HPSO Grants and Scholarships

Elaine Joines Memorial Grants Program

The HPSO Board of Directors makes grant awards to horticultural projects that address social inequity and increase our relationship with more diverse and underserved or underrepresented people in our community. Since 1998, HPSO has made more than $185,000 in grants to non-profit organizations for gardening-related projects. Donations are accepted throughout the year.

Hardy Plant Society of Oregon Grants & Scholarships

Grants & Scholarships Grants & Scholarships

About the HPSO Grants Program

The HPSO Grants Program is named in honor of the late Elaine Joines, who was designer and curator of the Martha Springer Botanic Garden at Willamette University and a dedicated member of the HPSO Grants Committee. The Hardy Plant Society of Oregon works to promote education and understanding of herbaceous perennial plants, and is dedicated to helping special gardens of botanical, horticultural, or historic interest, including the support of community gardens.

HPSO awards funds to non-profit organizations throughout Oregon and Clark County, Washington, for projects that further these goals.

Grant recipients are required to provide written reports on the use of award funds: generally a mid-project progress report and a final report within 30 days following completion of the project (and not more than one year after receipt of the grant check). Recipients must also produce a presentation-quality poster for display at the HPSO Annual Meeting in the fall.

Grant applications may request funding for many items, including (but not necessarily limited to) the following:

  • Plants
  • Horticultural equipment or supplies for gardening or greenhouse use
  • Books about botany or horticulture, or other appropriate educational materials

The program will not fund grant requests that are:

  • For individuals
  • For projects with religious purposes (for example, to groups requiring participation in religious activities for receiving the benefits of the funded project)
  • For operation expenses, salaries, scholarships, or travel
  • For start-up organizational expenses
  • To reimburse funds already expended
  • Outside the states of Oregon or Clark County, Washington

Available grant funds will vary from year to year. HPSO reserves the right to determine a limit on awards in keeping with its necessary fiscal responsibilities. Previous grants generally have been in the range of $200 to $1500, but other limits may apply in a particular grant cycle. We strongly encourage our applicants to seek funding and/or in-kind donations from a variety of sources, in addition to HPSO, such as local businesses, colleges, local garden clubs, community foundations, etc. to fully fund the proposed project.

Information about past grant awards may be found here:

Scholarships - Supporting future horticulturists, gardeners, landscapers, and landscape designers

The Bruce Wakefield Scholarship Fund

HPSO's mission is to support the next generation by providing scholarships to horticulture and landscape technology students at regional community colleges through the Bruce Wakefield Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to students who are studying in the Landscape Technology program at Portland Community College’s Rock Creek Campus, a partner with HPSO in several educational initiatives, and Clackamas Community College. Nearly $27,000 in HPSO-funded scholarships have been awarded to students at regional community colleges. Donations are accepted throughout the year.

HPSO's Grants & Scholarships Committee awarded $3,000 in scholarships to these programs in 2023. 

  

 

"I had the opportunity to drop in on the Summer Annual & Perennial Identification class this week. Students went out into the Washington County Master Gardener Association Education Garden on Rock Creek Campus and the LAT program greenhouse to learn plant identification. Students took clippings of some plants to return to the lab and view through microscopes and draw the structure of the various plant specimens." -- Feedback from a PCC faculty member

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