Only organisations having legal capacities to enter into contract and satisfying one of the following criteria are eligible to apply for funding support for Conservation and Related Projects under the LCF:

1. Local tax-exempt charities (only accept applications from organisations having legal personality) (excluding organisations registered under the Societies Ordinance (Cap. 151))

   Local tax-exempt charities refer to organisations which are exempted from tax under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112).

   When submitting an application, the Applicant Organisation must provide:

   1. a copy of the letter issued by the Inland Revenue Department on tax-exemption under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112);
   2. a copy of the organisation’s registration document;
   3. a copy of the articles of association or other equivalent document; and
   4. a list of the principal persons-in-charge and their positions.

2. Local registered and non-profit-making companies

   When submitting an application, the Applicant Organisation must provide:

   1. a copy of the certificate of incorporation issued by the Companies Registry pursuant to the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622) or the former Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32);
   2. a copy of the company’s articles of association (which must include clauses prohibiting the distribution of the organisation’s profits or properties amongst its members upon dissolution; and its objects and powers shall not include the distribution of profits to members); and
   3. a list of directors and their positions.

3. Local post-secondary education institutions

   Post-secondary education institutions refer to the degree-awarding higher education institutions listed on the Education Bureau's website and the member institutions which provide manpower training under the Vocational Training Council.

   When submitting an application, the Applicant Organisation must provide:

   1. a copy of the institution’s own ordinance / Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance (Cap. 320) as documentary proof of its establishment, or other documentary proof as accepted by the Secretariat (please confirm with the Secretariat whether the document(s) is / are valid documentary proof); and
   2. a list of board members and their positions.

For details, please refer to the Guide to Application.

The application period will be announced through the LCF website.

The Guide to Application and Application Form can be downloaded from the LCF website.

For each project, the Applicant Organisation shall complete an electronic-input Application Form, which is available on the LCF website.

The Applicant Organisation shall submit the completed Application Form and Appendix in both original hard copy and soft copy. The original hard copy of the Application Form must be signed by acceptable person-in-charge of the Applicant Organisation (hereinafter known as Person-in-charge of Organisation, and refer to Section 8.4 of the Guide to Application for details). An official organisation / company chop must be stamped on the original hard copy of the Application Form. The original hard copy of the Application Form, together with relevant materials (if any), shall be sealed in an envelope marked with "Lantau Conservation Fund – Application for Conservation and Related Projects". It shall be delivered by hand or post on or before 5:00 pm on the invitation closing date to the Secretariat of the Lantau Conservation Fund Advisory Committee at 12/F, 1063 King's Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong. For applications submitted by post, the postmark shall be dated on or before the invitation closing date. Please ensure that your mails bear sufficient postage as underpaid mails will not be accepted. If the original hard copy of the Application Form is not signed by acceptable Person-in-charge of Organisation or not stamped with the official organisation / company chop, the application will not be considered.

Application for research project from a post-secondary education institution shall be made through its research office. The research office shall undertake if the current appointment of the project leader cannot cover the whole project period, the project must include at least one successor to the project leader from the same institution who has the ability to take over the project upon the retirement or departure of the project leader.

The electronic-input Application Form and all other required supporting documents shall be sent by email to lcfac@cedd.gov.hk or submitted in a CD-ROM together with the original hard copy of the Application Form on or before 5:00 pm on the invitation closing date. The required supporting documents and relevant materials shall be submitted either in MS Word, Excel or PDF format (please refer to Appendix 1 of the Guide to Application for requirements). In the electronic-input Application Form, signature by the Person-in-charge of Organisation and official chop are not required.

If tropical cyclone warning signal No. 8 or above, or a black rainstorm warning signal or "extreme conditions after super typhoons" announced by the Government is / are in force at any time between 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm on the invitation closing date, the invitation closing time will be postponed to 5:00 pm on the first working day after the above-mentioned signals or the "extreme conditions after super typhoons" announced by the Government has / have ceased to be in force.

If either the hard copy or the soft copy of an application is not submitted on or before 5:00 pm on the invitation closing date, the application will not be considered.

Projects that contribute to the overall conservation of Lantau, raise community awareness on the conservation of Lantau, or engage the community to put conservation into practice may apply for funding support under the LCF.

For details of project streams and scope of funding support, please refer to the Guide to Application.

If the proposed projects involve adjacent waters / islands of Lantau and will bring benefits for the conservation of Lantau as a whole, they will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Projects seeking funding support from the LCF are expected to be of sufficient scale in order to bring noticeable contributions to the conservation of Lantau. In order to be more effective and reach more beneficiaries, the lower threshold limit for application is HK$250,000.

Notwithstanding the above, each proposed Conservation and Related Project will generally be subject to the funding and duration limits in the following project stream:

Applications exceeding the above funding and / or duration limits will be considered on a case-by-case basis, having regard to full justifications and / or the benefits and merits of the proposed project.

In addition, after the project completion, renewal of projects may be considered based on the merits of the newly proposed project.

After project completion, renewal of projects may be considered based on the merits of the newly proposed project.

Rejected applications may be re-submitted but the Applicant Organisation shall state clearly in Appendix A to Application Form the revisions / amendments made.

There are no restrictions on this round of application. Depending on the nature of the project, quality of proposal, Applicant Organisation's capability, and quality of budget, the proposed project will be assessed according to the established assessment criteria. Whether the Applicant Organisation has sufficient capacity to carry out multiple projects at the same time will also be considered.

Each application must be submitted by a single organisation. The Applicant Organisation shall be the single contact point of and accountable for its proposed project. Nevertheless, the Applicant Organisation is allowed to collaborate with other supporting / sponsoring bodies to implement the proposed project.

ONE original hard copy of Application Form (signed and stamp-chopped) to be delivered to the Secretariat of the Lantau Conservation Fund Advisory Committee at 12/F, 1063 King's Road, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong by hand or post.

ONE set of electronic-input Application Form and other relevant documents to be sent by email to lcfac@cedd.gov.hk or submitted in a CD-ROM together with the hard copy.

Important Notes:

1. This checklist is not exhaustive and is for guidance and reference only. The Applicant Organisation should read the Application Form and Guide to Application carefully to complete the application. The Secretariat may request for additional documentary proofs when necessary.
2. All copies of documentary proof should be clear and readable. If considered necessary, the Secretariat may request to examine the originals of the documentary proofs.
3. For enquiries, please contact the Secretariat at enquiry@lcf.gov.hk or visit the LCF website.

It is the Applicant Organisation's responsibility to check the ownership of the land and / or buildings involved and obtain consent from the land owner(s) / building owner(s) / tenant(s) / relevant government department(s) concerned for implementing the project. The Applicant Organisation shall provide written consent from the land owner(s) / tenant(s) / relevant government department(s) concerned and the lot number(s) or address(es) of premises involved as far as possible during the application stage.

The Applicant Organisation shall submit all necessary written consent within three months from funding approval, or any reasonable period as agreed between the Applicant Organisation and the Secretariat. In any case, the agreement would only be signed after all written consent is obtained.

The Applicant Organisation's attendance at meeting(s) of the LCFAC to present their project proposals will be on a need basis.

After project approval, an agreement will be signed between the Grantee and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for implementation of the project.

Examples of expenditure items that will not be supported are listed below:

1. Payments for renting or purchasing materials already in the Grantee’s stock;
2. Payments to individuals as a reward for their participation in the activities organised under a project;
3. Payment for employment of additional supervisory / administrative staff, engagement of professional advisors or provision of training courses for staff of the Grantee for undertaking the project; and
4. Remuneration (including salaries and honorarium) to Key Project Staff if they are receiving any forms of salary / remuneration / honorarium / allowance on a full-time basis by public funds other than the LCF.

Nevertheless, the list is by no means exhaustive (refer to Section 9 of the Guide to Application for details), and the decision of providing funding support to individual expenditure item will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

For an Applicant Organisation (including post-secondary education institution) that receives government subventions, funding for general administrative and overhead costs will not be supported. Otherwise, general administrative and overhead costs incurred from the project will be considered subject to a cap of 10% of the total approved grant or actual expenditure, whichever is the less. The Grantee has to submit the original or the certified copy of receipts or invoices for expenses to evidence its actual expenditure. (Note: the Applicant Organisation should declare in the Application Form whether it receives government subventions or not).

Detailed guidelines on budget can be found in Section 9 of the Guide to Application.

The Lantau Conservation Fund Advisory Committee (LCFAC) is responsible for assessing the applications.

The criteria for assessment of the funding applications and their weightings are as follows:

1. Overall benefits to achieve conservation purpose (40%)
2. Quality of proposal (30%)
3. Applicant Organisation's capability (20%)
4. Quality of budget (10%)

While the project quality in achieving conservation objective is the primary consideration in granting funding support, priority consideration will be given in the assessment to support projects that match with the planning intention of the Lantau Conservation and Recreation Masterplan and the conservation themes, when everything of projects considered being equal, in order to create synergy amongst different projects and to maximise the conservation benefits through efficient use of fund. Details are posted on the Lantau Conservation Fund website:
https://www.lcf.gov.hk/en/application/priority-project.html

For the avoidance of doubt, these projects are still subject to assessment and the LCFAC will recommend or reject any applications on the basis of their own merits and in accordance with the assessment criteria in Section 12 of the Guide to Application.

The Applicant Organisation will normally receive notifications from the Secretariat about the application result in 4 to 7 months after the closing date of application period. Information of the approved project will be uploaded onto the LCF website.

The Applicant Organisation shall provide qualitative and quantitative performance indicators to gauge the effectiveness of the project. Given the uniqueness of individual project, the Applicant Organisation can propose tailor-made indicators based on its activities and programme to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. Some typical indicators are given below for reference:

1. area of land conserved / managed (breakdown by habitat types / habitat management measures should be provided);
2. biodiversity conserved (e.g. number of species of target taxonomic group recorded, change in species richness / abundance of target taxonomic groups / species, number of species of conservation concern recorded, etc.);
3. number of education and engagement programmes organised and the number of participants;
4. behavioural changes of the participants; and
5. conservation knowledge learnt by the participants.

Any increase in cost arising from inflation or unforeseen situation will be borne by the Grantees. Request for additional funding after project approval will not be considered.

The Applicant Organisation is encouraged to generate income and / or seek sponsorships from other sources to fund part of the project. The Applicant Organisation should clearly indicate in its submission details of the income and sponsorships including the source and amount. The Applicant Organisation should note that the acceptance of other funding sources shall not bring the Government into disrepute, or give rise to any actual or perceived conflict of interest, or involve undue publicity for the funding bodies, or generate commercial benefits. The Applicant Organisation should state in the application its intention to seek other sponsorships even if details are not available when its application is submitted. The Applicant Organisation's commitment to generate income and secure sponsorships will be taken into account in the assessment. Any income and sponsorships must be ploughed back to support the project. The amount of income and sponsorship should be stated in the budget, and must be deducted from the proposed project expenditure before calculating the amount of funding to be sought.

Upon signing of the agreement and, where applicable, meeting any conditions as imposed by the LCFAC, an initial payment which is normally between 20-25% of the approved grant will be effected to the Grantee as first disbursement. The Applicant Organisation should submit a proposed plan for disbursement in the Application Form for consideration. The last 10% of the approved grant will normally be released to the Grantee only after completion of the project, subject to submission of the necessary deliverables (e.g. completion report, project summary, etc.) together with a final audited accounts to the satisfaction of the CEDD.

The Grantee is required to submit the following documents to the Secretariat as appropriate:

1. Progress report(s);
2. Annual audited accounts;
3. Completion report together with the final audited accounts; and
4. Project summaries showing the progress, findings, outcome and achievement.

The above-mentioned audited accounts shall be audited by a certified public accountant (practising) within the meaning of section 2 of the Professional Accountants Ordinance (Cap. 50). This requirement is not applicable to post-secondary education institutions provided that the accounts are certified by their respective finance offices.

At any time the Grantee breaches any terms of the agreement and / or the Government considers that the Grantee has failed to remedy the breach to the satisfaction of the Government, the Government may suspend the project including payment of the Grant or any part thereof or terminate the agreement immediately on notice to the Grantee. For details, please refer to the sample agreement.

Statement of accounts shall include statement of income and expenditure of the approved project submitted by the Person-in-charge of the Organisation showing the approved budget of the respective items with the corresponding income / expenditure grouped in categories. For details, please refer to the Sample Statement of Income and Expenditure on our webpage of "Good Practice Guidance".

The annual audited accounts and the final audited accounts should contain statement of income and expenditure, balance sheet, notes to the accounts and auditors' report prepared under a reasonable assurance engagement in accordance with the Hong Kong Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (Revised) "Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information" issued by the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. For details, please refer to the Notes for Auditors of Grantees and Sample Auditors' Report on our webpage of "Good Practice Guidance".

The Grantee is obliged to adhere to a high standard of integrity and spend the funds in an open, fair and accountable manner. The Grantee should exercise utmost prudence in procuring goods and services for the project and must adhere to the following procedures unless the LCFAC agrees otherwise –

The title of capital items (including but not limited to equipment and apparatus) procured with using LCF will remain with the Government during the project period. The Grantees must return to the Secretariat upon request the capital items (including equipment and apparatus) which can still be used or which has not yet been used / exhausted after project completion, or when the signed agreement terminates. Such capital items cannot be disposed of without the prior consent of the Government.

Major changes to approved project and / or budget are normally NOT allowed. In case the changes to the project are unavoidable, the Grantee shall obtain written approval by the Government. Full justifications should be provided to substantiate the request for such major changes.