Growing Gardens

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.

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

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Corporate/Foundation Grants: Growing Gardens receives grants from foundations including Direct Relief's Fund for Health Equity to support food access and health programming.
4. 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

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core 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

Named customers8 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered secondary, minor and core.

• Lewis & Clark CollegesecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2025Lewis & Clark students partnered with Growing Gardens through the 'Data for Good' program to co-create more accessible, equitable survey tools for the organization.
• Duality BrewingminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2024Growing Gardens collaborated with Duality Brewing on a brew partnership, raising funds for food sovereignty across Oregon while highlighting the organization's mission.
• Providence Milwaukie HospitalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2022Growing 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 SitesecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Transitional 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 CommonssecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Community 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)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Growing 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 ServicescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Youth 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 InstitutioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2009Oregon'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)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSUN 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 UniversitysecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerUrban 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 UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLettuce 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 NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGrowing 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 MedicinalssecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerSmall 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

Direct 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

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/growing-gardens-pdx
• Instagraminstagram.com/GrowingGardensPDX
• Xx.com/growinggardens
• Facebookfacebook.com/growinggardensportland

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 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 Growing Gardens