Teravana Trust

Teravana Trust recognizes our wholeness, our interdependence with all beings, and our connection with the Earth that unites us all. We look at the whole system, intentionally designing programs that seek to restore the web of relationships - to self, each other and the planet - that form the roots of a thriving planet. We look at the whole system, intentionally designing programs that work towards community resilience - helping communities build the capacity to meet their own needs. Working in solidarity with local leaders, we weave stronger relationships to self, to each other, and to the planet that revive our sense of connection and hope, ensuring everyone has what they need to thrive.

We believe that the future is WELL. We see a transformation from humankind to WELLKIND. This change

Goal One: Help communities meet their needs for gardens, healthy foods, economic wellbeing, and environmental health, while preparing youth for their future academic, vocational and personal success.

Goal Two: - Address unprecedented risks to the health and well-being of the Earth, humankind, and all living things by applying a holistic approach that understands the interconnectedness of all life.

Goal Three: Identify threats to the global and local environment in a climate-changed world and apply innovative techniques fueled by new scientific understandings. and knowledge gained

We’ve been investing in online trainings, workshops and courses for our program managers and senior operations manager, including: Oregon State University’s Master Gardener program, Managing Teleworking Employees, Life Lab Certified Garden Educator program, Talk Digital to Me: Digital Marketing, and more. Our senior operations manager also runs trainings for our other managers, including in Google Suite, Canva, and more.

The most significant changes in the last year were brought by COVID-19. The pandemic made it much harder to win grants: many foundations said that due to their decreased budgets and the increased needs of grantees, they were hesitant to take on new organizations. Also, due to COVID we have been unable to run in-person fundraising events. In response to these challenges in fundraising, we used GoFundMe campaigns to engage existing supporters efficiently and find new ones. We have successfully raised over $21,000 for the Guatemala Program on the platform and have another GoFundMe planned for the Garden Program. In addition, we secured a matching grant with One Day’s Wages to boost the power of our supporters’ donations, for a total of over $31,000 raised. The pandemic affected our program delivery as well. Our Garden Program’s first priority is visiting schools to deliver in-person instruction. This was delayed while schools were not offering in-person classes. Additionally, COVID-19 exacerbated food security and unemployment in the village of Tzununa, Guatemala, impelling our Guatemala program to deliver emergency aid on top of long-term development initiatives. In response to these programmatic challenges, for the Garden Program, we implemented a mini-grant project of giving financial and in-kind donations to schools and community organizations. From the launch of our program in 2020, we have supported 16 Marin City and Sonoma County schools and 12 community groups in creating and maintaining gardens, benefitting 22,000+ people. Our grantmaking helped us form relationships with these groups so that we can now teach in-person classes with them as they re-open. In Tzununa, Guatemala, WELLKIND was instrumental in distributing emergency food supplies to over 120 families and producing over 1,000 hundred masks. The women who weaved the masks joined our long-term weaving cooperative, and families receiving food joined our family gardens and reforestation projects.