Friday, May 22, 2009

A Grant Program For Gardening Projects




Does your organization have a conservation or landscape-related project in the works? Well you may be eligible to apply for this locally available grant program! Money is available to beautify, conserve, educate, inspire, and contribute to people of all ages using horticulture and garden development.


If your organization or institution would like to apply for this grant program then you have to fill out their online application which is available at their website. The grant application itself can be very simple, even handwritten, with simple sketches or photographs - but it must be completed by the deadline, June 15, 2009! The application is available as a downloadable .pdf file. According to one of the organization's members "We receive many requests to fund projects each year. We appreciate your project submission to us and hope we will be able to work with you toward accomplishing your goals. Good luck!"


The deadline to apply for this grant program is

June 15, 2009!


Here are some of the past grant recipients:

  • A student received a scholarship which was funded by the organization. The student decided to study landscape gardening and, after being told by an instructor that she was "an excellent student," she went on to become a landscape instructor herself and now works with the instructor. One of her responsibilities and the part she enjoys the most is to supervise other students landscaping/planting the yards of newly completed Habitat for Humanity homes, a project also made possible by a grant from this same organization!

  • One Audubon Society group now has a ranger to take care of one of their projects thanks to a $6,000 grant that has been provided by this organization.

  • The organization has provided grant money to help beautify landscapes in the city and nearby county.

  • A local area church has received enough grant money for the planting of biblical plants in their garden.

  • A Children's Museum received grant money to establish a Secret Garden visible over a brick wall which also included a water feature & plantings with benches to allow citizens & tourists to rest and enjoy the setting.

  • Another garden received grant money for an outdoor butterfly garden to surround the new Butterfly House that will be constructed there. Plant materials will be specifically designed to attract native butterflies and this area will serve as an outdoor classroom for visitors and schoolchildren.


  • Other special projects that have been supported include garden therapy, youth gardener projects, and horticultural programs.


And the list goes on. Add it all up and the club's generosity is known to have benefited thousands of nonprofit organizations, schools, churches, local government projects and individuals, to the tune of more than $1 million.

Grants are divided into five main categories:

  • Beautification - the creation of new gardens and the restoration of existing gardens; adding trees, shrubs; flowers along with hardscapes that will allow people to enjoy the particular area.

  • Conservation

  • Educational - In addition to scholarship funds, the organization has funded a greenhouse at a local Community College in which students learn to grow plants. Multiple grant awards have gone to schools and organizations for the purpose of educating people about how to use plants for conservation, food, landscaping, attracting wildlife, etc.

  • Inspirational and memorials - For example one hospice received grant monies to help with a three-phase project for gardens on the property that will be uplifting to patients as well as to the entire community who visit and contemplate life and death. The project was completed in 2008.

  • Philanthropy



A Grant Funding Example!

A Local Library!


Of course as I have been saying all along, one of the reasons why grant programs have been started is to bring more awareness to a problem and to help better one's community. Here is an example:


One local library with a population of over 100,000, which has had over 71,000 registered library card holders, has circulated 300,000 items and answered over 100,000 reference questions has received over $45,000 in grant money!

The Library System provided 1,512 programs and activities, the most in the history of the system, with 33,576 attending the events. The Reading Well Outreach made 332 visits to day-care centers and camps entertaining 16,146 children and teachers.

Besides providing the regular library services to the community, their Mobile Library started visiting nursing homes and assisted-living centers. The Library System’s staff provides adult storytelling and Nintendo Wii gaming for seniors.

The Library System didn’t solely focus on branch renovations during 2008, but accomplished the goal of enhancing technology. The Library System purchased databases to meet public demand. The Library System subscribed to Mango Language, which teaches nine foreign languages; Marshall Cavendish, an excellent database for children’s non-fiction material; and Lexis-Nexis and JSTOR, databases for periodical subscriptions and research. Also Meebo, an instant chat with a reference librarian, was added to the library system's web site, along with a reference blog describing the latest news in the reference department. Instructional videos on databases and interlibrary usages also were added on the Web site and YouTube. The Library System also maintains MySpace and Facebook sites. The library's e-book collection has increased to 1,740 items and some of the titles can be downloaded to a MP3 player. The Library System has a collection of 302,035 books, 6,291 books-on-CD, 6,758 DVDs, 2,746 books-on-tape and subscribes to approximately 400 magazines.

If a person can’t visit one of the library's branches to obtain their monthly newsletter/calendar, it can now be downloaded from one of the Library System’s web site.

Grants allow the Library System to provide quality programming. For 2008, the system received $47,446 in grants. The money was awarded from various organizations and regional Art Councils.





Scholarship Program For Veterans



Nationwide colleges have received $100,00 from a program that provides scholarships and support for current and former military members to ease their transition into higher education. the university announced Friday. The grants will be used to support related college programs. So far over 250 colleges have applied for these grants, which are given anually to colleges that have developed significant programs to increase access to veterans and their families. The first scholarships are expected to be awarded in the fall.

Over the past year, one foundation has awarded more than $3.6 million in grants to organizations in support of programs that provide educational assistance to veterans.

No comments: