Vegetable Seed Grants Available to Rotary-Linked Projects Worldwide
The Rotarians Against Hunger project (www.rotariansagainsthunger.org), led by several Western North
Carolina (USA)-based Rotary Clubs, is proud to announce the availability of vegetable seed grants to
fellow Rotarians worldwide for their nutrition, education, and income development projects. Our aim is
that by providing vegetable seeds and training, you can help people facing hunger and malnutrition to
grow some of the food they need.
Program Basics. Funding is available to provide vegetable seeds for 3-6 projects depending on size.
Applications are for seeds, including coverage of inspection and shipping costs. Specialized one-time
training may also be available. Cash grants are not available. Seed volume per project ranges from one
carton to five. Each carton contains about 1400 home garden-size packets of vegetable seeds in a mix of
from two to fourteen vegetable types. A carton is estimated to grow 5-15 tons of fresh vegetables,
varying depending on project support for soil fertility, water access, tools and materials access, and
grower education.
Seeds are provided by North Carolina-based Seed Programs International (SPI) and shipped from New
York, USA. SPI staff will work with you and your in-country partners to make appropriate seed selections
for the climate, culture, and program goals. SPI will work with you and your partners to address shipping
and import logistics. For more information on SPI’s approach, see www.seedprograms.org.
Settings may be of any type where nutrition is a concern, i.e., projects may work on the level of
households, villages, microenterprise projects, farmer cooperatives, school gardens, orphanages,
IDP/refugee camps, or other settings.
How Projects are Selected. Programs will be competitively evaluated and chosen based on the following
criteria:
 Demonstrated Need. Nutrition has been identified as a community need and vegetable growing as a
promising strategy to address that need.
 Local Sourcing Not Possible. Partners have determined that local availability of and access to
appropriate, quality vegetable seeds is insufficient.
 Partnerships. Project applicant should be a Rotary club or district. Preference will be given to
projects which have built strong partnership with a local NGO or other group able to effectively
manage seed distribution and provide consistent program support and monitoring in the community
served.
 Location. Rotarians Against Hunger will seek to provide seeds for a mix of worldwide locations. The
regulatory environment for importing seeds may make some destination countries less feasible.
Contact SPI to learn more about this. Please do not apply for seeds for projects in the US or Canada.
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Match. All projects require a matching investment of 50% or greater by the applying Rotary partner,
based on a dollar value of $500 per seed carton. Match should be used for items that complement
the seed use, such as tools and materials, soil inputs, water access, training cost, local travel for
distribution, customs clearance, etc. All partners are responsible for costs of clearing seed shipments
from customs and local import permit fees.
Reporting Plan. Rotarians Against Hunger and SPI seek to learn of project results including
outcomes, successes, and challenges, for the purposes of publicity and program improvement.
Application begins next page.
APPLICATION FOR ROTARY PROJECT VEGETABLE SEED GRANTS
Please complete this form and return by September 15, 2015.
1. Contact Information
Rotary District:
Rotary Club:
Contact Name:
Contact Address:
Contact Phone:
Contact Email:
2. Describe the location and setting where vegetable seeds will be distributed. What is your history
working in this area, if any?
3. Describe evidence of the need for vegetable-growing in this setting.
Tip: general statistics about nutrition and poverty are somewhat helpful, but we are more interested to
learn that people served and/or their close representatives have confirmed this as a top-priority
community need.
4. How have you confirmed that quality, appropriate vegetable seeds are not already available in this
setting?
5. Describe how your project will ensure that seeds are distributed fairly and effectively and used well by
the recipients. Include information about any partnering organizations that have committed to help with
this. Add any further information you would like us to know about your project strategy and approach.
6. A match of at least 50% of the seed value is required of project applicants (based on seed value of
$500 per carton of 1400 packets). Match should be used for items that complement the seed use, such
as tools and materials, soil inputs, water access, training cost, local travel for distribution, customs
clearance, etc. Please describe your plan and budget for matching this vegetable seed grant. Please tell
us whether funding for the match expenditures is already in place.
7. Describe your plan for gathering results (photos, stories, data, successes and challenges) and sharing
this information back to the Rotarians Against Hunger project.
8. Details of Request.
How many cartons of vegetable seeds are you requesting? (1-5): _______
How many people, households, and/or facilities do you aim to have receive seeds?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
How will seeds reach their destination?
___ship to a US or Canadian address and then hand-carried to site
___ship to a US or Canadian address and then include with other shipped materials
___air freight to final destination coordinated by SPI
___other (please describe) _________________________
Are you requesting training to be provided by SPI as part of your seed grant application? We
recommend using local training resources where available. If not, we can help with gardening
techniques, seed saving, vegetable marketing, and other topics.
___no
___yes (please describe) _________________________
____I understand that as seed recipient, I will be responsible for import permitting (if necessary) and
customs clearance tasks and costs on the receiving side. SPI will provide sending documentation, USDA
inspection, and other necessary support.
Submit by email as an attached Word or PDF document: peter.marks@seedprograms.org
Submit by mail: PO Box 9163, Asheville, NC, USA 28815