Skip links

Support

There are several ways to support the Garden

Help Grow YOUR Garden

Ithaca Children’s Garden is YOUR garden. Help it continue to grow with your generosity, participation, and enthusiasm. There are limitless opportunities for you to give to the Garden and every contribution is sincerely appreciated.

Make a Gift

Your Gift Goes a Long Way

Your support powers authentic childhood experiences that are as unique as each child who strolls or (runs!) through our gates.

Make a secure, online gift

Help us bring nature play to EVERY CHILD in our community with a generous gift that keeps ICG, and the children who play here, growing.

Make a secure, online gift

Make a gift by mail

To make a gift by mail with a check, please print the form below and include it with your gift.

Mail donations to:
Ithaca Children’s Garden
1013 W. State St.
Ithaca, NY 14850

Download Giving Form

Your generous gift makes ICG’s critical work possible. Thank you!

Kids gather around a planter box, digging their hands through the dirt.

Prosperity through participation:

Your enthusiasm as a visitor and by introducing friends and family to the Garden expands our reach. Engage with us on social media, subscribe to our newsletter, and leave a 5-star review on Google, Facebook, or TripAdvisor to support our mission.

Support Scholarships

Make scholarships happen

Support ICG’s Scholarship Fund

Our vision is that every child has the basic human right to play, learn, and grow outdoors, and that every child develops a life-long relationship with the living world.

Scholarships are critical to how ICG achieves our mission, allowing us to serve families with the greatest need. We provide some amount of scholarship to more than 20% of camp families.

Your gift to ICG’s Scholarship Campaign by April 30 will help unlock a $20,000 match gift and get us on our way to raising a total of $49,000 in identified scholarship need to serve more than 100 Tompkins County families. WE. NEED. YOU.

Learn more about Scholarship
A group of kids at Ithaca Children's Garden celebrate the green outdoors with beaming smiles.
Monthly Giving

Join The Hive

Let’s create a world where EVERY child can play, learn, and grow outdoors.

Do you want to transform lives for families and children through connection to nature? Join our community of monthly donors, doing just that each and every month.

At the peak of the growing season, a healthy hive will have a population of about 50,000 bees. Like bees, ICG needs the support of its Hive to thrive.

The Hive is a connected community of monthly givers who know the power of working together.

Join today and become one of ICG’s first 100 founding members of The Hive. It’s as easy as picking your monthly giving level to get more kids outdoors in nature.

Learn more about The Hive
Take me to The Hive!

Join world-changers just like you and become a member of The Hive

Plan a Legacy Gift

Continue your commitment to transforming lives in our community.

By making a planned gift to Ithaca Children’s Garden through your Will or estate plan, you can create a personal legacy and make a lasting impact to ensure Ithaca Children’s Garden will serve families and children for many generations to come.

There are many ways to plan a future gift to ICG. The most common are

Beneficiary Designations:

You can name ICG as a beneficiary in your retirement plan, annuity, and life insurance policy. This is the easiest way to give a future gift. Just ask your plan provider for a beneficiary designation form and include Ithaca Children’s Garden (TIN 52-2291247) to receive a specific amount or percentage of assets.

Bequests:

You can affirm your commitment to the next generation of environmental stewards by including Ithaca Children’s Garden in your Will or living trust. Download a pdf for sample language for bequests you can bring to your attorney or estate planner; they can help draft the language and tailor it to your wishes.

Contact us if you’re interested in tax-advantaged ways to give, including charitable IRA rollovers, giving through a donor-advised fund, and donating appreciated securities,  or to learn about other ways to give. We are excited to hear from you! It will be our pleasure to help answer your questions.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD OUR PLANNED GIVING PDF

If you have already included ICG in your estate plan, please let us know so we can stay in touch and recognize you as a member of our legacy society.  We’d also appreciate the opportunity to thank you for your generosity.

Ithaca Children’s Garden is a 501(c)3, nonprofit organization. TIN: 52-2291247. ICG’s mailing address is 1013 W. State St. Ithaca, NY 14850

Volunteer

Without you, we don’t exist

The Garden grows because of volunteers just like you.

At this time we have limited volunteer opportunities, but we are working to expand!

Stay tuned as we introduce a new volunteer web page, new volunteer opportunities, and more in the future!

ICG Volunteer Corps Logo banner

How to Volunteer

To get involved, whether you’re an individual or part of a group, your first step is to send us an email at volunteer@ithacachildrensgarden.org. In your initial email, please feel free to share your interests and let us know how you discovered ICG’s volunteer opportunities. This information will help the Garden find the perfect match in line with your interests.

We look forward to working with you!

Two people mix mulch in a wheelbarrow.
Become a Brand Partner

Inspiring the community through custom corporate philanthropy

Ithaca Children’s Garden’s impact is made possible with the generous support of brand partners.

You are all about doing good for the community. But you also have to mind the dollars and cents. ICG’s brand partnership options help your marketing budget go further.

Become a brand partner through Garden sponsorship, event sponsorships, or adopting a bench.

Ready to sponsor, or want to learn more? Download our Brand Partnership Prospectus or drop us a line today. We are delighted to speak with you.

Download ICG's Brand Partnership Prospectus

Contact ICG’s Philanthropy Department:
giving@ithacachildrensgarden.org
607-319-4203

Become a Member

At ICG, Membership is FREE for all

As an ICG member, you will receive monthly news, information on what’s happening, and occasional giveaways (like houseplant and seed freebies).

To become a member, sign up for our weekly newsletter at the bottom of the page! 

In looking critically at how best to carry out our goals of equity outlined in our strategic plan – from direct programming to behind-the-scenes administration – we took a hard look at our membership program. After a close analysis, we have made the decision to redesign our membership structure. Instead of a tiered model where associated benefits and perks are available to those who pay the cost of membership, ICG is replacing it with 2 key but distinct programs: 

  1. a FREE FOR ALL membership program, and 
  2. The Hive, a brand new monthly giving program that will grow ICG’s impact exponentially.

We believe that this approach will provide the same perks to everyone who wants them while providing a powerful means to contribute to the work of making nature accessible to all.

This means anyone and everyone can be an ICG member!

Don’t forget to sign-up for our newsletter!

Sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter

All ICG members will receive monthly news, be the first to know what’s happening, and be in the loop for periodic giveaways (like houseplants, veggie starts, free seeds, and more). If you are reading this email, it means you are already a member. And no membership dues!  

So, how will we make this work? We’re so glad you asked! We are relying on the same generosity of our past members to join The Hive, ICG’s brand new monthly giving program to make a major impact on equitable access to nature.

Do you want to help support free memberships for all?

Learn More about the Hive
Faces of Philanthropy

Why do you love & support The Garden?

Photographer Sarah Clapp asked this question to some of ICG’s incredible members, partners, and Garden enthusiasts, and the outcome was simply beautiful. The resulting exhibition, Photographing Philanthropy for the Love of Humanity, debuted at ICG’s 2017 Annual Celebration and perfectly encapsulates the role of the Garden in the lives and hearts of ICG devotees. See for yourself!