Friends of Earthaven Ecovillage
Are you inspired by Earthaven’s mission and want to stay connected and updated with village happenings?
Do you want to hear how Earthaven villagers are implementing practical solutions that attempt to merge the best of ancestral wisdom and technological innovation with a spiritual and moral response?
Do you have loved ones and friends at Earthaven and want to support their life from afar?
The Friends of Earthaven Ecovillage program provides a way for you to contribute to Earthaven’s work in the world and be part of our extended community.
Whether you are connected to Earthaven as a friend, family, or former member, resident, or student, or found us in your search for inspiration, ideas, or solutions, we welcome your support and energy.
Earthaven’s vision is that “in the midst of planetary change, the Earthaven experiment helps inform and inspire a global flowering of bio-regionally appropriate cultures.”
Earthaven Ecovillage works every day in pursuit of a truly alternative culture, where members strive to provide for their basic needs while centering the health of the Earth and their community.
What Does My Donation Support?
Your tax-deductible donation as a Friend of Earthaven goes directly to keeping our ecovillage running smoothly and developing Earthaven as a living laboratory for a healthy and meaningful future.
As donations flow into the community, we plan to expand programs and projects for:
- Children and elders
- Agroforestry and regenerative agriculture
- Cultural evolution
- Village Center development, including upgrading the renewable power system and building additional visitor facilities
- New and growing village businesses
Receive an Earthaven Sticker!
As a token of our appreciation, we will send you a sticker.
Program Specifics
Donation Levels
The program is based on monthly or annual donations.
You can manage your donations from the School of Integrated Living website — increasing or decreasing the amount of donation and canceling when you no longer want to continue. If you are leery of recurring subscriptions, you can configure your account for manual renewal. We are available to help you manage your subscription if needed.
Monthly Donation Levels
$5 ~ $10 ~ $25 ~ $50 ~ $100
Annual Donation Levels
$50 ~ $100 ~ $250 ~ $500 ~ $1,000
Your donation is a donation to Earthaven’s educational nonprofit, Culture’s Edge. Each January you will receive a receipt for your donation, which may be useful for your taxes.
Village Voices
Friends receive Village Voices, an exclusive newsletter of the goings on in the village. Inspired by a small-town newspaper, Village Voices provides a connection to ongoing village life that isn’t offered in Earthaven’s promotional or educational offerings.
Village Voices is published the first Tuesday of the month. (If you don’t want to receive the Village Voices, you can unsubscribe.)
Village Voices includes:
- Articles, news, and updates from Earthaven villagers
- Advance notice of SOIL programs, podcast releases, and other offerings
- Reports of projects and programs funded by our patrons
- Recognition within the Earthaven community
“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.”
The Earthaven Experiment
Our planet is in an ecological crisis of rising sea levels, polluted air, toxic oceans, and a mass extinction of species, in addition to a social crisis of disconnection, isolation, and loss of meaning and purpose. Although Earthaven Ecovillage doesn’t have all the answers on how to heal or correct these problems on a global scale, we are exploring and sharing solutions on a village scale.
Earthaven villagers are leveraging our privilege and grounding our visions with the spirit and resources of the land by creating a living laboratory for a healthy and meaningful future. In this laboratory, we have been exploring and developing thoughtful, practical solutions that merge the best of ancestral wisdom and technological innovation with a spiritual and life-giving response.In this second generation of our seven generation experiment, we have gained experience with physical and social aspects of village life that were only theories when Earthaven began. We share this experience through our educational programs and newsletter, and through the many people who have lived at Earthaven and then taken their experience to enrich their communities. If you are reading this, you have likely learned or been inspired by our work.
Please join us in realizing Earthaven’s vision: “In the midst of planetary change, the Earthaven experiment helps inform and inspire a global flowering of bio-regionally appropriate cultures.”
Cultural Transformation
While the natural buildings and off-grid water and power systems are the most visible aspects of our village, we see a need to search beyond a merely physical or technological response to the present crisis. We ask deeper spiritual questions, which many believe are at the root of mainstream culture’s present imbalance. Exploring these questions is such a key part of the Earthaven experiment that Earthaven’s founders named our educational nonprofit “Culture’s Edge.”
As Paul Caron, one of Earthaven’s founders, puts it, the Earthaven cultural experiment is about “… sharing resources, coming together as a group, and deciding how to make our lives better by cooperation.” These invisible relational and personal development dimensions of Earthaven are the social glue for a thriving community.
But what is a community? Sobonfu Somé, one of our mentors, says it well:
To better understand the term “community,” it may be easier to begin by explaining what community is not. Community is not a place where you can stay without having a sense of who is around, nor is it an item on the market for sale. Rather, a community is an environment where you can find a home in each other’s heart and soul. It is a living entity with spirit as its anchor, where a group of people are empowered by one another, by spirit, and by the ancestors to be themselves, carry out their purpose, and use their power responsibly. Without all these elements, community suffers from power struggles, irresponsibility, and lack of accountability.
The goal of community is to form a diverse body of people with common goals and empower them to embrace their own gifts, selves, and nature. Community holds a space for all its members to work at becoming as close to their true selves as possible.
Thank you for being part of Earthaven’s extended community. Your interest informs and supports the manifestation of Earthaven’s vision. We would be so honored and grateful to receive your donation and support towards the Earthaven experiment in cultural transformation.