Founding Members
Become a Founding Member!
The Westonka Horticultural Society is approaching an important milestone. It was less than a year ago that a group of community members planted a seed to bring forth the growth of knowledge in sustainable and responsible gardening and landscaping. The members of the current operating committee started meeting in July 2007 to review the possibilities of creating the Westonka Horticultural Society. Through many weekly meetings, they scrutinized the reason for the Society to exist, the viability of a Horticultural Society in the Westonka area, and the means to support it. After they determined that an organization such as this would be a valuable asset to the community, in November 2007, they moved forward to become a recognized nonprofit organization by filing the Articles of Incorporation, and other necessary papers, with the State of Minnesota. The next goal is to reach the level of a Federally recognized 501(c)3 educational nonprofit organization.
The operating committee began paving the path to that final step of reaching the goal of a recognized 501(c)3 Federal nonprofit organization. During the past nine months, the Westonka Horticultural Society created a board of directors with horticulture industry leaders representing:
Outside of the administrative side of the Society, what has the Westonka Horticultural Society accomplished for our members? With ambitious goals of engaging members in exciting programs, the Society has developed several programs that allow member engagement in learning and sharing for the novice gardener to the professional gardener. These programs are presented to members at no-charge or at a discounted rate.
Some of the educational programs include:
- Westonka Horticulture Day - Going into its fourth year, this program provides educational information from professional presenters in an interactive one-day conference setting. Bringing information of sustainable and responsible gardening knowledge based on University of Minnesota research to the attendees, this one-day conference with a keynote speaker and over 15 workshops, reaches across the lines of experience in providing the educational tools for the beginning gardener, and allowing professionals to gain the latest research based information and obtain continuing education credits.
- Six Garden Gab sessions - three in the fall and three in the winter, allows attendees to interact with other gardeners in a one and one-half hour Saturday morning program over light refreshments. The session leaders provide a topic for discussion and the attendees join in with questions and sharing their experiences. The session leaders are trained to keep the session focused and encourage use of the University of Minnesota research based techniques for sustainable and responsible gardening and landscaping.
What’s next? The next big step for the Westonka Horticultural Society is to acquire the 501(c)3 nonprofit status. The Society must file papers with the Federal government by the end of January 2009. The paperwork involves approximately 25 pages of forms, funding spreadsheet information and an extensive narrative section. This process has been in the making since September 2007 and is close to completion. The last step will be to raise the filing fee of $750 to process the paperwork.
To reach our funding goal, we are offering the opportunity to become a Founding Member of the Westonka Horticultural Society by contributing to the process of obtaining the 501(c)3 status. This is your opportunity to support a program that brings you quality research based information, provides learning and sharing resources, and brings community together.
Funds raised beyond the $750 will be used for community programs including scholarships and community outreach.
If you would like to become a Founding Member of the Westonka Horticultural Society, click here. Founding Members will have the opportunity to be listed on the Westonka Horticultural Society website Founding Member page. Thank you for your consideration.
For further information about the Westonka Horticultural Society or becoming a Founding Member, email westonkahortday@gmail.com or call 612-247-3189.