Hi Bruce,
Congrats on starting a community garden in your area! It sounds
like it
will be a real asset, especially given the current circumstances.
When we started our community garden last year, we were concerned
about
the cost of putting up a fence for our 100 x 150' space. So we
put our
heads together and came up with an idea that turned out to be really
successful.
We used metal t-posts and 16' x 50" hog panels for the fence (one
t-post
every 8 feet.) We went to local businesses (dentists, vets,
restaurants, churches, nurseries, credit unions, etc)and asked
them to
sponsor 1 fence panel and 2 t-posts for $30. We focused our
presentation on the health benefits our garden would bring to our
gardeners, and the general community. The contributors received
acknowledgement of their support by having a Sponsor Plaque hung on
their panel, and they are also listed on our website. Plaques were
pieces of recycled cedar fencing with their name painted on it,
donated
and painted by volunteers.
We made up a "Help Fence Us In!" flier to give to the business so
they
didn't have to make a decision on the spot (or if the decision maker
wasn't there at the time), and it had a section at the bottom to
be cut
off and mailed in with the donation, and also the name they would
like
on the Sponsor Plaque. I can email that flier to anyone if they
want it
as an example.
It was much easier for us to ask for a $30 donation than for "hey,
can
you donate 500' of fencing to us" and most businesses can afford
to give
$30 to a community cause. Most really do want to help if they can.
Some surprised us by sponsoring 2 or 3 panels! And even if you don't
get a donation now, they might think of you in the future and
surprise
you with a gift card (that happened to us with Walmart) or some other
type of support. Obviously, it can apply to other projects besides
fencing.
In summary, it worked really well for us to divide our expenses into
small, manageable dollar amounts and get small donations from lots of
places, instead of asking for large donations from just a few places.
This method might work well in your town, too. Be sure to
acknowledge
their support in some way if you can, and don't forget to send them a
"Thank You" letter or card!
Good luck with your garden and keep us posted!
Lori Ferris
Garden Manager
Unity Park Community Garden
www.UnityParkCG.org
ps - I forgot to mentions that we had to put chicken wire around the
entire bottom of our fence to keep the bunnies out, but that
expense was
added in to the $30 per sponsorship price.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Community_garden] (no subject)
From: Bruce Ruch <ruc...@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, February 17, 2011 3:31 am
To: community_garden@list.communitygarden.org
To whom it may concern we are currently starting a new community
garden
with several small plots. about a half acre in size. Basically little
money with a lot of hope. We need to file for grrant money and
anything
else. Our city has been hurt by the economy and have lost several
factories. If anyone can give us advise or any help we would greatly
appreciate your offering. We are a non for profit organization.
Please
help out in any way you can my email is ruc...@yahoo.com Thank you
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