What Olivewood Gardens does

Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2008 on a 7.85-acre property in National City, California, that was donated by Christy and John Walton to the International Community Foundation. It operates as an indoor-outdoor classroom combining a teaching garden, teaching kitchen, and outdoor learning spaces to deliver bilingual (English/Spanish) nutrition education, environmental stewardship, and leadership development programming for children, youth, adults, and families, with priority access for National City residents. Its core programs include the registered 'Cooking for Salud®' bilingual 8-week nutrition education and behavior modification curriculum, the 'Kitchenistas®' community engagement program for graduates, school-based partnerships covering all 10 National School District schools and Sweetwater High School internships, fee-based youth and family classes (Chefcitos, Garden Explorers, Talls & Smalls, Family Classes, Adult Cooking Classes), seasonal Day Camps, Girl Scout badge workshops, a weekly donation-based produce stand, and the PBS-distributed 'Kitchenistas' documentary and its 2026 'Cooking with Kitchenistas' YouTube extension.

The organization's business model is a hybrid nonprofit revenue stack: tax-deductible individual donations (including the 'Roots for Health' monthly giving program), foundation and corporate grants, modest per-transaction program and class fees, facility rentals for private events and team wellness, weekly produce stand donations, and annual fundraising events led by the Seedling Soirée gala. Notable grant and infrastructure awards include a $1.2M+ multi-partner clean energy grant (San Diego Community Power, San Diego Foundation, Calpine) funding a 16.4kW solar array with battery storage, a $50,000 San Diego Foundation grant in September 2022, and a $10,000 Cox Conserves grant in February 2026 for YouTube studio build-out. Go-to-market is community-led and event-driven, relying on direct enrollment, school district partnerships, monthly Open Gardens tours, free community events, and digital content distributed through YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

The operating footprint is concentrated in San Diego County, with all primary programming delivered in-person at the National City site, and a small staff team (11-50 employees) governed by a volunteer board chaired by Rita De la Fuente and led by Executive Director Jen Nation. Differentiators include the unique physical asset in an underserved geography, an institutionalized multi-generational Kitchenistas community educator pipeline, exclusive district-wide school partnerships, and award-winning media properties including a Public Media Award and Imagen Award-nominated documentary with 400+ PBS airings.

Name

Olivewood Gardens

Legal name

Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center

Website

https://olivewoodgardens.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates a 7.85-acre teaching garden and kitchen in National City, California, delivering bilingual nutrition, gardening, and leadership programs to children, families, and adults in the San Diego South Bay.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Nutrition Education

NAICS

Support Activities for Crop Production (11511), Support Activities for Crop Production (1151)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Garden Bed Installation & Planting (Annuals, Perennials, Shrubs) (HSAIAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Seasonal Color, Planting & Horticultural Services (BPABADAL), Raised Garden Beds & Planter Box Installation (HSAIAFAK), Vegetable & Herb Garden Installation and Maintenance (HSAIAFAM)

Keywords

• Community nutrition education
• Urban garden programs
• Bilingual health education
• Youth cooking classes
• Environmental stewardship programs

Headquarters

HQ city

National City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Program Class Fees: Revenue from cooking classes, garden classes, summer camps, and field trips for children, youth, families, and adults. Fees vary by program type and group size.
2. Donations and Contributions: Tax-deductible donations from individual donors supporting nutrition education, environmental stewardship, and community building programs. Includes monthly giving program (Roots for Health).
3. Grant Funding: Grants from foundations and corporate partners including San Diego Community Power, San Diego Foundation, Calpine, Cox Conserves, Kaiser Permanente, SDG&E, and others supporting specific programs and infrastructure.
4. Facility Rentals: Revenue from hosting private events, team wellness programs, group volunteer events, birthday parties, and corporate events at the 7.85-acre property.
5. Produce Sales: Weekly donation-based produce stand offering seasonal, sustainably grown fruits and vegetables from the garden.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Olivewood Gardens operates a 7.85-acre urban teaching garden and kitchen in National City, CA, delivering hands-on bilingual (English/Spanish) education in nutrition, cooking, gardening, and environmental science. Core paid offerings include the Cooking for Salud® 8-week nutrition program, Kitchenistas® community leadership program, youth classes (Chefcitos, Garden Explorers, Talls & Smalls), adult cooking classes, summer camps, Girl Scout badge workshops, school-based programming, and high school internships, supplemented by facility rentals, a weekly produce stand, and fundraising events.

Product overview

Olivewood Gardens & Learning Center operates as a nonprofit educational organization offering a comprehensive portfolio of hands-on programs focused on nutrition education, environmental stewardship, and community health. The core programs include Cooking for Salud® (a bilingual 8-week nutrition education program), Kitchenistas® (a community engagement program for graduates), and youth programming including Chefcitos cooking classes, Garden Explorers, and High School internships. The organization runs seasonal events including the Seedling Soirée fundraiser, Day of Play, Garden at Dusk Dinner Series, and Holiday Bazaar. Additional offerings include a weekly produce stand, Open Gardens tours, recipe resources, and facility rentals for team wellness and private events. The YouTube series 'Cooking with Kitchenistas' extends their education mission digitally.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Cooking for Salud®: A bilingual English and Spanish nutrition education and behavior modification program designed to teach participants how to make healthy changes at home that will improve their families' short and long-term health outcomes.
• Kitchenistas®
• Chefcitos
• Garden Explorers
• Cooking with Kitchenistas

Products and services

• Cooking for Salud® A bilingual English/Spanish nutrition education and behavior modification program teaching adults and families in National City and South Bay how to make healthy changes at home that improve their families' short- and long-term health outcomes. Includes pre/post questionnaires and biometric data collection.
• Kitchenistas® Community engagement program for Cooking for Salud® graduates who continue learning about nutrition, health, leadership development, public speaking, emotional wellbeing, and financial literacy through ongoing classes and workshops, then become community health educators presenting at local schools.
• Chefcitos – Kid's Cooking Classes Interactive in-person cooking class for youth in grades K-6 where children learn to use appropriate cooking tools and create fun, seasonal recipes. Priced at $30 per child, with 20% discount for National City residents (91950 zip code).
• Garden Explorers Outdoor educational adventure program for K-6th graders where students engage with nature through science, including crafts and garden snacks covering topics such as bugs, plant growth, and the five senses. Priced at $25 per child with a National City resident discount.
• Talls & Smalls in the Garden One-hour interactive class for children ages 2 to 5 with an accompanying parent or guardian, featuring story time, garden walks, and tastings. Priced at $20 per child/adult pair, with $5 for each additional child.
• Adult Cooking Classes Fun, interactive cooking classes taught by expert Nutrition Educators at Olivewood's teaching kitchen. Private bookings require a minimum of $750 for 10+ people (1.5 hour class for up to 20 people).
• Field Trip Program Three-part field trip series for National School District 4th graders utilizing the 7.85-acre educational garden and teaching kitchen, providing standards-based, grade-appropriate lessons in cooking, environmental education, and gardening. Priced at $600 for 16-30 students or $450 for up to 15 students.
• High School Programs Multiple seasonal internship opportunities for high school students including Sustainable Urban Agriculture (winter), Garden to Kitchen (spring), Youth Community Leadership (summer), and Culinary Program (fall), each with job readiness components at Sweetwater High School and South Bay schools.
• Day Camps (Summer Camp) Full-day summer camps for incoming 1st-6th graders featuring learning in the teaching kitchen and outdoor garden space, where participants explore, learn, cook, taste, and grow while making connections to food and the environment. Sign-up available for individual days or whole weeks.
• Girl Scout Programs Official Girl Scouts Community Partner offering private Badge Workshops where scouts complete all steps needed to earn badges such as Snacks (Daisies), Bugs (Brownies), Simple Meals (Juniors), and others. Priced at $250 minimum for up to 10 scouts, with $25 per additional scout.
• Family Classes Family gardening and cooking classes designed for parents and children to spend quality time together while learning new skills, including a summer cooking series.
• School-Based Program Partnership-based program with National School District providing experiential standards-based environmental and nutrition education lessons to all 10 district schools, including hands-on hydroponic gardening and cooking programming in after-school settings.
• Host Your Event / Venue Rental Facility rental services for the 7.85-acre garden property, including Team Wellness packages, Group Volunteer Events, and Private Event hosting for birthday parties, corporate events, and community gatherings.
• Roots for Health Monthly Giving Monthly recurring donation program supporting organic gardening, environmental stewardship, and nutrition education, with supporters receiving a welcome tote bag and seasonal produce from the garden.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100+ airings on 60+ PBS stations
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Girl Scouts San DiegominorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 May 2026Official Girl Scouts Community Partner providing badge workshops at Olivewood Gardens.
• National School DistrictcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Olivewood partners with all 10 National School District schools for school garden revitalization (since Jan 2022) and hydroponic gardening and cooking programming in after-school settings (since April 2025).
• Healthy Day PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partnership to revitalize school gardens at all 10 National School District schools through intensive district collaboration, enabling farm-to-school initiatives for equitable learning.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Edible Schoolyard (Alice Waters Institute): Founded by chef Alice Waters in Berkeley, CA, Edible Schoolyard operates school gardens and kitchen classrooms to teach children about food, nutrition, and the environment. It is the most direct comparable to Olivewood's Cooking for Salud and Garden Explorers programs, serving a similar K-12 audience with hands-on garden-to-table education.
• FoodCorps: FoodCorps places service members in schools to teach kids about food and nutrition, with a focus on underserved communities. It is directly comparable to Olivewood's bilingual nutrition and garden education programming and operates at significantly larger national scale.
• Common Threads: Common Threads provides hands-on cooking and nutrition education to underserved children and families in schools across multiple U.S. cities. Its programming structure, audience (low-income families), and bilingual education model parallel Olivewood's Cooking for Salud approach.
• Green Bronx Machine: Green Bronx Machine builds urban school gardens and provides health and wellness programming in the South Bronx. Like Olivewood, it uses gardens as a vehicle for nutrition, environmental, and educational outcomes in an underserved community.
• REAL School Gardens: REAL School Gardens partners with elementary schools in underserved communities to create learning gardens and train teachers. It mirrors Olivewood's school-district partnerships and standards-based garden education model.
• Cooking Matters (Share Our Strength): Cooking Matters teaches low-income families how to shop for and cook healthy meals through hands-on courses. Its curriculum-led family nutrition education approach is highly comparable to Cooking for Salud.

Emerging players

• Cultivate Charlottesville: Cultivate Charlottesville runs the City Schoolyard Garden program and food justice initiatives in Charlottesville, VA. It is comparable as a community-based garden education nonprofit with a youth-development and food access mission similar to Olivewood's.
• Vida Garden: Vida Garden operates urban garden and nutrition programs in South Los Angeles. It shares Olivewood's mission of using gardens to improve community health and food access in underserved, predominantly Latino neighborhoods.

Others

• International Community Foundation: The International Community Foundation (whose President & CEO sits on Olivewood's Board) originally received the Walton property donation that established Olivewood Gardens. ICF is a key ecosystem partner and comparable as a regional cross-border philanthropy intermediary.
• United Way of San Diego County: United Way of San Diego County is a major regional funder; its President & CEO sits on Olivewood's Board. It is relevant as a comparator for the regional nonprofit ecosystem and as a likely funding source/partner.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/Olivewood-Gardens-and-Learning-Center/322524662312
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/olivewood-gardens-and-learning-center
• Instagraminstagram.com/olivewoodgardens

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles20 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Olivewood Gardens