Gaia Foundation - Sustainable Agriculture Grant

_NOTE: Gaia Fund is currently undergoing some administrative changes and is suspending grantmaking activity for the first half of 2025. The Fund will not be reviewing inquiries or proposals until the second half of the year. In the meantime, your patience is appreciated._

Grant Priority

Gaia Fund’s highest priority is to address the environmental problems caused by prevailing agricultural practices.

With this in mind, the Fund seeks to foster the transition of California’s food and farming system to one that is sustainable, integrating the goals of best organic practices, responsible environmental stewardship, profitability, and social and economic equity.

The Fund focuses on sustainable agriculture methods which, concurrently, produce nutritious food crops, mitigate climate change, protect natural resources, and promote biodiversity.

The fund considers requests for california initiatives that:

• Encourage farmers to adopt sustainable practices
• Support sustainable farming that operates on a smaller commercial scale and that serves local markets
• Train individuals for careers in sustainable farming
• Preserve land that will be farmed sustainably

The current focus is on the following food crops:

• vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains.

Capital and Endowment Campaigns

Gaia Fund will consider capital and endowment campaign requests, but assigns such requests a lower priority. Grant awards in support of capital and endowment are typically consistent with the grant amounts awarded for specific programs.

Renewals

The Fund may elect to renew general support or project grants in succeeding years, but renewal is not guaranteed and grantees are cautioned to plan accordingly. Non-renewed general support or project grants will be ineligible for reconsideration until at least two years have passed since the last grant was awarded.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

• Applicants must be tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or be able to demonstrate that they have obtained a 501(c)(3) organization as a fiscal agent.
• The Fund limits its review to proposals for California-based projects, and geographic emphasis is placed on the following Northern California counties:
  • Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, and Yolo.
• The Fund may, on occasion, award grants for initiatives operating outside of these counties, if they are judged to have a particular local relevance.

Ineligibility

• Meat and fiber production is not a current grantmaking priority.
• The Fund also does not currently consider urban gardens/agriculture, or garden-based education programs.
• Unsolicited requests for programs that don’t align with our specific funding interests will not be considered.