting a team's workflow so others can learn from it, or running training sessions. It’s about building a resilient community where skills are shared, not hoarded. This ensures that a project can survive beyond a single individual and that the whole community benefits from the experience of its members.
Maintaining Existing Technology
Everyone wants to build the new thing. But what about the old thing that millions of people rely on every day? Technology needs constant maintenance to keep working. Servers need to be updated, bugs need to be fixed, and performance needs to be optimized.
The Boring Fund specifically supports this kind of work. It’s not for adding flashy new features. It’s for the essential upkeep of the core infrastructure that the conservation tech sector depends on. Think of it like maintaining the roads. You don't get a parade for filling in a pothole, but without that work, all the traffic would grind to a halt.
Self-Led Learning Initiatives
The world of technology changes fast. A tool that was standard last year might be outdated today. Providing opportunities for people in conservation to keep their skills sharp is critical.
This could be funding access to an online course on machine learning, paying for a certification in cybersecurity, or buying relevant textbooks for a community library. These initiatives empower individuals to take control of their own professional development, which in turn strengthens the entire community.
Technical Debt Management
When software is built quickly, developers often take shortcuts. These shortcuts are called “technical debt.” Over time, this debt builds up and makes the software slow, buggy, and difficult to update.
Managing technical debt means going back and cleaning up the code, refactoring old systems, and improving the backend infrastructure. It’s like renovating the foundations of a house. You can't see the work from the outside, but it makes the whole structure stronger and safer for years to come. This work is essential for the long-term health of any technology project.
Is This Fund for You? Exploring the Possibilities
If any of the “boring” work described above sounds like what you do, then this fund might be a perfect fit. The team behind the Boring Fund is looking for proposals that strengthen the core of conservation technology.
What Kind of Tech Projects Are Covered?
The scope is broad, covering almost every corner of the conservation tech world. You could be working with:
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: Projects that maintain the systems used to analyze camera trap photos, identify animal calls, or track deforestation from satellite images.
- Bioacoustics: Work that supports the hardware and software used to listen to the sounds of an ecosystem, from birds and bats to frogs and insects.
- Bio-loggers and Animal Tracking: The behind-the-scenes efforts that keep GPS collars and other tracking devices running smoothly and the data flowing.
- Camera Traps: The maintenance of camera systems and the platforms that manage the millions of photos they produce.
- Data Platforms: Support for the core functions of major platforms like Movebank, Wildlife Insights, or Zooniverse that are used by thousands of researchers.
- GIS and Remote Sensing: The foundational work needed to process satellite imagery, LiDAR scans, or drone footage for conservation purposes.
- eDNA and Genomics: The management of data and software pipelines for analyzing environmental DNA or genetic information.
- Mobile Apps and Citizen Science: The upkeep of apps that allow the public to contribute to scientific research, ensuring they remain stable and secure.
- Drones and UAVs: The maintenance, documentation, and training materials for using drones safely and effectively in conservation.
What Conservation Missions Are Supported?
Your project should also connect to a real-world conservation challenge. The fund is open to projects that address issues like:
- Protecting Endangered Species: Your work might be supporting the technology used to monitor and protect species on the brink of extinction.
- Fighting Wildlife Crime: You could be maintaining the digital tools that rangers use to track poachers and prevent illegal wildlife trade.
- Monitoring Biodiversity: Your project might involve managing the data systems that help us understand the health of an entire ecosystem.
- Addressing Human-Wildlife Conflict: You could be supporting the technology that helps communities and wildlife coexist peacefully.
- Combating Habitat Loss: Your work might focus on the tools used to monitor deforestation or restore damaged habitats.
- Tackling Pollution: You could be maintaining the sensors and data platforms that track air or water pollution.
- Advancing Scientific Research: Your project could be providing the stable technological foundation that allows new scientific discoveries to be made.
If your work touches on any of these technologies and missions, you should seriously consider applying.
The Details: Money, Dates, and How to Get Started
This is the practical part. Here’s what you need to know to apply for the Boring Fund.
The Financials
- Total Funding Pool: There is a total of $80,000 available.
- Grant Size: You can request up to $12,500 for your project.
- Smaller is Good Too: The fund encourages applications for smaller amounts. They recognize that a huge impact can often be made with a modest budget. A few thousand dollars for a server upgrade or a specialized training course can make a world of difference. Don't feel like you need to ask for the maximum.
The Timeline
You need to be able to work within this schedule:
- Application Deadline: August 19, 2025. This is the final day to submit your proposal.
- Project Start Date: Your project should be ready to begin by October 2025.
- Project End Date: All the funds should be spent by May 2026.
This timeline is for a focused, impactful project that can be completed in about eight months.
How to Apply
This is the most important part. If you have a project idea that fits the description, it’s time to take the next step. The application process is designed to be straightforward.
- To apply to the Boring scholarship, you can fill out the application form directly here. This is where you will share the details of your project, what you plan to do, and how it will help the conservation technology community.
- To learn more about Boring and get a deeper understanding of the fund's goals and past projects, you can visit the main information page. This is a great place to get inspiration and make sure your proposal is a good fit.
Don't disqualify yourself before you even start. You don't need to be a world-famous developer or a senior scientist. The fund is looking for people with practical ideas that solve real problems. If you are a student, a field technician, a community manager, or just someone with a passion for making conservation tech work better, your perspective is valuable.
Your Work Is Not Boring, It's Foundational
It’s easy to feel like the work you do is invisible, especially when it’s not the kind that grabs headlines. But the truth is, the “boring” work is the bedrock of progress. Without it, the entire field of conservation technology would crumble. Every successful field project, every groundbreaking discovery, and every animal saved with the help of technology owes a debt to the people who did the foundational work.
This fund is a rare and wonderful opportunity. It’s a chance to get support for the kind of work that is often taken for granted. It’s a recognition that maintenance is just as important as innovation.
So, think about your own work or the work of your team. What is the one “boring” thing that, if you could just get it done, would make everything else run more smoothly? What is the unglamorous task that would unlock new possibilities for you and for others? That is the heart of your proposal.
This is your chance to strengthen the roots of the conservation community so that everyone can grow taller. Your work matters. It is seen, it is valued, and with this fund, it can be supported.
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