In 2017, the Society for Marine Mammalogy (SMM) established an endowment fund for marine mammal conservation. The purpose of this SMM Conservation Fund is to support research and education projects that will catalyze real action to protect the world’s most endangered marine mammals. By 2021, the SMM had built this fund to a point that it could issue the first call-for-proposals. Proposals will be solicited biennially in the summer preceding each Biennial Conference and will be reviewed by members of the SMM Conservation Committee and Committee of Scientific Advisors. Awardees will be announced at the next Biennial Conference. The Conservation Fund Coordinator (appointed by the SMM President) aids in coordinating fundrais