Ballard P-Patch is $300k away from being able to purchase garden

The effort to raise money to save the Ballard P-Patch from development is nearing its goal, with $300,000 left to raise before the end of the month.

The P-Patch fundraising organizers tell My Ballard that they expect King County Council will fully fund the Ballard P-Patch’s application for a $1.25 million Conservation Futures Tax (CFT) project, but the final hurdle is raising the matching funds. They’ve already secured $700,000 in private donations and public funding, but have $300,000 left to reach their goal by August 1.

In order to meet their deadline, the gardeners must also secure a bridge loan which will cover financing until the CFT funds are dispersed.

The non-profit organization GROW, which is the fiscal sponsor of the P-Patch will be the title holders. All donations to GROW are tax deductible, and eligible for employer matching. Any pledges of $10,000 or more will go toward a $100,000 matching gift from an anonymous private donor.

The P-Patch says over 500 people have so far donated to the campaign, and each donor is commemorated with a ribbon bearing their name. The ribbons are strung together in a garland over the patio of the garden.

The Ballard P-Patch started in 1976 on land owned by Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church, and has been leased to the City of Seattle for just $1 per year. Our Redeemer’s has chosen to sell the land in order to pay for renovations for their building, and rather than see the garden turn into single-family homes, the gardeners have partnered with the church to raise funds necessary to purchase the land.

The long-term goal, the gardeners say, is to ensure the property has a conservation easement, which means it would be preserved as open space in perpetuity.

To donate to the P-Patch, visit their fundraising page here.

Photos by Ballard P-Patch

10 thoughts to “Ballard P-Patch is $300k away from being able to purchase garden”

  1. I’m pretty sure the optics of giving $300,000 in a pandemic/racial unrest/economic collapse to help a bunch of white people grow carrots are not going to go over all that well…

    1. That is one expensive p-patch! I can’t help but wonder what if people grew food not lawns on their own property, would a p-patch even be necessary?

    2. And right here is THE problem. A tidy soundbite designed to make YOU feel so warm a fuzzy. Gee, I wonder where you learned language like this BS? CNN or MSNBC perhaps? City council maybe? “A bunch of white people” you claim. Take your hate and go somewhere else. I am NOT sorry for who and what I am or where my relatives came from. What part of Africa are you from?

    3. a lot of the food they grow is donated to the Ballard Food Bank, the food bank feeds all colors.
      so i assure you it goes over very well. nice try.

  2. This amount seems large, but globally it’s not that much. Moreover, it is necessary for such a wonderful goal, so there is no doubt that the necessary resources will be found for its implementation. I recently needed a small amount of money to make my little dream come true. I have applied for payday loans in South Carolina https://maybeloan.com/payday-loans/sc With the paperwork and an answer went very quickly. In this way, I approached my dream, which is immensely happy.

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