20th Anniversary Fundraising Campaign
You say it’s your birthday???? It’s our birthday too! We have been blessed to celebrate 20 years of supporting organic seed growers and the organic industry through our research, education, and advocacy programs. And we are so excited about the next 20 years ahead. Throughout our 20th anniversary year we are fundraising to support and build our OSA programming and community. From a small team in Port Townsend, WA 20 years ago, to a national organization with staff across several states, we continue to look for opportunities to support the organic seed community regionally and nationally.
We launched our 20th Anniversary Campaign in September of 2023 and our fundraising goal is to bring in $200,000 to support OSA. Since Fall 2023, we have raised $102,491. And since the start of 2024, over $59,000 of that total has been donated to OSA. We have received over 300 donations to support our anniversary campaign and we are just over the half-way mark towards our goal of $200,000. If you haven’t already, please consider donating to OSA. As a nonprofit, we spend a great deal of time writing grants and seeking foundation funding, however, we rely on having unrestricted funds to support staff development and team building, to meet with the organic seed community to understand their needs and challenges, and to foster and engage in work to increase equity, inclusion and diversity within our organization and across the organic seed sector. We also depend on unrestricted funds to support administrative work and to pay some of our overhead costs as a national organization with several field offices.
For those of you who do not know, Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) was founded in September 2003. OSA evolved from Abundant Life SeedFoundation (ALSF), a non-profit seed company established in Port Townsend, WA in the 1970s, which closed its doors after a fire destroyed ALSF’s office and much of its seed. This loss of stored seed emphasized to OSA’s founders that the strongest way to preserve seed in perpetuity is to support seed keepers who maintain and adapt varieties through a network of seed farms, gardens, and companies. While several non-profits were already working to preserve heirloom seed, OSA was founded to fill a gap in formal instruction about organic seed improvement and production; to ensure that seed skills and knowledge are enhanced and passed on over time. Since 2003, OSA has worked with thousands of farmers to support organic seed production, while partnering with amazing companies and organizations. Please support us so that we can continue to grow and support organic seed production.
By the numbers:
Since September 2023 to present: $102,491.10
Since January 2024 to present: $59,076.66
Number of gifts since September 2023: 317
Number of gifts since January 2024: 101
