The Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation's Green Pastures Fund aims to preserve and encourage small, community-based agricultural ventures. This aligns directly with the foundation's broader mission to support regional community development. The fund specifically targets initiatives such as community-supported agriculture, local farmers' markets, urban garden programs, agricultural scholarships, cooperative programming, internships, grantwriting, and marketing to foster a vibrant local agricultural economy.
The target beneficiaries are nonprofit organizations or public entities within the Berkshire Taconic region that are dedicated to encouraging or preserving small, community-based agricultural ventures. The fund's impact goals center on strengthening these agricultural efforts, making a meaningful difference in the quality of the region’s resources, and serving as a catalyst for action within the community.
The fund prioritizes projects that demonstrate quality, impact, and the applicant's ability to successfully complete the project. Specific focuses include the project's worthiness, its timeliness, the involvement of qualified individuals and organizations, its conception, and its fit with other related activities and regional priorities. Furthermore, proposals are evaluated on their potential to engage the community and their capacity to initiate and execute similar projects effectively. Preference is given to projects that can show additional sources of funding or in-kind support.
Expected outcomes include the sustained growth and vitality of small, community-based agricultural ventures. Measurable results are implicitly tied to the review criteria, which assess how well projects are conceived, their community engagement, their impact on regional resources, and the applicant's capacity to deliver. The grant's impact is also considered by evaluating whether the project would be severely curtailed or not provided at all without the funding. The foundation's strategic priority is to support initiatives that strengthen the agricultural fabric of the Berkshire Taconic region, operating under the theory that investing in these local ventures contributes to the overall well-being and sustainability of the community.
