Sustainability Matters

Sustainability Matters cultivates community through conservation education. We make sustainability fun, realistic, and accessible to all.

We plant pollinator habitat at landfills. We help food insecure families grow their own vegetables. We host the Shenandoah Valley's largest Earth Day festival, community plant swaps, wild edibles walks, and dozens of workshops and public interest forums every year.  

In a rural agricultural region, our grassroots nonprofit takes pride in the reach and diversity of participation in our programs. Since our founding in 2018, Sustainability Matters has organized over 140 education and outreach programs in eight Virginia counties and virtually, providing 12,000 landowners, farmers, and small business owners with concrete resources to help the environment while helping themselves. We build community pride around outside-the-box projects that harness untapped resources and bring conservation to unexpected places. 

Our flagship initiatives include Making Trash Bloom: planting pollinator habitat on landfill trash cells! We're fundraising to expand to additional landfills, hold associated educational workshops, and develop a scalable model. Help us get there before the A Community Thrives challenge ends on Friday, August 13 at noon ET, and we'll become eligible for further merit-based grants of up to $100,000 from USA Today's program! With your support, we just might Make Trash Bloom nationwide!!