LIFE Operating Grants
LIFE Operating Grants support non-profit NGOs' annual activities in environment and climate action, requiring prior Framework Partnership Agreement.
This call offers operating grants to non-profit organizations active in environment and climate action. Grants support the annual operating budget, not specific projects. Applicants must first secure a Framework Partnership Agreement before applying for these grants.
Likely relevant for
- Non-profit environmental NGOs
- Climate action organizations
- Energy transition advocates
- Civil society organizations involved in EU policy dialogue
Project signals
What it funds
- General financial support to non-profit organizations
- Support for annual operating budgets, not specific projects
- Activities aligned with EU environmental, climate, and clean energy transition objectives
Expected outcomes
- Strengthened civil society participation in EU policy dialogue
- Improved implementation and enforcement of EU environmental and climate legislation
Who can apply / participate
- Non-profit making entities
- Civil society organizations active in environment or climate action
- Grants are mono-beneficiary; no consortia allowed
- Eligible countries described in call document section 6
- Must have signed or apply simultaneously for LIFE 2026 Operating Grant Framework Partnership Agreement
- Must meet financial and operational capacity requirements
- Specific eligible countries list
- Detailed eligibility conditions beyond call document references
Must check before shortlisting
- Requirement to apply also to LIFE-2026-NGO-OG-FPA call
- Eligibility criteria in call document section 6
- Financial and operational capacity requirements
Money
Total budget of approximately EUR 14.5 million for 2026. Funding rate and detailed budget allocation not explicitly stated.
- Total budget for 2026 — 14500000EURBudget allocated for LIFE Operating Grants Framework Partnerships
Application notes
- Single-stage submission model. Applicants must also apply to the LIFE-2026-NGO-OG-FPA call.
- Proposal page limits and layout as per call document section 5 and application form Part B
- Eligibility and admissibility conditions in call document section 6
- Financial and operational capacity requirements in call document section 7
- Evaluation criteria and process detailed in call document section 8 and 9
- Legal and financial setup described in call document section 10
- Mandatory annexes include detailed budget table and model grant agreements
- Prepare proposal following call document and application form guidelines
- Submit proposal via Funding & Tenders Portal before deadline
- Ensure simultaneous application to LIFE-2026-NGO-OG-FPA call
- Operating grants do not fund specific projects but general operating costs
- Framework Partnership Agreement is prerequisite but does not guarantee grant award
- Mono-beneficiary grants only
Derived from official EU Funding portal source · updated 22 Jun 2026, 17:14 UTC. Use this as a shortlisting aid; the official call text remains authoritative.
Related calls
These funding calls are closely related and may be worth considering as part of the same funding landscape.
Official source text
Fine print from the EU source record. Expand when you need the original wording.
Topic description
Expected Impact: The LIFE operating grants for non-profit making entities aim to strengthen the participation of civil society in the EU policy dialogue, as well as to support implementation and enforcement of Union environmental and climate objectives, including the clean energy transition, by the beneficiaries. Objective: This call for proposals concerns LIFE Specific Operating Grant Agreements (SGA OG) . LIFE Specific Operating Grant Agreements will only be concluded with organisations that have successfully signed a LIFE 2026 Operating Grant Framework Partnership Agreements (FPA OG) . Framework Partnership Agreements (FPAs) under the LIFE Programme are long-term cooperation instruments that serve as umbrella for regular or recurrent grants to non-profit making entities which are involved in the development, implementation and enforcement of EU legislation and policy and which are primarily active in the field of environment or climate action, including energy transition, in line with the objectives of the LIFE Programme. They are a prerequisite for being able to sign annual Specific Operating Grant Agreements (SGAs), but do not create any legitimate expectations or entitlement to get them. Applicants to the LIFE-2026-NGO-OG-SGA call for proposals MUST ALSO APPLY to the LIFE-2026-NGO-OG-FPA call for proposals. Scope: Operating grants provide general financial support to the successful organisations. They do not support a specific project (like action grants), but the annual operating budget (or part of it) of the organisation. Operating grants follow the same rules for the grant agreements as action grants, but do not differentiate between direct and indirect costs. Operating grants are always mono-beneficiary grants supporting the annual activities of an organisation. Further details can be found in the call document.
Conditions and documents
Conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
described in section 5 of the call document.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
2. Eligible countries
described in section 6 of the call document.
3. Other eligibility conditions
described in section 6 of the call document.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
described in section 7 of the call document.
5a. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
described section 8 of the call document and the Online Manual.
5b. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
described in section 9 of the call document.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
described in section 4 of the call document.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
described in section 10 of the call document.
Call document and annexes:
Application form template
Standard application form (LIFE OG FR NGOs) — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Mandatory Annex to the application form
Detailed budget table (LIFE OG FR NGOs)
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Additional documents:
Support information
For help related to this call, please contact CINEA-LIFE-NGO@ec.europa.eu Consult the FAQs on the LIFE website Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – Submission of proposals . IT Helpdesk – Contact the IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc. Online Manual – Step-by-step online guide through the Portal processes from proposal preparation and evaluation to reporting on your ongoing project. Valid for all 2021-2027 programmes.
Raw budget overview
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"action": "LIFE-2026-NGO-OG-SGA - LIFE-FPA-OG LIFE Operating Grants Framework Partnerships",
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"budgetYearMap": {
"2026": "14500000"
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"plannedOpeningDate": "2026-05-12",
"deadlineModel": "single-stage",
"deadlineDates": [
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