Since its inception in 1985, the IPS has been funding palm research, conservation, and education projects all over the world through its IPS Endowment Awards. The IPS is one of only a few plant societies with an active program that annually awards small grants to researchers, educators, and institutions.

The IPS grant agenda has donated more than $500,000 to over 120 research & educational projects on six continents. In just the last 10 years, the endowment fund has awarded a total is $207,431 to 44 designated researchers and an additional 6 educational grants. Our robust program of financial support has funded research projects including herbarium studies, fieldwork, DNA analysis (to clarify taxonomy), pollination issues, conservation programs, and even floral scents.

Over the years, the IPS has provided funds to study all aspects of palm biology, including:

• Palm education programs for school children at the Belize Botanical Garden
• A taxonomic study of the palms of Bolivia
• Exploration for palms in northern Madagascar
• The taxonomy of Borassus in Africa and Madagascar
• Signs for the palm collection at Pana’ewa Rainforest Zoo, Hilo, Hawaii
• A field guide to palms of southern Asia

Through a generous contribution to the Endowment Fund from the children of Phyllis and Melvin Sneed, the IPS disburses The Phyllis Sneed Award. This annual award is the project that best emulates the exploratory, globe-trotting spirit of the Sneeds, who traveled the world in search of palms and wrote about their adventures in the pages of Principes, the predecessor to our current journal, PALMS.

IPS members can be proud of the fact that their organization supports research, conservation, and education of palms throughout the world.

Click Here to read about your IPS Endowment Fund at work.

Please note the application period is now closed for 2024 grants.