Editor-in-Chief Naomi Starkman and Managing Editor Paula Crossfield on the set with Michael Pollan. Photo by Robin Moore.

There is currently a Kickstarter Campaign for Civil Eats, an organization whose focus is truly one to admire–getting helpful and pertinent information about the food system out there for all eyes to see.

What follows is an excerpt from a post on the Civil Eats website, all about their campaign.

For nearly five years, Civil Eats has brought you extensive coverage of food policy stories, from the farm field to the halls of Congress. You might not know that our site is a labor of love and has been run entirely without paying anyone–ourselves, our editors or our writers.

That’s about to change, but we need your help: Today, we’re launching our Kickstarter Campaign which will take place over the next 30 days and we’re asking 4,000 of you to please donate $25 each to help continue our work in 2014.

If we don’t fund Civil Eats by the end of the year, it could be forced to shutter its doors.

Our Kickstarter aims to raise enough funding to shift the site from an all-volunteer effort to a professional enterprise in 2014 so we can produce more in-depth, original reporting and visually engaging content by paying our writers and editors a fair wage.

We also plan to expand our community resources on the site so that you can better plug into the issues that impact you. In addition, funding will help us maintain Civil Eats during that time so that we can continue to produce some of the most groundbreaking and informative news on food today.

Reade more HERE!

 What YOU can do to help spread the word!!

·      Share with social media.  Post us on your wall, tweet about us, pin us to your pinterest board — do whatever you can to tell your friends about this film and our campaign!

·      Write ten emails.  Sharing on social media is great. But, what works best—to get donations, at least—is getting personal.  To make it easy, we’ve drafted a quick email (see bottom of update) which gives you a simple way to share us.

We’re asking every one of YOU to send this out with a little personal note to at least ten of your friends.  This will be incredibly effective in helping draw more people into our campaign.  Please feel free to add your own personal touch…especially if you know, have met, (or feel like you’ve met) Andrew or Dan!

·      Talk to people.  Lots of them.  Seriously.  Kickstarter is a great topic of conversation…and once you start talking about Kickstarter, you can’t help but mention your favorite project that you are backing right now (that would be us…)  And, of course, offering to send them a link!

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Hi XXX,

How’s it going? [INSERT PERSONAL]  I’m writing to let you know about a great looking documentary film, Growing Cities, which I’m supporting on Kickstarter.com.

The film follows two young guys across the country as they meet folks who are revitalizing cities by growing food.  They want to inspire people to grow healthy communities across the country, but they need some help!!  To finish the film they need to raise $35K in 30 days to get the film out to as many people as possible.

I hope you will consider making a donation (no matter how small or large) to help them out.  You can watch their trailer & pledge here.  If you can’t make a donation, I hope you will share with others.

Thanks,
XXX

***For Immediate Release***

 Filmmakers Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette traveled 12,000 miles to meet the leaders of the urban farming movement. With over 140 hours of footage to show for it, they are now launching a Kickstarter campaign  to help finish the film.

Omaha, NE (WEB) April 12, 2012 – Independent filmmakers and food activists Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette have thirty days to raise $35,000 for their feature film, Growing Cities, a documentary about urban agriculture in America.

After growing up in Omaha, Nebraska near factory farms and fast food outlets, they resolved to seek out the people who were growing food in a healthier, more sustainable way. “Everyone is really tired of hearing about all the problems with our food system,” says Susman, age 24.  “So we figured it was time to show off the people who were doing something positive, right in their own backyards.”

He and his childhood friend, Monbouquette, also 24, visited more than eighty urban farmers—from rooftop gardeners to backyard chicken keepers to vegetable farmers – who are working to transform the way this country grows and distributes its food one vacant city lot at a time.

“Urban farming has remarkable power on so many levels,” says Monbouquette, “it connects people to healthy foods, strengthens communities, creates jobs, revitalizes blighted areas; and much more. That’s why this story is so compelling.”

Growing Cities is the first film to focus specifically on urban agriculture across the country. The film shows viewers the vast potential to transform our food system in the unlikeliest of places.

They also learned there’s no such thing as a typical urban farmer. “There is no single face of the urban farming movement,” says Susman, “and no way to sum up in a sentence or a headline. That’s part of the magic and why it will be so powerful to put their stories into a film.”

The filmmakers are beginning to raise money for the film’s post-production using Kickstarter, the increasingly popular online fundraising platform.  They must raise $35,000 by May 15^th in order to complete the film by early 2013.  To learn more about the film, readers can visit the project’s pitch page here.

For questions, press inquiries, or other comments please contact:

The Kickstarter campaign is finally launched and underway! We had a magnificent turnout at the launch party- thank you to all who attended, it was so nice to finally meet some of you. Keep track of our fund-raising progress and if you can- make a donation. We would greatly appreciate it!

Every little bit counts!

Kathleen

Hello everyone,

We are gearing up to start our Kickstarter fundraising campaign! If you’re in the area, we are throwing a little launch party to kickoff the fundraiser and premiere our trailer. Stop in, say hello, grab a bite, and donate what you can! We’d love to meet you!

Details:

Thursday, April 12th
Watie White Studio, 1314 William Street
Omaha, NE 68108
5:30pm – 7:30pm

Hope to see you there!

Kathleen

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PS Because you are awesome, here is a FIRST LOOK at our movie poster — be the first to get one at our fundraiser (only $20) OR get one via Kickstarter starting tomorrow!

Whole Foods has generously agreed to put aside 14 hours on December 6th for Growing Cities. Five percent of all proceeds – be it homemade soap, organic turkey, or free trade chocolate – will go into our nearly bare coffers. So please circle December 6th on your calendar and aim your shopping cart for Whole Foods!

Where: Whole Foods, 10020 Regency Circle, Omaha, NE 68114

When: December 6th (8am-10pm)

Why: Funds will go to help finish the film – everything from hiring a professional editor and licensing music to designing graphics for the film.

Please let us know you’re attending!