We are SO thankful for the HUGE amount of support we’ve received in getting Growing Cities out into the world. Growing Cities has been an official selection at 25+ film festivals and screened in more than 200 communities worldwide. WOOT!

And now we have the chance to spread these inspiring stories of urban farmers even further:

We can be on PBS!

A national PBS broadcast would give the film exposure in millions of homes across the nation. (We’re guaranteed into a minimum of 80% of PBS markets, and with a little extra legwork, we may be able to get into 100%. That’s practically every home with a television!)

But we need your help. We are responsible for all the costs involved in getting Growing Cities onto PBS. In fact, we need to raise $30,000 to make this happen. So we’ve launched a Kickstarter to raise these funds.

How you can help:

1. Make a pledge. Your support, no matter how small (or large), makes a BIG difference to us.

2. Please spread the word! You’ve already got a community interested in urban farming, and maybe in this film too. We’d love to have you share us on Facebook, Twitter, by email, or a blog post.

Here are some templates for sharing (feel free to copy):

Facebook: We want to see @Growing Cities on PBS! Please support their campaign on @Kickstarter: www.kck.st/1kDfhgP #GrowingCitiesonPBS

Twitter: We want to see @GrowinCities on PBS! Support their @Kickstarter now: www.kck.st/1kDfhgP #GrowingCitiesonPBS

Email to personal contacts:

Hey friends and family,

I have been inspired by this great little documentary called Growing Cities. It tells the stories of urban farmers who are not only raising good food, but growing and strengthening their communities.

Now the filmmakers are trying to get Growing Cities on PBS. The film has been accepted, but they have to fund its broadcast. Please check out their Kickstarter and consider supporting this inspiring film: www.kck.st/1kDfhgP.

The basics:
Growing Cities: Let’s Get Urban Farming on PBS!
Goal: To raise $30,000 by July 9th to air this Fall
Kickstarter link: www.kck.st/1kDfhgP

Email to community after a screening:

Hey everybody,

As you know, we screened this great little documentary called Growing Cities. It was a great success for our community, and now we have the chance to help get this film into millions of homes across the country:

We can get Growing Cities on PBS!

The film has been accepted by American Public Television, but the filmmakers have to fund its broadcast. Please check out their Kickstarter and consider supporting this inspiring film: www.kck.st/1kDfhgP.

The basics:
Growing Cities: Let’s Get Urban Farming on PBS!
Goal: To raise $30,000 by July 9th to air this Fall
Kickstarter link: www.kck.st/1kDfhgP

Blog post

Help us educate the nation about the Good Food Movement!

An inspiring new documentary film, Growing Cities, about urban farming in America has the opportunity to be broadcast on PBS nationwide this fall — if the filmmakers can raise the funds to make the broadcast possible.

In Growing Cities, filmmakers Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette travel the country, visiting everything from rooftop farms to backyard chicken coops. They discover urban farming is about more than simply good food, but also growing stronger and more vibrant communities, too.

Growing Cities has been an official selection at more than 25 film festivals and screened in more than 200 communities worldwide. A national PBS broadcast would give the film exposure in millions of homes across the nation, spreading the Good Food Movement further than ever.

The hurdle the filmmakers now face is to raise $30,000 to sponsor the film’s airing nationally on public television this fall.

We can help! They’ve launched a Kickstarter project that will run for 30 days. Since Kickstarter is all or nothing, the project must meet its goal of $30,000 by July 9 for the filmmakers to receive any of the funds pledged.

Please consider supporting this project and, with it, the Good Food Movement!

The basics:
Growing Cities: Let’s Get Urban Farming on PBS!
Goal: To raise $30,000 by July 9th to air this Fall
Kickstarter link: www.kck.st/1kDfhgP

And feel free to share this digital postcard image. If you’re really gung-ho, you can also make your Facebook banner match ours too!

Again, thanks for being part of this movement to help inspire millions to Grow Where They Are!

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!

EMAIL TEMPLATE
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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!