Funding and resources are important for garden sustainability. The most important resources will be time and community, so don’t let a lack of resources get in the way of building a vision. Here are some suggested resources to begin to think about funding and identification of other assets that could be leveraged.
Here are some tools to help identify assets that exist in your community--skills, knowledge, contacts, organizational affiliations, as well as material resources--that may be useful in helping make your community garden a reality.
Title: Identifying Community Assets: Guidelines, Worksheet, and Resources for Learning More
Sponsoring Organization: Connect
Description: Tool to help identify assets in your community (not just for gardens but for any community project). "This tool draws from the field of Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), which recognizes that people and communities everywhere have knowledge and gifts and invites them to contribute these to efforts to improve their communities. ABCD methods help people identify assets, connect and align them for leverage, and mobilize them for action. It arose in contrast to traditional community development that views communities, especially low-income communities, as places full of problems and deficits and focuses on bringing in 'help' from the outside."
Title: Asset Mapping
Sponsoring Organization: Vermont Community Garden Network
Description: "The long-term success of your garden depends on the people involved and the support and resources to keep it going. A wealth of skills, knowledge, and resources surround you–you just have to know what you’re seeking. Involving a diversity of community representatives early and at key points in your garden’s development will strengthen your efforts." This page has links to two tools for assessing those resources.
Title: Community Garden Best Practices Toolkit
Sponsoring Organization: Food Security Network of Newfoundland and Labrador
Description: See Step 3, "Establish Partnerships" (p. 11), which covers identifying potential partners (individuals or organizations) that can help bring together the resources needed, and Appendix F, "Sample Community Garden Wish List," which can help you start identifying tools and other material resources your garden may need that could be purchased or donated.
These resources are listed here primarily because they relate to aspects of identifying resources, engaging the community, and tools for overcoming legal or practical barriers to obtaining permission to use a site. (There are additional legal and policy resources below in section VI, Site Selection, and XI, Legal and Policy Resources.)
Title: Community Gardening Policy Reference Guide
Sponsoring Organization: Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law
Description: This comprehensive 60-page guide "provides a road map for how local laws and policies can impact local gardening efforts." Useful for both community garden advocates/organizers and local decision-makers to craft local laws and policies that can help promote successful community gardens. Sections include such topics as community engagement; funding/donations; local zoning and land use regulations that affect garden uses, fencing, and structures, etc.; liability insurance and waivers; and much more. Includes many examples from around the U.S.
Title: Ground Rules: A Legal Toolkit for Community Gardens
Sponsoring Organization: ChangeLab Solutions
Description: Download the link to this 36-page PDF which offers a toolkit of legal resources to help establish community gardens on vacant or underutilized parcels of land. Tools include a Model Community Garden Lease, a Model Gardener's Agreement, Model Community Garden Rules, and discussion checklists for the sponsor organization. By detailing the rights and responsibilities of the landowner, the sponsoring organization, and gardeners, using these tools can help overcome some legal and practical barriers to using vacant land for a community garden, such as a landowner's concerns about liability. Tools can be tailored to fit different situations and needs. Other related resources are avialable on the website.
These resources cover a variety of ways to find the financial and material support needed for a community garden.
Title: Fundraising
Sponsoring Organization: Vermont Community Garden Network
Description: See the "Fundraising" section of this page for links to over half a dozen excellent articles on how to find the materials and financial support needed for your garden, including "Starting a Garden Project: On a Budget."
Title: Public Garden Funding Resources
Sponsoring Organization: American Public Gardens Association
Description: List of potential sources of funding for public gardens, including community and school gardens.
Title: Garden Grants for Schools, Communities, and Non-Profits
Sponsoring Organization: Growing Spaces
Description: Links to sources of grants for community, educational, and other types of gardens.
Title: Online Crowdfunding Services
Description: Crowdfunding websites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Fundly, etc. can sometimes be a tool for groups to raise money online for a project such as a community garden.