Grants for youth run gardens

Katie's Krops is accepting applications from youth between the ages of 9 and 16 for grants to start a Katie's Krops vegetable garden in their community with the purpose of donating the harvest to people in need.

Selected applicants will be awarded a gift card to a garden center in their area (of up to $500), support from Katie’s Krops, and a digital camera to document the garden and the harvest. In addition to grant materials, winners will be eligible to attend the all-expenses-paid Katie's Krops Summer Camp in Pelion, South Carolina. All grantees that complete all grant requirements are eligible for funds to continue to grow their graden year after year, thereby creating a sustainable solution to hunger in their community.

Katie's Krops grant recipients are required to start and maintain a vegetable garden for a minimum of one planting season. All types of vegetable gardens, including container gardens if the applicant lives in a city or a vegetable garden located in a neighborhood or at a school, will be considered. Grantee decides where the garden will be grown. The grant recipients also determine where they will donate their harvest, which is based on need in their community (e.g., the harvest can be used to support classmates in need, homeless shelters, food banks, or neighbors in need).

Grant recipients must donate the entire harvest from the garden to people in need in their community. This may be done through direct donations to families in need or by donating the harvest to soup kitchens or organizations that feed the needy. In addition, grantees are required to submit photos and a brief report on their progress, including the amount of produce they have grown, volunteers who have helped, donations made, and what they have learned from the experience.

See the Katie's Krops website for complete program guidelines and application instructions.

Link to Complete RFP

Veggie Bingo - putting the "fun" in fundraising!

For 12 weeks each summer, the Hideout, a Chicago bar and music venue, transforms into a hub for community gardeners and the produce they grow. The Hideout is home to Veggie Bingo and its cult following of community garden supporters. The fees, $4 a card or three for $10, benefit a different community garden each week and have helped gardens purchase tools and supplies including soil, seeds, sheds, compost, benches, and scholarships for young workers.  NeighborSpace, the nonprofit urban land trust that supports community gardens, sponsors the bingo night, and pools and divides proceeds among the dozen gardens chosen for the season. Robin Cline, assistant director of NeighborSpace estimates one night of bingo can bring in anywhere from $300 to $1,000. Since its founding, Veggie Bingo’s popularity has grown steadily; on some nights, it attracts as many as 125 to 130 players.

Source: Civil Eats, 7/19/16, Veggie Bingo

Garden project grant deadline this week

Sow It Forward is the grants and partnership program of Kitchen Gardeners International. The grant is for nonprofit causes or organizations interested in starting or expanding food garden projects that are of general benefit to their community.  Past grantees include school gardens, community gardens, food bank gardens, library gardens, senior gardens, prison gardens and homeless shelter gardens among others.

For our 2015 round of giving, we expect to offer 100 full grants and roughly 60 partial grants. A full grant has a value $500 and normally consists of a cash grant of $300-400 with the remaining $100-$200 taking the form of seeds and gift certificates for garden supplies and KGI's online garden planner. The partial grant normally has a value of $325 and consists of a $300 cash grant and $25 one-year subscription to KGI'sonline garden planner. There are no geographic limitations on what types of food garden projects will be considered.  Past grantees included projects from Portland, Oregon to Pakistan and many places in between. Because of trade restrictions and international shipping fees, garden projects from outside the US will only be eligible for partial grants. 

Deadline is this week!  January 9!  Go here for more information.