ELLEN LEA PAINE MEMORIAL NATURE FUND
The Adirondack Garden Club Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund was established in 2005 to give financial assistance to individuals and not-for-profit organizations – including schools – involved in programs whose purpose is to study, protect and enjoy the natural environment within the Adirondack Park. The funds reqests are considered and distributed by the ELP Committee.
The Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund Application deadline is May 1, with funds distributed June 1. Email contact@adirondackgardenclub.com for details.
Last year’s awardees of the Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund were the Adirondack Land Trust, Ausable Freshwater Center, Boquet River Association, Creative Kitchen Gardens, and Little Peaks Preschool & Early Childhood Center, for projects ranging from erosion work on an active trail, creating riparian buffers along waterways, creating native plants seed sources, and both launching and supporting gardening projects to grow food for kids and low-income families.
1928 AGC Founders Fund
The AGC Founders Fund was established in the 1980s to provide grants to nonprofit organizations, including schools, that run programs focused on making a meaningful impact within the Adirondack environment. These Funds support aims to promote knowledge and appreciation of gardening, protect native plants and birds, encourage civic planting, and support the conservation of natural resources.
1928 AGC Founders Fund Application deadline is June 15, and funds will be distributed July 15.
Email contact@adirondackgardenclub.com for details.
Founders Fund grants were awarded in 2025 to the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society (ATIS), North Country Community College, Town of Waverly Museum, Champlain Area Trails (CATS), Pendragon Theatre, Westport/Wadhams Community Alliance, and Flowers Plus! Committee, and the Garden Club of America’s Scholarship Fund. Those projects included trail maintenance and repair projects, creation of landscaping and native pollinator gardens, including developing protection from deer, and funding students pursuing research in the fields of botany, conservation, landscape architecture and pollinators.
FRANCESCA PAINE IRWIN CONSERVATION FUND
The Francesca Paine Irwin Conservation Fund was created in 2013 and used for project-based conservation funding requests. These requests are reviewed by the Conservation Committee and forwarded to the Executive Committee for approval and distribution.
