Campaigns

Five-Year, $5 Million Growth Plan

Building Capacity, Deepening Impact

Wasatch Community Gardens (WCG) is actively responding to the growing and evolving needs of our community, meeting these needs through sustainable, equitable, and intentional actions.

Catalyzed by the need to move our Green Phoenix Farm and driven by a vision to address food insecurity for members of our community who are disproportionately affected by limited or no access to fresh, healthy food, we developed a five-year capacity and capital building plan to propel WCG to a new level of operations that can be sustained, once elevated, without extraordinary measures. The Five-Year, $5 Million Growth Plan launched in 2023 and as we approach the end of year three, we are excited to share the progress and impact of this initiative.

Three Pillars

Through the extraordinary support of hundreds of individuals, foundations, and businesses, and a remarkable 2:1 $2 Million matching grant from the Alternative Visions Fund, we have raised over $3 Million of this Growth Plan. THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to the Five-Year Growth Plan over the past two years. By the end of five years - in 2028 - WCG will have sustainably built sufficient capacity, with equitable pay and intentional structure so we can meet the growing demands of our community. This Plan builds upon the three all-important pillars that guide our actions:

• Preserving Productive Green Space
• Establishing Sharable Models
• Strengthening Organization Partnerships

Five-Year Growth Plan in Action

Urban Farm Transplant

To secure a permanent home for WCG’s Green Phoenix Farm to provide a stable foundation for our Job Training Program for women facing homelessness, and to provide services and resources that ensure greater food security for other members of our community who have been pushed to the margins.

Increased Impact

To improve and adapt programs and resources to better serve communities where there is greater diversity and a higher proportion of low-income households. Working with local partners to provide robust and culturally appropriate services in these neighborhoods.

Organizational Sustainability

To meet increased, evolving demand and ensure sustainable, equitable, and intentional growth of services and resources. Optimizing resources and opportunities to better serve neighbors in parts of our community that are disproportionately affected by limited or no access to fresh, healthy food.

How You Can Help WCG Grow

We’re grateful for the support we’ve received since launching this plan in 2023. We have successfully raised funds for the capacity portion of this Plan through the Alternative Visions Fund 2:1 Challenge Grant, and we are now focusing on securing funding for infrastructure for our two new farm locations. You are the partner we need to continue building WCG's capacity and deepening impact in our community.

Join us to build capacity and deepen WCG's impact, and help us reach our five-year goal in the following ways:

• Donate Now to help us build up our new farms.
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• Spread the word through social media, word of mouth, or forwarding a WCG email.

Why Do We Need the Five-Year Growth Plan?

In 2022, WCG opened its new Campus, a 1.2 acre hub for Urban Agriculture in downtown Salt Lake City. This has led to dramatically increased interest and demand from the community and to interest from new partners.

Out of the pandemic, we saw a large community shift toward local resources and a quest for more self-sufficiency. We are consistently approached by individuals and groups about expanding our programming into their community, outside of our footprint. We feel their urgency as well as a responsibility to share our best practices and resources.

We were required to "transplant" our farm because of urban development: that move, ultimately to a permanent space, was leveraged as the catalyst to offer opportunities to broaden our services to benefit the public, local growers, and our food systems.

Dwindling contiguous green space is creating an urgency to plan further ahead, anticipating community needs and resources. Preserving productive green space is imperative during a period of robust development in Salt Lake City and County.

This five-year, $5 million growth proposal represents a new chapter in WCG's ability to adapt to the evolving and growing needs of its community. With our headquarters firmly rooted in the Central City neighborhood of downtown Salt Lake City, and a thriving presence in our traditional spheres of interest, our attention must turn to less well resourced communities and neighborhoods, and how best to meet their needs. Your investment in this sustainable, equitable, intentional future is vital.