BioRegen Program Introduction

Cultivator

Landscape Groups

Application

What is the Cascadia BioRegen Program?

Figure 1: Pathways into each Regenerate Cascadia Circle of Commitment.

Our BioRegen program is for people and groups within Cascadia who want to work with Regenerate Cascadia as part of a larger bioregional strategy. The program provides pathways to support the formation and development of landscape groups and hubs, local regeneration strategies, project portfolios, and local funding ecosystems. The Cascadia BioRegen Program offers three Circles of Commitment—Seed Groups, Landscape Groups, and Hubs— and is one of two programs we are kicking off in 2025 (along with our Cascadia BioFi program) and is part of a larger Cascadia bioregional finance strategy.

Regenerate Cascadia (RC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit program of the Department of Bioregion (DOB) in the U.S., currently expanding as a federal charity in Canada to operate bioregionally across all of Cascadia. Our mission is to regenerate Cascadia and create the conditions for a long-term regenerative movement to thrive. Participants in our BioRegen Program gain 501(c)(3) status benefits to support their work, -including the ability to accept tax-deductible donations and administrative support, alongside payroll services, grant eligibility, and insurance coverage where applicable. By extending its nonprofit status to groups, the BioRegen program can immediately help unlock potential funding opportunities for more groups within Cascadia, increasing landscape regeneration strategies and impact.

Circles of Commitment

The Cascadia BioRegen Program offers three Circles of Commitment—Seed Groups, Landscape Groups, and Hubs—each providing tailored onboarding and service options based on the group’s stage and needs and clarifying DOB’s requirements to effectively manage the extension of its nonprofit 501(c)(3) status.

Figure 1: Pathways into each Regenerate Cascadia Circle of Commitment.

A big part of working with Regenerate Cascadia to deepen our bioregional organizing and funding capacities is the co-development of a whole-system network that holds core principles such as transparency, accessibility, and co-learning. The following are four opportunities we hope groups will engage with to promote the visibility,accessibility and culture of the network:

Host regular team meetings – Develop decision-making processes for your group and have a pathway for the general public to engage with the group, volunteer, donate, and move into leadership positions. Have regular team meetings online or in person.
Add a page for each group on the Regenerate Cascadia website – Make sure people can find and learn about your group! Using your application we’ll add an informational page describing the group and contact info on our website, as well as dedicated space on our website backend.
Add updates, announcements, and events to the Regenerate Cascadia website and newsletter – Centralize and make individual activities more visible to each other as part of a larger bioregional whole.
Bioregional Updates – Have a member join and share at our bioregional updates sessions to support whole-system learning.

We recognize the urgency and ambition of this collaborative journey and invite all of these circles to experiment, learn, and iterate with us as we grow our bioregional organizing and funding capacities together. We aim to create a supportive learning container using the sociocratic principle of Minimum Viable Policy, i.e., “safe enough to try, good enough for now.”