The Disney Conservation Fund has announced grants to 25 organizations across 16 countries as part of a monthlong series of environmental stories leading up to Earth Day on April 22, 2026. The new round of funding brings Disney’s total global conservation investment to more than $141 million since the program launched in 1995.
What Is the Disney Conservation Fund?
The Disney Conservation Fund is the philanthropic arm of The Walt Disney Company focused on wildlife protection, ecosystem restoration, and community-based conservation. For more than 30 years, DCF has paired financial grants with Disney’s organizational expertise to support efforts around the world. This year’s grants cover 25 partner organizations spread across 16 countries, with a combined focus on protecting and restoring more than 120,000 square miles of corridor habitat. That figure is nearly twice the size of Florida.
Who Are the Grant Recipients?
Disney highlighted five of the newest grant recipients as part of the Earth Month announcement.
Save the Elephants is receiving funding to establish a Community Conservancy in Kenya, protecting a 12.5-square-mile corridor near Tsavo East National Park. The project creates a safe passage route for elephant migration, including through a critical railway underpass, and brings employment and livelihood programs to the surrounding community.
Bat Conservation International is working to restore eight stopover sites spanning 675 miles along migratory routes through Mexico and the U.S. Southwest. Over two years, the organization will plant nearly 140,000 native agave plants to create a connected nectar corridor for three threatened bat species, including the greater long-nosed bat and the lesser long-nosed bat.
Ocean First Institute is using satellite tagging and remote underwater video to study great hammerhead shark movement in the Florida Keys. The project focuses on roughly 60 nautical miles of marine corridors within the Upper Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, connecting offshore reefs to inshore nursery areas for one of the ocean’s most critically endangered shark species.
Monarch Joint Venture is restoring 15 miles of monarch butterfly habitat across California’s Bay Area and Central Valley by distributing approximately 6,000 native plants and engaging homeowners, farmers, and students in building connected habitat corridors along migratory routes.
Proyecto Tití and Wildlife Conservation Network are expanding protected forest for cotton-top tamarins in Colombia by roughly six square miles, working toward a longer-term goal of building a 20-mile forest corridor. Cotton-top tamarins are among the most endangered primates on Earth, and this work combines forest restoration with community education and sustainable agriculture programs.
How This Connects to Disney Parks
The five highlighted projects each have a direct tie to animal encounters that guests can experience at Disney parks. African elephants at Disney’s Animal Kingdom mirror the Tsavo corridor work. Flying foxes at the same park connect to the bat conservation effort. Sharks at The Seas with Nemo and Friends at EPCOT echoes the hammerhead research in the Florida Keys. Monarch butterflies appear each year at the EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival’s Butterfly Landing. And cotton-top tamarins are a fan favorite at Animal Kingdom.
That is not an accident. DCF consistently funds projects that reflect the animals guests encounter at the parks, building a loop between in-person connection and real-world conservation impact.
Our Take
The $141 million figure is real money, and the corridor approach being used across these grants is exactly what conservation scientists have been asking for. Protecting isolated patches of habitat does not work long-term. These projects are about connecting the dots, and the scale of the work here, 120,000 square miles in a single grant cycle, is worth paying attention to. For anyone visiting Animal Kingdom or EPCOT this spring, the animals you see are directly tied to programs like these. That context makes the experience land differently.
Disney will publish environmental stories throughout April, leading up to Earth Day on April 22. A full list of all 25 DCF grant recipients is available at disney.com/conservation. Updates from Disney’s Planet Possible sustainability initiative are posted at TheWaltDisneyCompany.com and on the Disney Conservation social channels.
Disney Conservation Fund Backs 25 Wildlife Projects Across 16 Countries for Earth Month 2026
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