Transforming Schoolyards
Raising Funds and Building Support
Author: National Gardening Editors
You're ready to start raising funds and recruiting volunteers for your
school garden project, and you need just one more thing to get you rolling:
to hear the encouraging voices of peers who have succeeded. After all,
if they could do it, so can you! Here are a few vignettes from teachers
in our gardening network. We hope they'll inspire ideas for tapping
in to local sources of funds and support.
Piecing it Together: A Medley of
Methods
Pam Chamblin, a teacher and Gardening Committee member at the Poquoson
(VA) Elementary School writes, "Don't try to do it all by yourself.
The more people and classes involved in planning and gardening, the
better it will be." The committee launched the school's gardens and
habitats with grants from the school board, and also found enthusiastic
support from the area food bank. "Their gardening coordinator helped
with planning, provided instruction and seeds, and joined us on a field
trip to Tuckahoe Elementary in Arlington, VA, to see their garden."
When the spring workday was scheduled, they recruited volunteers via
the school newsletter. "Parents, teachers, administrators, and elementary
and high school students came out to help build our new beds, put in
bird feeders, plant, and weed. That afternoon at our celebration, the
food bank provided our meal." Thanks to all of the enthusiasm and commitment
demonstrated by the school and community, the PTO has adopted the school
gardens as their project. "They'll help us with money, materials, and
people power for our fall and spring gardening days. We have a parent
coordinator
this year, too."
Many garden projects depend on small gifts from myriad places. Debra
Tate-Anderson, art teacher for Strodes Mills Middle School in Lewistown,
PA, has pieced together donations, funding, and volunteer efforts like
a colorful quilt. Like many garden coordinators, she anted up first.
"I offered teachers life-sized, acrylic painted, cardboard portraits
and collected over $100 for the garden. The teachers post their look-a-likes
outside their classrooms." She welcomed plant donations from parents,
teachers, staff, and community members, which filled their 3,000 square
foot garden in no time. "Simply letting people know what we are doing
continues to bring plenty of free plants." A grant from a local organization
yielded $350 for materials to construct picnic tables; the county vocational
students built the tables for free. An Eagle Scout has offered to build
a grape arbor, at his expense. The local garden club planted a dogwood
tree for the school's Arbor Day celebration and recently obtained 70
trees for the school via a grant.
"I was first inspired to have the kids turn our enclosed courtyard into a garden and habitat when I attended the Children's Garden Symposium a few years back," says Joanne Bauer, third grade teacher at Lower Southampton (PA) Elementary School. Knowing that a schoolyard transformation would require lots of allies, Joanne took PTA president with her the following year. This strategy helped open the PTA's eyes to the possibilities, and they established a "habitat account" to provide funds for plants and new projects. Staff members wrote and received grants from the school district,
local and national educational organizations, and Ames department stores.
Student entrepreneurs also took the initiative. They held bake sales,
sold daffodil bulbs, and created and marketed first-aid kits and "Habitat
Hannah" dolls (with clothing make from flowers and seed packets). Parents
and local businesses have donated and discounted plants and other materials.
"As businesses have seen the school's commitment to the project, it
has become much easier to solicit donations," Joanne explains. "We have
found that the more you document your progress and the more you can
show what you have accomplished, people are more willing to help you
with what you need. It is important to show that you have made a serious
commitment to completing and maintaining the project."
Businesses Act Locally
"The Internet is a great source for locating grants," notes Mary Thomas,
a parent volunteer at Joyner Elementary School in Tupelo, MS, "but yours
is one of thousands of applications. Try your local businesses and government
agencies first. It took me over a year of letter writing and grant writing,
as well as personal visits, but I was able to raise over $30,000 for
our outdoor environmental center. It took a lot of determination and
time, but we now have a great outdoor classroom that the district could
not otherwise afford." She emphasizes the importance of community businesses
as invested partners. "You would be surprised how many local stores
and businesses right in your community set aside funds for nonprofit
groups, and they love putting their money toward education," explains
Mary. "Approach chain stores and government agencies. Our local newspaper
gave $2,000 and a regional power company donated $3,000. Nurseries,
garden clubs, as even industrial companies were very generous."
Mary recommends thinking beyond dollars to potential in-kind donations.
"A bell tower is part of our center, so we approached a local architectural
firm for help. They agreed to design the structure. We then visited
a steel manufacturer, and they donated materials and built our tower's
frame. Another firm gave us a discount on concrete for our sidewalks
and tower platform, and a local contractor allowed us to charge bricks
to his account. The bricklayer was so impressed with our garden and
how it was being utilized, he donated $200 of his fee back to our project."
Nancy Sklavos-Gillett of Mount Olive High School in Flanders, NJ, corroborates
Mary's assessment. "Though locating funding is probably the single most
difficult aspect of creating a schoolyard habitat, many community businesses
will provide donations of either tools/materials or gift certificates.
Large chain stores such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe's are good
places to start, but smaller businesses are also willing to help. Approaching
them with information on the project and politely requesting donations
generally reaps positive results. A sense of humor helps tremendously,
too."
Budding Business Nets Profit
In schools throughout the country, students are using their gardening
savvy as a springboard for green business ventures. Dedicated volunteers
and creative partnerships with businesses promote project sustainability,
reports Judy Sims of Monte Vista Elementary School in Santa Barbara,
CA. Her school's garden, started with funds from a garden-supported
nutrition initiative, lead to an entrepreneurial farmer's market project.
Thanks to dedicated volunteers and local farmers, the market is going
strong. "Our Farmer's Market program is only as good as the person's
running it," says Judy. "Without [volunteer] Grandma Elizabeth, it wouldn't
be sustainable. The fresh, organic produce, nursery-grown plants, and
flowers, all sold to us at wholesale, make it a truly viable venture.
While our garden does offer some produce depending on the season, we
certainly rely on other sources to have regular and varied offerings."
The students deposit their revenue in a checking account donated by
the local bank. They use their profit to buy plants for the garden and
nature trail, fund field trips to local farms, and supply more food
for their healthy snack program. And they've enjoy the rewards of being
on the giving end, too, by donating money to environmental education
causes. (Read about this project and others in the Growing a School
Garden Business section of our Thematic Explorations Library.)
Student Enthusiasm Fills Coffers
"Our Global Outdoor Classroom, representing Asia, North America, and
Europe was designed and built by students," says Judy Miller, a retired
teacher and current garden volunteer in Appleton, WI. "Our garden club
of 20 to 30 students meets weekly to maintain the area. We have received
no
funding from the city or school district, but have received donations
of cash and plants from the community. We've raised money via grants
and by selling T-shirts, flower bulbs, and cinnamon rolls, but our greatest
pleasure is our plant sale in May. All winter and spring, students start
vegetable and flower seedlings and propagate donated houseplants to
sell to other students and their families. They love it."
What do you do when an unbudgeted expense crops up? Dawn Bradley, garden
coordinator at Tomahawk Elementary in Overland Park, Kansas, put out
a call to the school community. "We needed a new pump for our pond,
but had no funds. We sent out a newsletter to all of the students and
families in our neighborhood informing them that we were having a 'Pennies
for the Pond' fundraiser. I placed 5-gallon water bottles all over the
school, and asked that the children bring their loose change. We raised
$425 in two weeks - enough to replace the pump with some left over for
the garden fund. The fundraiser was a good experience for the children.
They loved watching money appear in the bottles."
Jayne Devencenzi is a school counselor who gardens with emotionally
disturbed students in the San Luis (CA) Coastal Unified School District.
Like other school gardeners, Jayne is grateful for the support of the
community. "We have depended on the hospitality of local businesses
to keep our gardens growing. They have donated compost, wood chips,
and hundreds of seedlings." But the students are also interested in
helping themselves. "When the elementary class
needed a wheelbarrow,
they brainstormed ways to raise the money, and decided to sell cuttings
of our scented geraniums at a local botanical garden festival. When
my middle school and high school classes heard about the need, they
volunteered to build birdhouses to sell, and donated the money to the
cause. Ultimately, we raised enough money to buy a wheelbarrow and many
other needed tools."
Jayne adds, "As the success of our gardening projects grows, so does the support for them. I now have volunteers who come to help work in the gardens. It's a win-win situation: The students get to work with garden mentors, friendships are formed, flowers bloom, vegetables are raised, and all the while hearts are being healed."
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