Cultivating Community

What Cultivating Community does

Cultivating Community is an Australian non-profit social enterprise founded in 1998, headquartered in Richmond, Victoria, with operations across Melbourne including Collingwood, Prahran, Dandenong and Burwood. The organisation designs, builds and maintains community gardens in social housing estates and delivers food and horticulture education, with roughly 11-50 employees and a 12-person garden maintenance crew. Its core technical asset is the 2,500 m² Burwood Brickworks Rooftop Farm, a partnership with Frasers Property that produces 180+ culturally significant plant varieties annually for CALD communities, alongside 24 community and communal gardens serving nearly 700 gardeners.

The organisation operates a hybrid social-enterprise model. Revenue is generated through commercial horticultural design, build and maintenance services for organisations, schools and community spaces; tiered venue hire of the Correa Kitchen commercial kitchen in Prahran ($40-$80/hr); government grants from Homes Victoria, DFFH and VicHealth; and tax-deductible donations under its DGR status. Its programs include a 12-week paid Earn and Learn Employment Pathways program (with inclusive design for Deaf and hard of hearing participants and refugees), the WISE pathway, food literacy workshops, and the newly launched Aged Care Cooks Program. Quantified outcomes include 4,122+ hours of employment created (2023-2025), 86% participant wellbeing improvement, 96% reporting health benefits from fresh produce, and a stated 177% social return on investment.

Cultivating Community sells to a mix of B2B and B2G customers: enterprise clients such as Canva, Deloitte, Frasers Property and Uniting Church utilise its commercial horticulture and corporate volunteering services, while government agencies fund its public housing community garden programs. Go-to-market is community-led, relying on co-design with residents, partnership development, and impact storytelling rather than traditional digital marketing. The organisation holds Accredited Social Enterprise, DGR, IPRO (working toward ISO) and 1% for the Planet credentials, and in 2026 appointed a new CEO from SecondBite/FareShare alongside a full brand refresh.

Name

Cultivating Community

Legal name

CULTIVATING COMMUNITY INC.

Website

https://cultivatingcommunity.org.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cultivating Community is a Melbourne-based non-profit social enterprise that designs community gardens, delivers food and horticulture education, and runs employment pathways for social housing residents, CALD communities, and people facing employment barriers, funding programs through government grants, commercial horticultural services, and donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Food Systems and Urban Agriculture Services

NAICS

Soil Preparation, Planting, and Cultivating (115112), Landscaping Services (561730), Nursery and Floriculture Production (11142), Greenhouse, Nursery, and Floriculture Production (1114)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700), Services-To Dwellings & Other Buildings (7340)

akta.pro primary industry

Residential Landscaping & Lawn Care (BPABADAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Horticulture, Nursery & Greenhouse Operations (EDAOAOAB), Seasonal Color, Planting & Horticultural Services (BPABADAL), Native, Pollinator & Drought-Tolerant Garden Installations (HSAIAFAL), Pruning, Deadheading & Plant Health Maintenance (Non-tree) (HSAIAFAI), Home & Garden Hobbies (Gardening, Floral Design, Home Decor) (EDAAAGAL)

Keywords

• Community garden programs
• Urban agriculture services
• Horticultural maintenance services
• Community employment pathways
• Social enterprise gardening

Headquarters

HQ city

Richmond

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Horticultural & Maintenance Services: Commercial garden design, build and maintenance services for organisations, schools and community spaces. As an accredited social enterprise, these services create employment pathways for people who have previously faced barriers to work.
2. Venue Hire (Correa Kitchen): Fully equipped commercial kitchen in Prahran available for hire. Three pricing tiers: Resident ($40/hr), General/Not-for-profit ($50/hr), Corporate ($80/hr). Supports programs that build food literacy, connection and employment pathways.
3. Government Funding & Grants: Core funding from Victorian State Government via Homes Victoria and DFFH for Community Gardens Support on Public Housing Estates. Additional grants from VicHealth and other government bodies for specific programs.
4. Donations: Tax-deductible donations as a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR). Donations support community gardens, education programs and employment pathways.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Cultivating Community operates community gardens and productive green spaces across Melbourne's social housing estates, delivers commercial horticultural design/build/maintenance services, runs food and horticulture education programs, and provides a 12-week paid employment pathway program for people facing employment barriers. It also operates Correa Kitchen, a commercial kitchen venue for hire, and the Burwood Brickworks Rooftop Farm as part of its social enterprise model.

Product overview

Cultivating Community is a social enterprise offering a portfolio of interconnected community-focused services. The core offering centres on Productive Gardens and Placemaking (community garden design and support) and Horticultural and Maintenance Services (commercial garden services). Education and employment are delivered through Food and Horticultural Education programs and Employment Pathways (Culinary & Horticulture Pathways). Key facilities include Correa Kitchen (commercial venue hire) and Burwood Brickworks Rooftop Farm (urban farming space). The social enterprise model uses commercial service revenue to fund community programs and create paid horticulture employment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Correa Kitchen: A shared commercial kitchen in Prahran where people come together to cook, learn and connect. Designed to foster belonging, building skills, confidence and opportunity through food.

Products and services

• Productive Gardens and Placemaking

Quantifiable outcome

• 86% of participants report improved wellbeing after taking part in programs
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers6 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

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Moving FeastminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Joined Moving Feast pandemic food response initiative in 2020-2023 to address food insecurity during COVID-19.
• Frasers PropertycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for Burwood Brickworks Rooftop Garden, a 2,500 square metre urban farm. Frasers Property and Cultivating Community collaborate to create stronger, smarter, happier neighbourhoods through shared green spaces and urban food production.
• Stephanie AlexandercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership launched in 2001 to establish Collingwood College Kitchen Garden program, a pioneering school kitchen garden initiative.
• STREATminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership established in 2018 to support youth training in food and hospitality sectors.
• Save the ChildrenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerExpanded partnerships from 2019 to support school garden projects and community programs.
• Collingwood Children's FarmminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEstablished large-scale compost hub at Collingwood Children's Farm in 2012.
• Kew Neighbourhood Learning CentreminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership in 2025 to support inclusive employment for a person with disability.
• Space2bminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership providing participants with on-the-job work experience across shop, gallery, café and events. Yehansa participated in Space2work Programme gaining retail experience and conversational English practice.
• Deakin UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSocial impact research partnership established in 2017 to measure and evaluate program outcomes.
• SecondBiteminorOthersPrevious employer of CEO Emma Watts. SecondBite is a food rescue organisation, sister organisation to Cultivating Community.
• FareShareminorOthersPrevious employer of CEO Emma Watts alongside SecondBite. FareShare is another food rescue organisation.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• SecondBite: Australia's largest food rescue NFP redistributing surplus food to communities in need. Comparable as a Victorian food-systems NFP with the same social enterprise model, and source of Cultivating Community's incoming CEO Emma Watts.
• STREAT: Melbourne social enterprise providing supported pathways into food, hospitality and horticulture employment for disadvantaged youth. Comparable business model combining earn-and-learn training with food production and B2B services.
• FareShare: Melbourne-based charity cooking meals from rescued food for vulnerable Australians. Comparable as a Victorian food security social enterprise using kitchen operations and volunteer pathways, and another former employer of the incoming Cultivating Community CEO.
• Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation: Australian NFP running school kitchen garden programs with food education. Direct comparison via shared activities in community gardens, food literacy education, and horticultural skill-building—also a documented partner via the Collingwood College Kitchen Garden program.
• CERES Community Environment Park: Melbourne-based sustainability NFP operating an urban agriculture farm, education programs, and social enterprise food/craft offerings. Directly comparable as a Victorian urban agriculture and food systems organization with similar community-education-employment integration.

Broad incumbents

• OzHarvest: Australia's leading food rescue charity with national reach and significant government and corporate partnerships. Comparable food-security mission and NFP structure with much larger scale and brand recognition.
• Foodbank Australia: Largest Australian hunger relief charity providing food to welfare agencies. Comparable in mission (addressing food insecurity for vulnerable populations) and revenue model (corporate partnerships, grants) but operates nationally at materially greater scale.

Emerging players

• 3000acres: Australian non-profit mapping and unlocking land for urban agriculture across Melbourne and other cities. Comparable focus on connecting community groups to land for food growing, with similar horticultural and food-security mission.

Others

• Community Gardens Australia: National peak body for community gardens in Australia. Comparable via focus on community gardening networks and policy advocacy, but functions as an umbrella support organization rather than direct service delivery.
• Sustain: The Australian Food Network: Australian food system change organization working on resilient and equitable food systems through research, policy and community programs. Comparable via mission alignment around fair, resilient food systems but operates as a policy/advocacy body rather than direct service provider.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cultivating-community-melbourne

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Cultivating Community