San Diego nonprofits dedicated to horticulture and conservation have a new source of support to help their gardens grow. The Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club recently awarded $50,000 in grants to eleven nonprofits from a new endowment fund it established at the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation.
The RSF Garden Club came to the RSF Foundation when they desired to set up a fund that would be prudently invested to support activities consistent with their mission: “To further the development of charitable horticulture and charitable conservation activities, both within and outside the community of Rancho Santa Fe.” They will use the fund to make annual grants to nonprofits engaged in these activities.
With both an endowed and a non-endowed fund at the RSF Foundation, the RSF Garden Club has options for how and when they distribute their funds. The endowed fund allows the organization to take up to a five percent payout annually, and the non-endowed fund allows them to take distributions of any amount from the fund.
The May 2015 RSF Garden Club Grant Awards
- Don Diego Scholarship Foundation to sponsor two buses to bring at-risk students to the San Diego County Fair to participate in the Plant*Grow*Eat Ag Education program.
- Friends of Pacific Rim to expand the composting and vermiculture program to create more fertile soil for plantings and reduce the output of lunchtime waste on the campus.
- Mira Costa College to help build an open-air sheltering structure for the Horticulture Department.
- Osuna Adobe Restoration Fund at the RSF Foundation for landscaping the grounds of the historic Juan Osuna adobe in Rancho Santa Fe.
- Park Dale Lane Elementary School for expanding the garden area used by kindergartners.
- RSF School District to enhance the current gardening program.
- San Diego Botanic Garden to support the 2015 Insect Festival to be held on July 25-26, 2015.
- Nature Collective (Formerly San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy) for the San Elijo Native Plant Nursery.
- Solana Ranch Elementary School for expanding the raised garden beds adjacent to the school playground.
- Skyline Elementary School to improve and expand the existing garden education program.
- The Water Conservation Garden for expanding and upgrading the Veggie Garden exhibit.
Fred Wasserman, RSF Garden Club Co-President, with RSF School District grant recipients
Park Dale Lane School grant recipients with Susan Glass (far right), RSF Garden Club Co-President
