GardenAfrica Tool Kit

What You Can Do to Help GardenAfrica

Help as a Garden Centre

GardenAfrica Charity Help as an Individual

Discuss the possibility of hosting a GardenAfrica weekend, with a percentage of profits going to a GardenAfrica nursery in Southern Africa.

There are a number of benefits for Garden Centres:

Extending the main selling season.
Increasing income.
Obtaining considerable media coverage.
Introducing new customers.
Supporting a worthwhile complementary charity and showing commitment to humanitarian and environmental issues.
Participating in a major local event.
Increasing local goodwill.
Obtaining an extensive mailing list from the names taken by GardenAfrica at the event.

Support from GardenAfrica

Organising the event from beginning to end, being there on the weekend to coordinate all the activities, support sales staff and talk to customers about the work of GardenAfrica. Supply posters, leaflets, banners, balloons, small gifts for sale. Supervise the talks, free prize draw and the presentation of the prizes for the children's painting competition.
Contact all local press, radio, TV, sympathetic local 'celebrities', appropriate city officials, local groups such as horticultural societies, churches, other gardening, schools and colleges to publicise the event and solicit support and participation. Leafleting door to door if time permits.
Contact complementary retailers/suppliers such as garden equipment manufacturers/seed producers, Eades, organic box schemes, the Farmers Markets, and organic shops to provide support, publicity and prizes for the free prize draw and children's painting competition.
Organise events during the weekend such as African Drummers, a talk by a leading herbalist, on using common herbs for treating minor ailments (with advice chart and perhaps a discount offered on the herbs mentioned), a talk or demonstration given by one of your staff on a suitable subject such as drought resistant plants or how to conserve water in the garden (with suitable incentives to buy relevant products).
Liaise with centre café (if relevant) to provide recipes for topically-inspired cakes and fruit drinks.
Organise a children's painting competition (two age groups) with local schools to depict an African vegetable and herb garden based on the Chelsea Flower Show model on the GardenAfrica website. Display the 10 or so finalists at the weekend. Judges could be local members of societies / media, or similar, a GardenAfrica representative, your own garden centre, and a local botanical or landscape artist.
Arrange for a press photo call on the weekend for the opening or to cover a particular event such as awarding the prize to the winner of the painting competition.

Please contact us or phone us on +44 (0) 20 7272 8040 if you would like to discover more.