Civic Improvement Grants

Each year, the Club invests the proceeds from its annual Geranium-Plus Sale into community projects reflecting our  interests including gardening, conservation, horticulture, historic preservation, and civic improvement. 

Grant Criteria

Our primary focus in evaluating proposed projects is the impact the project will have on our community. 

A project can be large and expensive with many other funding sources, a small pilot program or anything in between – what matters to our committee is how it impacts our community and our determination that it is appropriate that we participate. 

We look at others who join us to support the funding of our projects as important sources of community collaboration and partnerships. 

The physical location of the project is less important than how it affects the Rochester area and population. 

Apply for a Grant

We accept and consider requests for support annually, with requests due on March 1. Please complete your grant request below by March 1, 2025.

We recommend composing the answers to these questions in a document, and then copying/pasting the information into this form for submission.

Past Winners

1916

  • Poet’s Garden at Highland Park

1939

  • Crabapple trees along Wilson Boulevard at the University of Rochester

1942

  • Initiated funding for extermination of Japanese beetles in Rochester

1943

  • Plantings at Sampson Naval Base, Geneva, NY

1946

  • Helped purchase 200 acres to preserve the Bergen Swamp (1947 – received GCA Founders Fund Award to support its preservation)

1956

  • Montgomery Center and Third Ward Project

1958

  • Helped fund library addition at the Garden Center

1959

  • Funds to initiate landscaping at Campbell-Whittlesey House

1964

  • Plantings at Liberty Pole, downtown Rochester

1965

  • Planting of a double row of Linden trees at Memorial Art Gallery

1968-74 

  • Landscaping at the American Red Cross

1971-75 

  • Landscape plan and plantings at Brewster-Burke House

1976-80

  • Trail signs and entrance landscaping at Cumming Nature Center (1979 – Finalist for GCA Founders Fund Award for work at Cumming Nature Center)

1981-84

  • Provided one half of the funds to restore the West Garden at George Eastman Museum (1984 – Formal dedication to Virginia Judson)

1986-87

  • Plant material for indoor Sculpture Garden at Memorial Art Gallery

1986-92

  • Lamberton Conservatory Courtyard Gardens plan and plantings

1990-93

  • Plant material to landscape grounds at renovated Hoyt Potter House

1991-2015

  • Habitat for Humanity – tree plantings (117 trees through 2015) and Holiday Workshop 

1992-93

  • Master landscape plan for Hillside Children’s Center campus and planting for new Highland Avenue entrance

1992-93

  • Helped fund Reforest Rochester and Reforest Monroe County Parks

1994

  • Partial funding of restoration of Japanese Garden at Sonnenberg Gardens, Canandaigua, NY

1995-96

  • Design and plantings at Eastman Dental Center

1996-97

  • Butterfly Gardens and initial stage of the Wetlands Boardwalk System at the Girl Scouts Program Center

1997

  • Plantings for South Avenue Garden at new Bausch & Lomb Library

1998

  • GCA Project 2000: Butterfly House, Washington, D.C.

1998

  • Susan B. Anthony Visitor/Education Center Gardens

1999-2001

  • Restoration of Susan B. Anthony Gardens (1999 Finalist for GCA Founders Fund Award)

2000-03

  • Rochester Civic Garden Center Library

2001-03

  • Genesee Country Museum Children’s Garden

2002

  • Family Service of Rochester Stand-Up Gardens

2002

  • George Eastman Museum – educational component for “Genius for Place:  Landscapes of the Country Place Era”

2003-05

  • Alzheimer’s Association Memory Garden’s “Circle of Hope” 

2005

  • St. Joseph’s Villa greenhouse enhancement and meditation garden pond

2005

  • Project accepted by GCA Partners for Plants – Oak Opening

2006

  • Rochester Garden Collaborative brochure

2006

  • Partners for Plants Rush Oak entry fencing

2007-08

  • Strong National Museum of Play Discovery Garden and Gate

2008

  • Eco-Center Garden at the Seneca Park Zoo

2009

  • Rochester Civic Garden Center restoration of the Courtyard Garden

2009

  • Ronald McDonald House front garden renovated

2009

  • St. Joseph’s Villa – irrigation system for greenhouse and horticultural program 

2010

  • Funded Master Gardener’s Lecture Series, Rochester Civic Garden Center

2011

  • Funded modernization of Rochester Civic Garden Center Library

2011

  • Funded seating walls and extensive landscaping at Conkey Corner Park, partnering with Genesee Land Trust

2012-13 & 2015 

  • Funded spring-flowering trees and shrubs for the El Camino Trail Project, in collaboration with Genesee Land Trust

2014

  • Renovation of the Poet’s Garden at Highland Park

2015

  • 100th Anniversary Gift to the Community:    Renewal of the Pansy Bed at Highland Park

2015

  • Sponsor of the George Eastman Museum Exhibition In the Garden

2016

  • Greentopia: FlourGarden at the GardenAerial Project along the Historic Brown’s Race.

2017

  • George Eastman Museum terrace garden boxwood restoration, Green Visions garden shed, Genesee Land Trust for planting trees at Conkey Park, Nature Conservancy Rob’s Trail educational signage

2018

  • George Eastman Museum refurbishment of garden areas, Equicenter greenhouse, Veteran’s Outreach center for landscaping at women’s shelter, RIT Institute for Sustainability for funding research fellows, Blocks in Bloom 

2019

  • Blocks in Bloom, Equicenter for development of pollinator gardens, George Eastman Museum to rehab the library garden, Green Visions for youth scholarships, Hillside Greenhouse Project, Norman Howard School for gardening program for students, St. Mark’s and St. John’s neighborhood vegetable garden programs in connection with Foodlink.

2020

  • Genesee Country Village and Museum, summer camp scholarships, RIT Institute for Sustainability to support a grad student pursuing a degree in sustainable systems, Heritage Christian Services to landscaping at a group home, Genesee Land Trust Environmental Project for teenagers in Conkey Park neighborhood, Blocks in Bloom training program, and St. John’s and St. Mark’s therapy garden in the Beechwood neighborhood.

2021

  • Green Visions Workforce Development Program scholarships, Monroe County Parks Weed Wrangle/Olmstead 200 Project, Rochester Landscape Technicians Project scholarships, Seneca Park Zoo Society Urban Ecology Workforce Development Program, Center for Youth/Earth Works Project.

2022

  • Corn Hill Neighborhood Association’s Butterfly Way Station, Cornell Cooperative Extension pollinator garden, Master gardener training, landscape technician scholarship, Equicenter garden, Genesee Land Trust Ambassadors program, Eastman House Museum garden.

  • Special gift to the Highland Park Conservancy Project for the Children’s Pavilion.

2023

  • Mary Cariola Center’s Sensory Garden Walkway, Genesee Land Trust Youth Program Landscape Apprentice workforce development program, Green Visions workforce development, Color Brighton Green to provide native trees and seed packs for Rochester area. 

2024

  • The E.D.E.N. (Every Day Eating Naturally) Gardens of St. Mark’s and St. John’s Episcopal Church to help renovate gardens to increase neighborhood food security; Genesee Country Village & Museum’s Nature Center to support new Nature’s Agents: Insects, Birds & Pollinators exhibit; George Eastman Museum’s Rock Garden and Grape Arbor restoration; Seed to Supper of Cornell Cooperative Extension/Monroe Countyfor training materials and supplies.