Support
SUPPORT OUR WORK
We appreciate your financial support to Croatan Institute, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Use the secure form below to make a tax-deductible gift to the Institute, or mail a check to PO Box 2044, Durham, NC 27702.

Join Croatan Institute's Canopy Community
Join our community of highly engaged donors providing unrestricted funds to deepen our impact. Canopy Community members will support the Institute with a multi-year gift. Explore 7 different pledge levels and the suite of benefits available including early access to materials and events, special recognition, farm-to-fiber apparel, and more.

Sponsor an Initiative
We collaborate with a diverse array of partners, including environmental nonprofits, community development organizations, farmers and land stewards, impact investors, foundations, and government agencies, and our established relationships of trust with practitioners in the field and movements for social and environmental change helps us expanded the footprint and impact of our work. We welcome hearing from people interested in partnering with existing initiatives or working together to develop new initiatives.

FERN JONES FELLOWSHIP
The Fern B. Jones Memorial Fellowship honors the life and work of our former colleague and one of the founding members of Croatan Institute. We hope to raise funds at a level adequate to support future fellows working on critical issues of diversity, inclusion, racial equity, and sustainability. In Fern’s memory, we shall redouble our efforts at the Institute to pursue the unfinished research and advocacy agenda that Fern helped us to begin to sketch. Learn more about the plans for the fellowship here. For more information on Fern’s life and legacy, please visit her memorial page.

Fund for Recovery and Resilience
In an area like eastern NC dominated by small towns and rural agricultural landscapes, much more diversified, inclusive approaches to regional land and water management are desperately needed. Helping regions prepare to weather extreme storms and mitigate their worst consequences will require thoughtful, targeted investments into more resilient, regenerative models of rural economic development. The Fund will initially focus on making micro-loan guarantees to farmers, entrepreneurs and small businesses, and field-building projects that embrace the longer-term imperatives of regional resilience. We aim to add strategic layers of patient capital to integrated capital stacks forged with like-minded partners who share our concerns for harnessing the power of investment for social good and ecological resilience.
Fiscal Sponsorship

Free Union farm
Beginning in 2022, Croatan Institute has collaborated with Rural Beacon Initiative on the Free Union Farms Sustainability Hub in Martin County, NC. Free Union Farms, (previously name Vera Brown Farm) is a 52-acre heirs property located in a historic freedmen’s community in an economically distressed region of eastern North Carolina.
A 0% unsecured loan from Foodshed Capital, backed by a small loan guarantee from Croatan Institute, enabled the land to be purchased by the Rural Beacon Initiative (RBI). RBI and Croatan Institute have a strong vision for the site becoming a hub and model for regenerative agroforestry, rural resilience, and community economic development in a highly distressed area.

the "Know your clothing" campaign
Know Your Clothing is a campaign spearheaded by TS Designs, a wholesale apparel screen-printing company operating in North Carolina since 1978. Know Your Clothing’s vision is to create a globally scalable model of regional apparel manufacturing clusters, ensuring supply chain transparency, minimizing waste, and fair worker treatment, while promoting the widespread adoption of natural materials and fibers.
To continue this work, TS Designs is launching a crowdfunding campaign to advance further research and development on scaling the use of natural dyes and fibers, and connecting local manufacturers. The goal is to raise $100,000. Croatan Institute is a fiscal sponsor of the campaign.
Additional ways to support Croatan Institute
PayPal Giving Fund:
Croatan Institute is a confirmed, recommended charity of the PayPal Giving Fund. When you donate to the Institute through the PayPal Giving Fund, PayPal covers all fees, ensuring that 100% of your tax-deductible gift goes to Croatan Institute, which will receive your full donation within 15-45 days.
Check Donations:
Contributions can be mailed in by check, payable to Croatan Institute:
Croatan Institute
PO Box 2044
Durham, NC 27702
Wire Transfers / ACH:
To make a tax-deductible donation to Croatan Institute by wire transfer or ACH, please send an email to info@croataninstitute.org for our bank account details.
Other Options:
We are able to accept contributions in multiple additional forms, including appreciated stock, bequests, and other gifts of property. Please contact us to discuss these options in greater depth.
If your employer offers matching gifts, you can double the impact of your gift. Contact us for more information.
Croatan Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax deductible to the extent permissible by law.
North Carolina Charitable Solicitation License Number SL008503. Financial information about this organization and a copy of its license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at 919-807-2214. The license is not an endorsement by the State.