What is a Regenerate Cascadia Seed Group?

Regenerate Cascadia Seed Groups are place-based groups that are starting to work together to represent a discrete landscape for regeneration. Each Seed Group consists of at least three people to envision the work, weave connections, empower communities, and support on-the-ground regenerative work. If you’re just starting and looking for others in your area, a Seed Group is a great first step! 🌱✨

Benefits of Being a Regenerate Cascadia Seed Group

• Connection, Collaboration and Trust – Become part of a broad network of regenerative leaders, organizers, and practitioners across the Cascadia bioregion who are co-learning and growing trust together.
• Be Part of the Regenerate Cascadia 501(c)(3) Umbrella – Seed Groups can take donations and receive the benefits of coming underneath Regenerate Cascadia’s 501(c)(3) program, allowing them to accept both one-time and recurring donations up to $12,000 a year. Regenerate Cascadia provides a programming officer who helps with all nonprofit reporting in regard to accepting donations while a group is getting off the ground.  This enables groups that are just getting started to focus on the work they think is important without being bogged down by nonprofit requirements or barriers.  
• Shared Services and Support – Receive dedicated support from our Community Steward to help get your updates on our website and newsletters; and from our Operations Assistant to help manage donations. Your group also gets access to a @regeneratecascadia.org email address and other dedicated digital tools and services. 
• Education and Community Building – Join the Regenerate Cascadia community of practice on our website and the Design School for Regenerating Earth to meet peers and mentors around Cascadia and the planet. 
• Local Governance with Shared Administrative Support – Groups manage their day-to-day operations while benefiting from collective knowledge and resources. Decision-making remains in the hands of local organizers, while Regenerate Cascadia provides nonprofit services and handles reporting requirements.
• Communication and Outreach – Get promotion and increased visibility through Regenerate Cascadia’s website, newsletters, and social media.
• Growth and Development Pathway – Seed Groups can evolve into Landscape Groups. Highly engaged groups can become Landscape Hubs, serving as regional coordination centers for larger-scale impact.

What does a Regenerate Cascadia Seed Group do?

These activities not only support Seed Groups in their organizing and advocacy work, they are also important in how they support our goal of developing a transparent and accessible co-learning network.

• Host a regular meeting at least quarterly that has an open pathway for how the general public can engage, volunteer, donate, and move into leadership positions. 
• Use space on the Regenerate Cascadia website – Create an informational page describing the group and contact info on our website and use a dedicated space we create on our website backend for group management.
• Add events to the Regenerate Cascadia website online calendar and keep the community informed.
• Add a once-a-month update to the Regenerate Cascadia website blog feed. 
• Begin collecting donations and using them as the group decides.
• Have a member represent and share updates with bioregional organizing teams in a regular session.

How Do You Start a Seed Group?

• Trying to find others? Let us know and we’ll help by putting a callout on our website, social media, and newsletter inviting others to join your Seed Group, alongside those you already know in your landscape. Additionally, join the Design School for Regenerating Earth’s Cascadia Cohort: How to Organize Your Bioregion to connect with others around Cascadia and the world. 
• First meeting: Host an informal in-person gathering or online Zoom session to find others interested in forming a group in your area. Give it a lead time of at least a few weeks and work with our Community Steward to share it on our website calendar and newsletter. Afterward, take pictures and share an update from your first meeting so we can include them in our newsletter and help you build momentum. Follow this process for all events and meetings your Seed Group organizes.
• Apply! Fill out our online group application and sign the Community Agreements document.
• Ongoing: Begin hosting conversations, mapping local needs, and identifying opportunities for collaboration.