Seed Savers Exchange has launched a new endowment intended to provide long-term financial support for its seed-preservation work. The organization said the fund will help safeguard culturally rooted, open-pollinated seeds and the community knowledge connected to them.
The Seed Savers Exchange Endowment Fund was formally launched in 2025 with a $1 million gift from Amy Goldman Fowler, a longtime seed champion, award-winning author and current special advisor to Seed Savers Exchange. The organization described the gift as the foundation of a broader fundraising effort.
Aiming for $5 million in five years
The endowment’s initial goal is to reach $5 million within five years. Since the launch, other friends and supporters have directed philanthropic gifts to the fund, according to Seed Savers Exchange.
The organization said the endowment is designed to create stable funding for the collection and its preservation work. That dependable support is intended to help the group respond to future challenges and opportunities without compromising its day-to-day responsibilities.
“help ensure the continuation and care of the seed collection…freeing the organization to meet new challenges and opportunities without sacrificing the daily work of preservation.”
Goldman Fowler said the continuation and care of the collection is her first priority. Seed Savers Exchange characterized the founding contribution as a seed meant to grow through additional gifts, with each contribution helping build the fund’s long-term future.
In an accompanying image, Seed Savers Exchange Executive Director Mike Bollinger and Goldman Fowler are shown outside the Lillian Goldman Visitors Center at Heritage Farm during the organization’s 50th-anniversary celebration. The organization directs readers to its endowment information for details about contributing.