Our annual Gardens for Good contest is now open for applications!

(Applications are open until March 24th) 

The Gardens for Good grant program supports community gardens across North America who are growing organic food and doing good in their communities.  To spread the love a little further in 2021, we will award 21 garden projects with $5,000 each this year!

Following the application period, your community will have the chance to vote for your garden from March 24th to April 7th.

The final 21 garden winners will be selected both by number of votes AND through an internal vetting process by which our team evaluates garden applicants according to 3 criterion (as outlined in the Terms and Conditions).

ENTER YOUR GARDEN

If you are part of a non-profit garden project in the United States or Canada and are not a previous winner of this grant, we invite you to apply for the grant below. Simply fill out the application form and tell us about the good work your garden does for the community.

Apply Now
Apply Now
Garden Information

Please include information detailing the feasibility of your garden project (land use rights, etc.), how your garden project supports the community, and what makes your garden particularly special, inspiring or empowering.

Social Media
Garden Photo
Contact Information

All contact information (other than city/ state) will be kept hidden and will not appear on your public profile.

By entering my garden for the 2021 Gardens for Good grant I confirm that:

PAST RECIPIENTS

Over the years we’ve awarded grants to 30 gardens across North America. Here are just a few examples of our previous winners and their inspiring garden projects.

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2019

Austin Discovery School

Austin Discovery School is an academically rigorous public charter school dedicated to building compassion, collaboration and critical thinking by engaging students with the natural world. In their EcoWellness Program, children learn environmental stewardship, gardening skills, science, and how to care for creatures we share this land with. The program includes dedicated staff, gardens and tended farm animals.

The Giving Teaching Garden

St Louisville, KY (at Shawnee People’s Garden, supported by Louisville Grows)

Shawnee People’s Garden was once an empty city lot in the middle of an urban food desert. But then citizens and local non-profit, Louisville Grows, transformed it to an oasis of organic greens. Among its gardeners was BJ Jones, who distributed his crops to folks in need. With Gardens for Good, Jones’ donations have grown and its founders now instruct others how to garden and how to create community gardens in other Louisville food deserts.

Occupy Madison Village Gardens

Madison, Wisconsin

In response to mass homelessness and food insecurity, Occupy Madison set out to provide shelter for those in need. Building 99 square foot houses resulted in the first tiny homes village integrated within a U.S. neighborhood, and it’s still going strong. Within the village, the project grows its own food to sustain and connect the community.

St. Mary’s Foundation for Children

Bayside, New York 

As New York’s first children’s hospital, St. Mary’s Foundation for Children aims to brighten up the days of its nearly 2,000 patients. Providing long-term health, the hospital teaches its children about gardening and healthy eating. With the help of Good for Gardens, the hospital aims to collaborate with more local schools and youth-based groups. Together they take part in urban farming on a dedicated one-acre plot of land.

The Growing Chefs! Classroom Gardening Program

Vancouver, B.C.

The Growing Chefs! Program allows children to learn about the origins of food and the benefits of eating well, in a fun way. With volunteer chefs at hand, young students learn everything from planting seeds, growing, and harvesting, to cooking a meal with them. It has been running for more than a decade with schools across British Columbia clamoring to join. The program hopes to include more schools to teach the value of eating sustainably.

Tri-Isle Resource Conservation & Development Council, Inc. 

Kahului, Hawaii (Hāli’imaile Community Garden)

The Goodwill Garden is dedicated to building food sustainability in a place where one out of seven people go hungry. The gardening space is in Kahului, Hawaii as part of a larger project whose goal is to provide access to fresh produce. The vegetables grown are donated weekly to food banks, which results in several hundred pounds of produce each month. The project serves all Maui, where 18,600 residents seek help from food banks.

The Table Community Garden

Perth, Ontario

Since 2012, the Table Community Garden has been the second affiliate Community Food Centre, offering access to healthy foods. Its nickname the Good Food Bank is what separates it from others. The project offers a variety of fresh products to support healthy and fresh food choices that often come from its own garden. Aside from providing free produce, the project also runs cooking and gardening lessons.

Oliver’s Food Project

Hamilton, Ontario

Oliver’s Food Project sprouted from curiosity when two siblings saw children rummaging through the recycling. The siblings Oliver and Piper’s mother explained the children were doing so to get money for food. This idea did not sit well with Oliver, who then created the garden project in Hamilton, Ontario. The family began selling their vegetables, where 100 per cent of sales went straight to local youth charities. The project has since expanded across five more gardens within their neighborhood.

Sole Food Street Farms

Vancouver, B.C.

Sole Food Street Farm is the brain child from a group of residents in one of North America’s worst urban slums. To help address the problems in their neighborhood, a group of residents created an urban farm, from a vacant contaminated plot of land. The project’s mission is to empower those with limited resources, giving jobs and agricultural training for those managing addiction and, chronic and mental health issues.