Adapting Together

Project Builder

Project Builder is a program that helps you put together your grant proposal ideas. If you have a vision (or even a rough idea) for helping your community tackle flooding or extreme heat in the Great Bay Watershed and don’t know where to start, this program is for you. Applications are due July 1, 2025!

Project Builder offers a mix of mentorship, strategy-building, and creative problem-solving to help you shape a strong grant proposal. Whether you’re starting with a clear vision or just an idea, the program connects you with potential collaborators and supports you in identifying funding opportunities—including through Adapting Together's Climate Impact Grant.

While Project Builder doesn't fund projects directly, it fills the gaps in knowledge and connection that often hold great ideas back. Across the watershed, we’ve heard communities say:

We want to make a difference, but we have no idea where to start.
We have no idea who to collaborate with.
We have never applied for a grant before. How can we create a compelling project with a chance at funding?

Project Builder is here to remove those barriers. The best climate solutions begin with strong ideas and even stronger teams. That’s why this program is open to a wide range of applicants—conservation commission members, artists, town planners, local volunteers, and more. We’ll help you clarify your goals, build key relationships, and lay the groundwork for a fundable, actionable project.

Quick Links

How the Program Works

Eligibility

Roles & Responsibilities

Timeline

Climate Impact Grants

FAQs

Apply for Project Builder by July 1, 2025

Email Annie Cox a Question (Anne.Cox@unh.edu)

How the Program Works

Adapting Together is made up of two programs that support Great Bay Watershed communities as they adapt to climate change: Project Builder and Climate Impact Grants.

Project Builder is a grant proposal incubator for climate resilience projects in the Great Bay Watershed. It helps communities turn ideas into strong, fundable projects that build climate resilience.

Each cycle has climate-related theme. Project Builder applications are due July 1, 2025.

Four people in a room interacting for the Adapting Together Workshop

Image: A group of four people discuss potential ideas for Project Builder.

✔ Project Builder ideas must:

Address or consider flooding and/or extreme heat in the Great Bay Watershed. This includes tidal, riverine, or stormwater (i.e., rainwater that has hit the ground) related flooding, as well as urban heat impacts or rising temperatures affecting people or ecosystems.
Includes a strong community engagement component. Projects must actively involve or benefit local communities—raising awareness, building capacity, or encouraging participation.
Promote well-being of people and the environment.
Project outcomes should focus on public benefits and/or improvements to public spaces.

✘ Projects Builder Ideas Cannot:

Focus solely on private property improvements.
Be monitoring-only efforts.
Primarily request equipment or supplies.
Propose large-scale infrastructure projects, such as dam removals or culvert replacements.

Once a project is selected, the Project Builder Support Team will help bring in a facilitator to work with you on building a team that might include content experts, community members, and/or local municipal staff—depending on what the project needs.

Like a coach or mentor, the Project Builder Facilitator guides your team from brainstorming through project scope building and/or grant writing over 4-6 months. Your Facilitator will help support the launch of your ideas, and they will equip you with the resources and relationships you need to apply for funding and build ongoing resilience in your community.

After the 4-6 month time period, your project might be suited for Adapting Together's Climate Impact Grants (which will fund projects up to $25k) as well other local, state, or national grant funding programs or their community's Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).

Eligibility

Applicants must either be a
- 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
- Government, institution, or coalition who can serve as a fiscal agent
- An adult individual (18 years+) or group that will work in partnership with either a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization or fiscal sponsor
  - For example, local group of volunteers partnering with a town; an adult individual partnering with a 501(c)(3) nonprofit; a Cub Scout Master (and troop) partnering with a town.
Project proposals must take place within the Great Bay Watershed, which include a large range of communities: Barrington, Brentwood, Brookfield, Candia, Chester, Danville, Deerfield, Durham, East Kingston, Epping, Exeter, Farmington, Fremont, Kensington, Kingston, Lee, Madbury, Middleton, Milton, New Castle, New Durham, Newfields, Newington, Newmarket, North Hampton, Northwood, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Raymond, Rochester, Rollinsford, Sandown, Somersworth, Strafford, Stratham, and Wakefield.
Projects must address the current year's climate theme and adhere to theme criteria (above). In 2025, this theme is flooding and/or extreme heat in the Great Bay Watershed.

A map of New Hampshire's Great Bay Watershed featuring Eligible Communities--Cities & Towns--in the Great Bay Watershed: Barrington, Brentwood, Brookfield, Candia, Chester, Danville, Deerfield, Durham, East Kingston, Epping, Exeter, Farmington, Fremont, Kensington, Kingston, Lee, Madbury, Middleton, Milton, New Castle, New Durham, Newfields, Newington, Newmarket, North Hampton, Northwood, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Raymond, Rochester, Rollinsford, Sandown, Somersworth, Strafford, Stratham, and Wakefield.

Eligible Communities – Cities & Towns in the Great Bay Watershed: Barrington, Brentwood, Brookfield, Candia, Chester, Danville, Deerfield, Durham, East Kingston, Epping, Exeter, Farmington, Fremont, Kensington, Kingston, Lee, Madbury, Middleton, Milton, New Castle, New Durham, Newfields, Newington, Newmarket, North Hampton, Northwood, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Raymond, Rochester, Rollinsford, Sandown, Somersworth, Strafford, Stratham, and Wakefield.

Roles & Responsibilities

Meet Your Project Builder Support Team

Annie Cox of PREP leads the Support Team as the Manager of the Project Builder program.

Annie can be contacted at Anne.Cox@unh.edu or (603) 862-0219

From left to right, the Support Team also includes:

Lindsey Williams, of New Hampshire Sea Grant
Annie Cox, of PREP (Project Builder Program Manager)
Abigail Lyon, of PREP
Lisa Wise, of New Hampshire Sea Grant & the UNH Extension

We support everyone on your Project Builder team, including your facilitators (more on this below). We help you exchange ideas and learn from each other, discuss thematic issues, attend professional development trainings, and increase your professional networks.

In your team we might

Serve as Project Facilitator (or recruit a Project Facilitator for project teams)
Support recruitment of project team members as needed
Support Project Facilitator and/or project team members as needed
Support the project teams collectively as a cohort, based on the needs of project team members
- All accepted Project Builder ideas join a cohort for 2025. As a result, they will have an opprotunity to collaborate and learn from each others' projects.

Your Project Builder Team

This would be you and/or your fiscal partner. Your team's role would be to

Work with your Project Facilitator to recruit project team members
Support agenda development for the kickoff meeting
Take notes for project meetings
Working synchronously (3-6 meetings) and asynchronously with your Project Facilitator:
Develop your project idea with a budget, scope, timeline, narrative, and other grant application components, including identifying and defining project goals, objectives, outcomes, and outputs.
Work with Project Facilitator to identify potential funding sources
Create a final product (e.g., grant application)

Your Project Builder Facilitator

Recruited by the Project Builder Support Team, your Project Facilitator would be your primary project guide for four to six months.

Your Project Builder Facilitator would:

Support project applicant to recruit project team members
Set project kickoff meeting and support agenda development
Working synchronously (3-6 meetings) and asynchronously, facilitate project team to:
- Support your work in developing your project idea with a budget, scope, timeline, narrative, and other grant application components, including identifying and defining project goals, objectives, outcomes, and outputs.

Four women sit at a table around a laptop, engaged in a virtual meeting. A painting of a shoreline is in the background

Work with you to identify potential funding sources
Provide up to two rounds of edits of materials (e.g., grant application)
Keep Project Builder Manager Annie Cox apprised of process

Timeline

July 1, 2025 - Apply for Project Builder. We anticipate accepting 4 -10 project ideas.

July 14 & 21, 2025 - Participant Interviews. Projects deemed feasible will have an online (Teams) interview to learn more about the participant and their idea

Week of July 28, 2025 - Project Acceptances announced.

July and August 2025 - Project Team building: The Adapting Together Support Team will identify a Project Facilitator and work together with you to build a project team.

September 2025 - Project development starts. Project teams are expected to meet 2-3 times per month over 4-6 months, depending on the nature of the project. Developing the project timeline, roles and responsibilities, and group agreements will be the first step. Cohort Activities: Opportunities to meet and exchange with project team members from different projects will be available, along with capacity-building training to support team members’ needs (e.g., grant-writing workshop).

January - March, 2026 - Project Builder Extreme Heat and Flooding Cycle concludes.

Climate Impact Grants

Climate Impact Grants are the second program within Adapting Together, offering up to $25,000 for community-led projects under the same theme and eligibility as Project Builder.

While Project Builder helps participants shape and strengthen their ideas, Climate Impact Grants provide funding to bring those ideas to life.

More information will be available in late summer 2025, with applications opening in September 2025.

A recently planted green plant in a public area.

Image by Scott Ripley

Frequently Asked Questions

Don't see your question below? Please contact Annie Cox! 📧 Anne.Cox@unh.edu ☎️ (603) 862-0219

Great question! Community engagement means involving people in the planning, development, or implementation of your project. It can take many forms, but at its core, it's about building relationships, sharing knowledge, and creating opportunities for people to participate in or benefit from the work. Therefore, we would like your proposed idea to support the inclusion of residents and representatives of the community directly affected by flooding or extreme heat.

For example, community engagement could include (and is not limitted to)

Hosting a public workshop or event
Partnering with local groups, schools, or volunteers
Gathering input from residents to shape project decisions
Creating art, signage, or tools that raise awareness and invite action
Leading a hands-on activity like a planting day, walk audit, or community science effort

It’s not just outreach. It’s about collaboration, inclusion, and creating a project that reflects the needs and ideas of the community it serves.

If you have questions about what counts, please contact Annie Cox before you apply for Project Builder! Her contact is Anne.Cox@unh.edu.

Additionally, your Project Builder Support Team and Project Facilitator will provide guidance on how get the most out engagement relevant to your idea.

Some additional inspiration and guidance on community engagement:

Spectrum of Community Engagement: movementstrategy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/The-Spectrum-of-Community-Engagement-to-Ownership.pdf
Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing: https://www.ran.org/jemez_principles/

One of the objectives of the Project Builder program is that it will help prepare you to apply for Adapting Together's Climate Impact Grants, which will fund projects up to $25k. Large infrastructure projects cost a lot of money, can be complicated in process, and take years to complete.

For example, installing large-scale stormwater infrastructure, like an underground stormwater detention system to manage flooding in a neighborhood support the impacts of flooding, but these projects often require engineering studies, heavy construction, and coordination across multiple agencies, making them costly (i.e., millions of dollars) and time-intensive (i.e., several years).

This project is supported by the Great Bay 2030 Partnership, funded by The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. Partners from the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership, NH Sea Grant, UNH Extension, and NH Coastal Adaptation Workgroup members will provide direct assistance. Each of these partners is dedicated to protecting our shared waters in different ways, including outreach, education, research, monitoring, environmental advocacy, management, land conservation, and sustainable recreation. As a result, we bring a wide range of knowledge, resources, contacts, and collaboration to the table.

You can learn more about each organization at the links below:

Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (also known as PREP)
New Hampshire Sea Grant (also know as NH Sea Grant)
UNH Extension
New Hampshire Coastal Adaptation Workgroup (or NH CAW)

Also, learn more about Great Bay 2030

More about Adapting Together

Adapting Together's Project Builder and Climate Impact Grants are funded by the NH Charitable Foundation’s Great Bay 2030 initiative. Partners from the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP), New Hampshire Sea Grant, and New Hampshire Coastal Adaptation Workgroup lead both programs and provide direct assistance.