Economic considerations for starting your garden

Funding is often an issue with the start up, and at times the maintenance, of a community garden. Costs may include:

  • land use fees
  • application fees
  • water and utilities
  • facilities use fees
  • tools and machinery
  • seeds and transplants
  • materials for infrastructure
  • etc.

    • City of Vancouver Food Policy Coordinator Devorah Kahn estimated that starting a new community garden will cost around $7,000-10,000 on average. However, it depends o n what materials and services your garden needs and how creative you are in obtaining them. Some gardens have been extremely resourceful in getting donations of materials, time, labour, and skill. For example, the Tea Swamp Community Garden at E15th Avenue and Sofia created their garden on a shoestring budget of $500.

    Be creative and resourceful when seeking out donations. For donations of materials, look around your neighbourhood or ask neighbours for unused items that can be re-used or re-fashioned into something beautiful or handy. Also try approaching local hardware stores and other community businesses and ask if they would be interested in donating either funds or materials. In APPENDIX I is an example template donation letter that can serve as a basis for your own. For donations of time and skill, hold scheduled work parties and always be ready to recruit new volunteers, especially students and professional that have specialized knowledge in agriculture, construction, community organization, and other areas of expertise.

    Another source of funding is grant money. There are numerous small, one-time grants that can provide several hundred to a few thousand dollars to your project. Local Community Credit Unions have also been instrumental in helping a number of the existing community gardens. See APPENDIX J for a list of some of the granting and funding sources that will fund Community Garden type projects. However, some have certain restrictions, such as being available only for non-profit or charitable nonprofit organizations, read the requirements and restrictions carefully before applying.

    Non-Profit Status

    An organisation with legal non-profit status is an organisation that does not distribute its profits, if any are generated, among shareholders. Instead, any money earned by the organization goes into funding programs and salaries.

    It is not necessary for your group to become acquire non-profit status in order to successfully start and maintain a community garden. However, the status does afford some advantages. It can:

  • own its own property and its own bank account
  • continue to do the work that you have started after you and key organizers have left the project
  • protect you and others involved in your organization from liability issues
  • enable you to start a community garden on City or Parks land, since both authorities require groups to have non-profit status in order to do so
  • make your group eligible for more grants, as many are available only to non-profit or charitable non-profit organisations
  • allow you to charge membership fees that will help pay garden expenses.

    • There are two ways to obtain non-profit status:

    1) Partner with an existing non-profit organization.

  • New gardens can partner up with an established garden that is run by a non-profit organisation. See APPENDIX A, which lists several community gardens in Vancouver that have expressed interest in providing this type of advice and guidance.
  • Another avenue may also be to partner with an established environment nongovernmental organization (NGO) that promotes urban agriculture. See APPENDIX K, which lists many NGOs in Vancouver that are involved in agriculture and gardening.

    • 2) Establish a new non-profit society

  • You can obtain non-profit status by incorporating your group. A great how-to resource is also available at the Charity Village website
  • You will need to file articles of incorporation with either the provincial or federal government. You can find these documents and step-by-step instructions at the following websites:
    BC Government
    Federal Government