A Community Garden Needs A Status!

More from the volunteer meeting last Sunday

Well, they say that great minds think alike… or maybe it’s minds with the same name, like Kate.  And, well, the Dutchess (Kate) just had a baby today.  Ok, that’s totally coincidental.  More to the point, I (commoner Kate) was thinking last night that in order to receive donations, either in the form of monetary or goods, for the garden, that we would probably need to be registering as a ‘not for profit’ or a ‘charitable’ organisation.  As I was walking past Kate’s house (Kate Miller, community garden property owner), she just happened to yell down from her balcony, that she met with the city council today to have a talk with them about the community garden project.  The council decided that yes, the garden needs to get registered as an organisation.  AND, she said that they were really onboard with the idea of a community garden!  Hooray!

The Tweed Heads city council, in my opinion, is a very progressive and environmentally minded city council, compared to other city councils I’ve seen around.  They make huge initiatives for things like recycling and conservation.  For example, one time, my microwave kicked the bucket, and we needed to get rid of it, so rather than throw it away, the town council has a contractor who picks up appliances and recycles parts of it!  How cool!  No surprise, they were probably more than stoked to hear about Kate’s community garden idea.

The city council also said something about needing to get approval for some of the rain water tanks, particularly the ones that will be in the front of the house.  They do alter the appearance of the streetscape, so I guess that’s why.  But, I’m thinking we may have to get some ‘permission’ so to speak for the rest of the garden and possibly the house to be used as a community space.  I’m not sure if ‘community garden space’ falls into the original property zoning plans.

Gaining charitable or not for profit status will allow the community garden to receive tax deductible donations.  I was thinking that we might approach some of the local casinos for starters for money doantions.  But, also, for things like tools and equipment, maybe Bunnings (local hardware store) or other garden wholesalers.  Once the garden is up and running, I don’t think costs will be huge to run it, but there will be maintenance fees as well as insurance, etc.  So, having access to donated money will be very important.

Any suggestions?  Any experience?  Would love to hear your thoughts!