Rough Draft 1.0 10/5/2020
Intro
We thought it might be helpful to list out community garden organizations that help support or inform community garden spaces.
American Community Garden Association (communitygarden.org)
Mission Synopsis: “…build community by increasing and enhancing community gardening and greening across the United States and Canada.”
- Binational – Canada and United States
- Promotes and supports all aspects of community food and ornamental gardening, urban forestry, preservation of open space.
- Develops resources in support of community gardening
- Encourages research and educational programs
- Is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit. – Guidestar.org
- Promotes a strong inclusiveness policy (LINK)
ACGA History Highlights:
- Early formation in the City of Chicago as a result of two national community gardening conferences in 1978 and 1979.
- Recognized a growing demand for community garden services and better training for managing local politics, land acquisition, business administration, and public relations.
- Formal incorporation in 1982 with a grant from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in Philadelphia.
- A formal office was provided by Project Grow, Inc., a nonprofit community gardening organization in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- A 16 member board of regional directors was established to network across the country led by Ken Nicolls, president and founding member of the coalition.
ACGA Committees:
- Education & Training
- Finance
- Marketing, Development, and Membership
- Governance
Why this resource might be helpful to you:
- Under the “Resources” tab there is a great number of relevant scholarly articles on a variety of topics such as garden politics, youth gardening, how to create a community garden, etc.
- There are membership, donor, and volunteer opportunities.
- Supporting well-directed organizations like these helps benefit all community garden efforts.
SeedMoney.org
Formerly known as Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI), SeedMoney has shifted emphasis towards offering “financial and technical support to a wide variety of public food garden projects. [which] include community gardens, school gardens, food bank gardens, homeless shelter gardens, and senior gardens,…”
- Built an online community of 40,000 gardeners from 120 countries.
- Have won several high profile online advocacy campaigns to protect front yard vegetable gardens from bureaucratic overreach
- TEDx talk on importance of vegetable gardening in our changing times *LINK
- Led a successful online campaign for a new kitchen garden at the White House
Resource Links
Communitygarden.org
SeedMoney.org