Fall Fund Drive 2026 — An Expansive Time at FRBC

Autumn is here! This year’s fundraiser highlights not just the important collecting work, but also the propagation of the plants we bring back to our facilities. This is the ongoing, never-ending, careful work our small team undertakes every single day at the Conservancy.

Mid-October 2026 Collecting Trip

Have you been longing to add a rare Japanese mountain plant or wetland fern to your collection? As FRBC members, our supporters will be the first to have access to plants we’ll be collecting in Japan in October when we travel with our esteemed colleagues from the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden. This is our first-ever trip to Japan, and it promises to yield dozens of new species for the FRBC collection.

January 1, 2027 FRBC Expansion

To prepare for the January 1st expansion, FRBC will be taking on the existing Farm staff including two full time and three part time employees to ensure the smooth transition of Farm operations into the Conservancy on day one. Day-to-day maintenance of the greenhouses, propagation, gardens, and irrigation infrastructure will continue. Meanwhile we will have the added task of preparing new infrastructure to ensure your shopping experience continues under the Conservancy umbrella in January.

While we continue to tend the FRBC plant collection, we will increase the Conservancy’s capacity as of January 1, 2027 when the generous contribution by Kelly Dodson and Sue Milliken of all of Far Reaches Farm’s plants being donated to the Conservancy will take place. As we prepare to receive these plants, we need to raise $60,000 this fall.


When you make a donation today, whether its $50 or $5,000, that money will be used before the end of the year to bring home dozens of new plants from Japan to be cultivated and made available to you for your garden, as well as ensuring we are ready to receive the transfer of all of Far Reaches Farm’s plants on January 1st. A $7,000 donation will fully sponsor one of our staff to participate in the Japan Collection trip.

If you are inspired to give at the $5,000 level or above, your gift will be matched by a dedicated Conservancy supporter. This is a match in the truest sense: if we don’t receive qualifying gifts of $5,000 or more, the matching funds don’t come to FRBC. A total of $25,000 in matching funds is available for the entire fall fund drive. Every qualifying gift of $5,000 or more will be matched dollar-for-dollar, until the full $25,000 matching pool has been fulfilled. Your gift helps unlock this additional support for FRBC.

With the Japan trip less than a month away, and the transfer of over 5,000 taxa and tens of thousands of plants into the FRBC collection on January 1st, we need and appreciate your support during the fall fund drive.


Magnolia sieboldii var. Japonica