As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization Lost Valley aspires to create life transformative educational offerings that affordable for everyone, including people with limited monetary resources. We recognize that there are those who passionately wish to study sustainability and need financial assistance in order to do so. If you have difficulty affording our tuition, you can pursue the following:

Crowdfunding

A glory of the internet is that it allows us to get support from friends & family, as well as strangers. Crowdfunding can be the boost you need to get yourself here, and an educational experience that you are jazzed about is easy for people to say ‘yes’ to helping support (compared to something like credit card debt or buying you gas).

We The Trees is a crowdfunding site dedicated to permaculture. Here is their main page.

There is also GoFundMe, which is more widely known than We The Trees, and is more broad. Here is their education-related page.

As far as how to run a campaign, this is helpful info:

This campaign is your opportunity to go to your closest friends and family and tell them why and how attendance in this course is an important step for your future.  The specific steps:

1. Use a digital photo of good quality, preferably from the chest up.

2. Write 2-3 paragraphs describing to your friends and family why you are attending this course and where you hope it will take you. Include relevant biographical information.

3. Recommended: Film yourself describing #2 rather then writing it down. If you choose to film yourself please shorten your written paragraph to one summary paragraph to encourage the reader to watch your video.

4. Come up with some perks for contributing, like a personalized thank-you.

5. Put together a list of 100 friends and family that you would like to ask for support.

6. With a brief introduction, send out an email to these 100 people providing a link to your customized webpage.

7. One week later, follow up with a phone call to those friends and family who have not yet responded.

8. Share a link to your webpage through any social media networks you are a part of. Let LV know, and we’ll post it on our social media.

9. At the end of the 30 days update and thank contributors.

This is the basic format.  You can also customize your page with any creative ideas that you have.  For instance you could offer your friends a free consultation after completion of the course, or promise to document each step so that they can learn alongside you.

The more effort you put into the crowdfund page and the more you spread the word about it to people you know, the more you will raise. You can choose whatever target amount you want, but you may want to select a low amount, such as $600 or $1000, so that it’s very likely to be fully funded and feel good for all involved.

Scholarships

Lost Valley’s educational scholarship system exists to allow more students to experience our courses than might otherwise be able to, making finances less of a deterrent. This is beneficial to the students themselves, the people & organizations they serve in the future with their increased knowledge and experience, and Lost Valley because we can take in more students and therefore carry out our mission further.

For prospective donors:  Donations are fully tax-deductible, and we can furnish you with a donation letter with the needed details.  With your donation, please include a phone number and email address for us to maintain communication, and mailing address if you would like recipients to be able to share their gratitude with you directly at the completion of their course.

For prospective students:  Scholarships for the Holistic Sustainability Semester and the Permaculture Design Certificate course are awarded based on need, and are available when there are sufficient funds. The maximum amount covered by a scholarship is 50% of the course expense — this allows the fund to help more students, while still requiring a significant personal investment from the student.

Scholarship applications due one month before the course start date.