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At Grow Great Fruit, we’ve noticed that organic fruit-growing is more than just a skill—it’s a great way to build resilient communities.
As we’ve built the Grow Great Fruit family since we started in 2013, we’ve seen firsthand how growing fruit together fosters beautiful connections between people.
Even better, it can also empower people to take control of their food systems.
Where can you find funding for your community garden or orchard?
But we also know that accessing resources isn’t always easy for projects that make a big difference in their communities.
That’s why we’re thrilled to announce the 2025 Grow Great Fruit Scholarship Program!
We’ve previously supported school gardens and community gardens in an ad hoc fashion. We’ve helped with community projects that haven’t had the support they needed at the beginning.
It feels like such a waste to see fruit trees that have been enthusiastically planted but haven’t been productive because they haven’t got the simple care they need.
We’ve seen that a little guidance from us can go a long way to helping set up fruit trees for a lifetime of success.
So this year, we’re offering four scholarships to projects that align with our values and have a positive impact in their communities.
Who can access support for a community orchard? (Spoiler: it’s open worldwide!)
We’ve deliberately left the door wide open for creativity and inclusivity.
While we can imagine projects like school kitchen gardens, First Nations-run orchards, or initiatives that increase food access in disaster-impacted areas, we know there are ideas we haven’t dreamed of yet.
The scholarships are available globally, so we want to hear from you whether you’re in Australia, the US, or anywhere else.
All we ask is that your project aligns with our values of:
- Educate to empower
- Build resilience and food sovereignty
- Apply regenerative and organic principles
- Work collaboratively and inclusively
Learn more about our values here.
Each scholarship includes a Grow Great Fruit Essentials membership (valued at $658) and extra video calls (valued at $150 each) to help you get the most out of the program.
Where to get resources for growing food and building resilience
Applying for the Grow Great Fruit scholarship is simple—no lengthy forms or hoops to jump through. We want you to spend your precious time in the garden, not wasting it on admin.
Filling out this quick application form should only take a few minutes. There are only two questions we want you to answer:
- How will a Grow Great Fruit membership help increase your project’s impact?
- How does your project align with our values?
📷Samantha Fortney, Unsplash
Sharing stories of impact
We’re not just excited to give these scholarships—we’re also excited to celebrate the incredible projects that win them.
Scholarship recipients will be asked to share updates and images of their progress twice during the year. These stories will inspire others, spread knowledge, and highlight how much good can grow when we work together.
How to start a garden that strengthens your community
Whether you’re running a school garden, building food security in your community, or dreaming of an orchard that brings people together, we want to support you.
Applications are open now, so don’t wait—apply for a 2025 scholarship, and let’s grow great fruit, and great communities, together.
Applications close on May 31, 2025. Winners will be announced in June.
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Hi Katie and Hugh,
I have gardened for a long time and worked in school gardens for about 15 years. Vegetables are fun in schools but it’s often difficult to get planting, harvesting, etc to align with the school programmes. Vegies are also labour intensive and require continual maintenance, composting and replanting.
On the other hand, fruit trees are relatively easy to care for, look great, and the fruit can be used for all types of cooking.
The one mistake that seems to regularly with fruit trees in schools is that trees are planted which bear fruit during the school holidays. These include nectarines, peaches and apricots, but also plums and cherries. People imagine that someone will harvest and process the fruit during their holidays but that often doesn’t seem happen.
Best trees to grow in schools in Melbourne are oranges and mandarins (which are easy to care for and look fantastic), avocadoes, apples (especially cooking apples), pears and figs. You probably know of others as well.
I have seen heaps of peaches, apricots and nectarines planted in schools with wonderful intentions, but sadly they don’t often seem to get harvested.