Adventure Forever Grants

Access and Stewardship

Where there is access, stewardship is needed. And, where there is stewardship, access is protected. This relationship is core to our DNA. We believe that public access to land is a good thing, and we aim to do our part in protecting that through good stewardship. 

From 2018 to 2023, onX helped secure or improve public access to 154,000 acres, and supported the maintenance and building of 255 miles of trails, exceeding the goals we initially set for ourselves. With that chapter closed, we are so excited to bring you the Adventure Forever Grants. This is an opportunity for nonprofits, land trusts, tribal nations, and other community groups to unlock funding for six project types.


Project Types We Support:

  • Acquire & Conserve: Land acquisition (fee-simple) with dual goals of securing public access and conserving ecosystems. Land can ultimately be transferred to a public agency, or remain private with a long term conservation agreement or plan.
  • Protect Access Routes: Right-of-way easements and land acquisitions to secure long-term access to public land or water across private land.
  • Build Trails that Give Back: Well-planned, sustainably built, new trails. Preference will be given to trail proposals that have multiple social and/or environmental objectives.
  • Support Voluntary Private Land Access: Programs and agreements that allow the public to access private land in a way that benefits landowners, recreational access, and wildlife habitat. This category includes state administered programs, as well as conservation easements that allow public access.
  • Restore Trails and Riding Areas:  Maintenance, restoration, re-routing of trails, or trash clean-up efforts. Preference will be given to projects where overuse or trash are negatively impacting the recreation opportunities and/or the ecosystem.
  • Grow the Community of Stewards: Programs that instill the ethos of stewardship through education and inspiration.


Funding Details:

  • Applications must be for a specific site project, and if granted, must be used for that specific project. 
  • We do not grant funds for general operating costs.
  • Funding amounts will vary based on project type, location, and our scoring criteria but amounts granted will generally be between $5,000 and $25,000. 
  • We don’t require a specific percentage match, but we will carefully review other funding sources and partners that have been secured.
  • We understand that some land purchases, large-scale projects, and restoration efforts may take years to finalize and inherently have a lot of dependencies. Please describe long time frames and dependencies on your application. These situations will not be eliminated from receiving funding merely on the basis of a lengthy process, but we need to know these details from the beginning.


Factors We Weigh:

  • Project location (at the state and regional scales, and within the local landscape)
  • Project size
  • Project type
  • Diversity and socioeconomics of nearby communities
  • Level of positive impact for local communities
  • Community engagement and receptivity of the project or similar projects that have been completed in the area
  • Variety in outdoor activities the site does or will support
  • Project timeline and length of positive impact
  • Other sources of funding
  • Applicant organization’s history and experience completing similar projects


Grants Cannot Be Used For:

  • Races, clinics, or classes on how to do an outdoor activity (e.g., hunters’ ed, avy courses, off-road recovery)
  • Staff salaries (contract work will be assessed on a case-by-case basis)
  • Outdoor gear or equipment
  • Purchasing heavy machinery
  • Marketing
  • T-shirts or other swag
  • Upgrades or construction of roads, parking lots, pit toilets, or restrooms (even at recreation sites)
  • General operating budgets
  • Litigation


Who Can Apply:

  • Land trusts
  • Conservation and stewardship organizations
  • Park foundations
  • State agencies
  • Tribal and local governments
  • Trail associations
  • Recreation clubs
  • Community nonprofits

All grantees must be based in the United States.


2024 Dates:

  • There will be two rounds of application review this year.
  • For the first round, we’ll accept applications until May 17, 2024 at Midnight Mountain Time. Decisions will be sent by late July.
  • For the second round, we’ll accept applications until August 16, 2024 at Midnight Mountain Time. Decisions will be sent by late October.
  • If your project is particularly time sensitive, e.g. due to a seasonal window that doesn’t align well with the dates above, please submit your complete application through the form below, and then email us (access@onxmaps.com) to explain the timeline of your project. In your email, include the date by which you will need a funding decision from us.


Requirements If Selected:

We like to keep in regular communication with all of our grantees, and we’ll periodically select projects to highlight when the timing is right. To make this process easy, we will send all selected grantees a link to an update form on a quarterly basis to gather:

  • Status updates until the project is completed and open to the public.
  • Photos of the project site that we can utilize on our webpage and social media. Photographers will be credited where possible.
  • Quotes about the project from local community members and/or those that helped make the project a success. We will utilize these quotes on our communication channels.
  • Links to any media coverage about the project, as well as any press releases.
  • Contact information for people we can interview about the project.


Application Process:

  • Complete the application form by clicking the button below.
  • If you would like to read the questions on the form before you begin, the questions are available here.
  • If you have any questions while completing the form, or if you have any trouble with the form, please email us at access@onxmaps.com.
  • If you have multiple projects that fit our project definitions, please submit each project as a separate application.
  • If you submit an application and your project is on a tight timeline for funding, please send an email to access@onxmaps.com to explain the urgency of the situation. 
  • If your project is not selected, we’ll inform you by email.
  • If your project is selected for further consideration, we will contact you by email to set up a time to discuss it in more detail by phone or video meeting. This will be our opportunity to get to know your organization and ask all the follow-up questions our review panel may have.

Only applications submitted through the form below will be accepted. Emailed responses to the questions, letters of interest, and letters of request will not be considered.

Begin Application

Thank you for your interest in the onX Access and Stewardship Adventure Forever Grants. We’re looking forward to learning about all the great work happening around the country in support of the outdoors!