VMGA supports the statewide VCE-Master Gardener program through its endowment, scholarships for EMGs to Master Gardener College, MG College sponsorships, and public education at the Virginia State Fair. Scroll down for details!
State Coordinator Endowment
Our VCE-Master Gardener program has come a long way! In the early days of Virginia Master Gardening, we experienced several stretches of long periods of time when there was no funding for a State Coordinator. Without someone in this position, there was no one to focus local efforts. There was no one to create and disseminate the educational materials for VCE-MGs to meet the ever-changing needs of local communities. There was no one to train leaders, no one to provide consistent directives across the state, no one to assure that the collective of our local units maintains a strength through a unified voice. In response, VMGA initiated an endowed fund to provide for program leadership in perpetuity.
VMGA entered into an agreement with the Virginia Tech Foundation to provide program support to Virginia Tech. The fund ensures that the mission of VCE, in relation to the Master Gardeners, is carried on in perpetuity by providing full-time leadership for the program at the state level. In the past, funds earned from the corpus of the endowment have been used to support salary for additional staff and expenses to maintain or enhance EMG programs and services. Importantly, after establishment, it was leverage when the State Coordinator’s salary was about to run out and not be funded. In the words of the CALS Dean at the time, the endowment made it illogical ‘to leave money on the table.’
Many, many individuals and local EMG organizations have shown their believe in the intention of the VMGA Endowed Fund through gifts made over the years. Our grass roots efforts have been slow but steady. Donations of cash are now over $509,000 and deferred commitments (bequests, e.g.) will one day add another $538,386 to the Endowment. Due to responsible management by the VT Foundation, the cash gifts have a market value of over $650,000 (May 2025).
For more information about the Endowment, we provide FAQs and our agreement with the VT Foundation.
For questions about the Endowment, contact VMGA’s Fundraising Chair, Joe Kelly. For questions about giving or the different ways that gifts can be made, please contact our liaison to the VT Foundation, Crystal Graham. Crystal is the Associate Director of Development, VT College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She can be reached at crysg79@vt.edu or 540-231-3360. If you’d like to mail a check directly to the VT Foundation, please include the VMGA Endowed Fund account number, 886119 and mail to Crystal at 133 Smyth Hall, Blacksburg VA 24061.
We thank you in advance for your support of this important initiative! The fund is important
Master Gardener College Scholarships
The Virginia Master Gardener Association (VMGA) budgets each year for Extension Master Gardener College (EMGC) Scholarships. VMGA also solicits additional contributions to a temporarily restricted fund expressly for scholarships. Attending EMGC is valuable in that it strengthens ties with the local EMG and Virginia Cooperative Extension and provides for collaboration and program sharing among units. VMGA wishes to reward deserving individuals with this experience.
The scholarships recognize volunteers who have demonstrated exceptional potential in their local units, and it is part of VMGA’s educational mission. The scholarships help EMGs with their continuing education requirements through attendance at EMGC and helps to increase the number of EMGs able to attend the conference by covering most of the costs to attend.
Any interested active EMG is eligible for nomination; financial need or membership in VMGA are not required. (Trainees, interns, and prior VMGA Scholarship recipients are not eligible.) Each year in February, VMGA announces the scholarships. The process to apply is described, with notice of the awards going out in advance of EMGC. VMGA recognizes the deserving winners of the scholarships by introducing them at the annual meeting held in conjunction with EMGC.
Master Gardener College Sponsorship
Did you know that one of the reasons for the founding of VMGA was to conduct the first continuing/advanced training event? When the originator of the VCE-Master Gardener program, Dr. Diane Relf saw the need for an event to fulfill the Master Gardener continuing education requirement, she approached a group of Master Gardeners about forming a state association. In addition to publishing a statewide newsletter for VCE-MGs, Dr. Relf envisioned a statewide association to conduct a conference. It later became known as “College.”
VMGA has supported VCE-Master Gardener College (EMGC) through a sponsorship. Typically, in the amount of $2000, the sponsorship is used to help pay College expenses. Many times, that is in the form of paying for speakers or paying vendors that provide for social opportunities or break refreshments. In whatever way we can, VMGA will support the state office in providing an educational event that benefits both the individual EMG and units across the state.