Growing Gardens
Growing Gardens is a Portland, Oregon-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1996 that delivers free garden-based education, infrastructure, and job-skills programs to low-income households, K-12 students, incarcerated individuals, and healthcare patients across Oregon.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1996
- HeadquartersPortland, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Growing Gardens does
Growing Gardens is a Portland, Oregon-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1996 that uses gardening-based education to advance food system equity across Oregon. The organization operates five core programs: Home Gardens (a free three-year program providing garden beds, seeds, tools, workshops, and Community Coordinator support to roughly 1,589 low-income households since inception), Youth Grow (Pre-K through 12th-grade garden curriculum in 10 elementary schools and 1 high school with roughly 20,000 students served), Lettuce Grow (hands-on garden training and job-skills certificate programs inside 14 Oregon correctional facilities that have empowered 1,550+ inmates and reduced participant recidivism from 30% to 4%), Rx Gardens (a healthcare-integrated preventative gardening and culinary program in partnership with Providence Milwaukie Hospital), and Partner Gardens (multi-year organizational partnerships delivering community garden infrastructure and programming). Multilingual (English and Spanish), culturally-responsive service delivery and a 'Radical Gardening' framework combining ecological harmony, food sovereignty, social justice, knowledge sharing, and activism underpin the model.
The organization's revenue mix is dominated by individual donations, foundation and corporate grants, and limited government funding, with negligible fee-based earned revenue from a $300 School Garden Coordinator Certificate course co-developed with Oregon State University's PACE department. Distribution is regional (Portland Metropolitan Area, Clackamas County, statewide Oregon, and a 2025 entry into Eastern Oregon correctional facilities) and is delivered directly through staff Garden Educators and Community Coordinators, many of whom are former program participants. Media and donor acquisition channels include The Radical Root Podcast, blog, Instagram, YouTube, an email newsletter, earned-media coverage on outlets such as OPB and Modern Farmer, and community events such as the Chef In Your Garden fundraiser. Supporting content includes a 2023 Campbell Soup Company grant, a 2025 Direct Relief Fund for Health Equity grant, a 2026 Boulder County Circular Economy Fund award of $13,050, and 2026 recognition as one of Oregon's 100 Best Green Workplaces (#90) and Top 100 Nonprofits to Work For.
Growing Gardens firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Growing Gardens
- Legal name
- Growing Gardens
- Website
- https://growing-gardens.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1996
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Growing Gardens is a Portland, Oregon-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1996 that delivers free garden-based education, infrastructure, and job-skills programs to low-income households, K-12 students, incarcerated individuals, and healthcare patients across Oregon.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Growing Gardens is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Portland
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Growing Gardens business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Others
Revenue model
- Individual Donations: Growing Gardens relies primarily on individual donations from supporters. The organization runs periodic fundraising campaigns including the '30 for 30' initiative celebrating 30 years of operation, with suggested donations of $30 monthly or one-time.
- Government Grants: The organization receives grants from government sources including Boulder County's Circular Economy Fund ($13,050 in 2026) and USDA grants for CSA box programs supporting local farms and families.
- Corporate/Foundation Grants: Growing Gardens receives grants from foundations including Direct Relief's Fund for Health Equity to support food access and health programming.
- Earned Revenue (Minimal): Small fee-based programs including the School Garden Coordinator Certificate course offered in collaboration with Oregon State University ($300 tuition with scholarship options).
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | School Garden Coordinator Certificate Course |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels8 records
Growing Gardens product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Growing Gardens delivers free, multilingual, garden-based education and resource programs to Oregon communities. Its core offerings include Home Gardens (household garden training and materials for low-income families), Youth Grow (Pre-K-12 school garden curriculum), Lettuce Grow (garden training and job certificates for incarcerated individuals), Rx Gardens (healthcare-based gardening partnerships), and Partner Gardens (organizational community garden development). The organization also produces The Radical Root Podcast and offers a fee-based School Garden Coordinator Certificate course with Oregon State University.
Product overview
Growing Gardens is a Portland, Oregon-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates community programs rather than technology products. Its offerings include Home Gardens (providing training and resources for household vegetable gardens), Youth Grow (Pre-K-12 school garden curriculum), Lettuce Grow (garden training for incarcerated individuals), Rx Gardens (healthcare garden partnerships), and Partner Gardens (organizational community garden partnerships). The organization also produces The Radical Root Podcast as an educational content program. The Radical Gardening Guide serves as an educational resource. These programs collectively aim to cultivate healthy and equitable communities through food-growing initiatives in schools, backyards, and correctional facilities.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- The Radical Root Podcast: A podcast hosted by Growing Gardens offering actionable insights and inspiring stories from Oregon's food system leaders.
- Rx Gardens
Products and services
- Home Gardens Program Free three-year home gardening program providing garden beds, seeds, plants, tools, workshops, and community coordinator support for low-income households in the Portland Metropolitan Area and Clackamas County.
- Youth Grow Program Pre-K through 12th grade school garden curriculum including garden classes, garden clubs, cooking clubs, summer internships, and school food pantry produce donations, delivered free to schools across the Portland area.
- Lettuce Grow Program Hands-on garden training, horticulture certificate programs (Sustainable Gardening, Greenhouse Management, Plant Disease Diagnostic Training, Plant Taxonomy, Culinary Arts), and employment-enhancing skills for incarcerated individuals across Oregon correctional facilities.
- Rx Gardens Program Garden-based health intervention integrating gardening as a preventative healthcare practice with cooking classes and nutrition education at Providence Milwaukie Hospital, including free Spanish-language gardening workshops.
- Partner Gardens Program Three-year community garden partnerships with local organizations including housing complexes, community centers, and social service providers, including planning, design, education, and supplies.
- School Garden Coordinator Certificate Course Fee-based professional certificate course offered in collaboration with Oregon State University to train school garden coordinators, at $300 tuition per participant with ten scholarship spots per session covering $275 of the fee.
- The Radical Root Podcast A podcast hosted by Growing Gardens featuring actionable insights and inspiring stories from Oregon's food system leaders, covering topics such as radical gardening, food sovereignty, community food systems, and food justice.
Quantifiable outcome
- Recidivism reduced from 30% to 4% for Lettuce Grow participants
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Growing Gardens
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Growing Gardens technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Growing Gardens partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
13 partnerships are on record, tiered secondary, minor and core.
- Lewis & Clark CollegesecondaryLewis & Clark students partnered with Growing Gardens through the 'Data for Good' program to co-create more accessible, equitable survey tools for the organization.
- Duality BrewingminorGrowing Gardens collaborated with Duality Brewing on a brew partnership, raising funds for food sovereignty across Oregon while highlighting the organization's mission.
- Providence Milwaukie HospitalcoreGrowing Gardens partnered with Providence Milwaukie Hospital in 2022 to restore the Garden of Giving and Community Teaching Kitchen. The partnership launched Rx Gardens, offering free Spanish-language gardening workshops and culinary classes as preventative healthcare. In its first year, the garden produced 2,000 pounds of produce for the hospital's Community Teaching Kitchen.
- Cascadia Health Firefly SitesecondaryTransitional housing for youth preparing for re-entry into independent living. Growing Gardens helped develop garden with combination of communal and individual beds, with spaces designed for both autonomy and collaborative work.
- Alder CommonssecondaryCommunity center in Northeast Portland where Growing Gardens partnered to refurbish pre-existing garden through workshop series, cleanup events, and community engagement before planting.
- Local Farms (CSA Partnership)coreGrowing Gardens partners with five local farms including Happiness Family Farm, Wild Roots Farm, and Mariquita Medicinals to deliver CSA boxes to Home Gardens waitlist households. Approximately 100 boxes delivered weekly, with extra produce going to current participants. Prioritizes BIPOC farmers with sustainable agriculture practices.
- Morrison Child and Family ServicescoreYouth Grow partnered with Morrison's Immigrant Youth Services program to offer weekly gardening sessions for teens aged 13-17 in residential and unification services. Programming focuses on mindfulness, cultural connections, and healing through garden therapy rather than technical skills.
- Coffee Creek Correctional InstitutioncoreOregon's only female correctional facility where Lettuce Grow began in 2009 through a PSU sustainability class. Led to creation of garden and gardening curriculum for inmates, eventually expanding to nine correctional facilities statewide. Program offers multiple horticulture classes culminating in job certificates.
- Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN)coreSUN Community Schools serve as centers for student and family services. Many Youth Grow partner schools are SUN schools, with programming offered in collaboration with SUN's afterschool programs and on-site food pantries.
- Portland State UniversitysecondaryUrban Agriculture & Food Systems Capstone students collected stories from Growing Gardens participants, creating participant testimonials featured on the website. PSU collaboration also connected inmates and volunteers in the original sustainability class at Coffee Creek.
- Oregon State UniversitycoreLettuce Grow curriculum incorporates OSU's Seed to Supper class. Growing Gardens collaborated with OSU's Professional and Community Education (PACE) department to offer the School Garden Coordinator Certificate course.
- Oregon Farm to School and School Garden NetworkcoreGrowing Gardens serves as the regional education hub of the Oregon Farm to School and School Garden Network, extending support to school garden programs beyond direct partnerships.
- Mariquita MedicinalssecondarySmall farm partner for CSA boxes bringing medicinal and specialty plants. Home Gardens team completed training through Mariquita Medicinals to learn cultivation and use of plant medicines.
Scale indicators11 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Growing Gardens competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- FoodCorps: National 501(c)(3) that places service members in schools to deliver hands-on food education and garden-based learning. Closely mirrors Growing Gardens' Youth Grow model in mission, target audience (K-12), and free-to-participant delivery model.
- Big Green: National nonprofit that builds learning gardens in low-income schools and trains educators to use them for food education. Directly comparable to Youth Grow in target schools, funding model (donations/grants), and outcomes framework.
- Edible Schoolyard Project: Alice Waters-founded nonprofit that integrates organic gardening and culinary education into K-12 schools. Comparable to Youth Grow in curriculum-driven, garden-based food education for students.
- Kitchen Gardeners International: Nonprofit advocating for and supporting home kitchen gardens as a means of food resilience. Highly comparable to Growing Gardens' Home Gardens program in mission, audience (households), and educational approach.
- Denver Urban Gardens: Colorado-based nonprofit that builds and supports community gardens in low-income neighborhoods. Comparable to Growing Gardens' Home Gardens and Partner Gardens in delivery model, target demographics, and volunteer-driven approach.
- Cultivate Kansas City: Urban agriculture nonprofit that supports community gardens, urban farms, and food systems work in Kansas City. Directly comparable to Growing Gardens' integrated community garden, education, and food justice model.
- Urban Harvest: Houston-based nonprofit that builds community gardens, offers gardening education, and operates farmers markets. Highly comparable to Growing Gardens across home garden support, education, and food access programming.
- The Giving Grove: National nonprofit that establishes community orchards and edible gardens in low-food-access neighborhoods. Comparable to Growing Gardens' Partner Gardens in community-garden build-out and food access mission.
Regional players
- Oregon Food Bank: Oregon's leading regional food bank network addressing hunger through food distribution and anti-hunger programming. Comparable in Oregon-specific food system focus and donor-base overlap, though distribution-led rather than garden-led.
Broad incumbents
- Oregon State University Extension Master Gardeners: Statewide university-affiliated volunteer program providing research-based gardening education to Oregon communities. Comparable to Growing Gardens in horticultural education delivery, but operates as a public university extension rather than a community-justice nonprofit.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Customer concentration
Growing Gardens social profiles
Digital presenceGrowing Gardens financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Growing Gardens leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles13 records
Growing Gardens funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Growing Gardens M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Growing Gardens
What does Growing Gardens do?
Growing Gardens delivers free, multilingual, garden-based education and resource programs to Oregon communities. Its core offerings include Home Gardens (household garden training and materials for low-income families), Youth Grow (Pre-K-12 school garden curriculum), Lettuce Grow (garden training and job certificates for incarcerated individuals), Rx Gardens (healthcare-based gardening partnerships), and Partner Gardens (organizational community garden development). The organization also produces The Radical Root Podcast and offers a fee-based School Garden Coordinator Certificate course with Oregon State University.
Is Growing Gardens a public or private company?
Growing Gardens is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Growing Gardens founded?
Growing Gardens was founded in 1996. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Growing Gardens based?
Growing Gardens is headquartered in Portland, United States, in the North America region.
How does Growing Gardens make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Individual Donations are the primary driver. The others are government Grants, corporate/Foundation Grants and earned Revenue (Minimal).
Who are Growing Gardens's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are FoodCorps, Big Green, Edible Schoolyard Project, Kitchen Gardeners International, Denver Urban Gardens, Cultivate Kansas City, Urban Harvest and The Giving Grove. Oregon Food Bank is listed as a regional player. Oregon State University Extension Master Gardeners is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Growing Gardens have an API?
No public API is recorded for Growing Gardens.