Catawba County, North Carolina, successfully used the increasingly popular method of crowdfunding to raise money needed to create a community garden located by the main library. They were able to raise a total of around $4,500 through the campaign with the largest individual donation being around $2,000.

The idea of using crowdfunding as a way to offset smaller infrastructure costs has been used by other local governments. Counties across the country have been implementing this practice; campaigns from different counties have used crowdfunding to raise anywhere from $2,700 to upwards of $10,000.

As a side note, some of the funds raised from Catawba County’s garden campaign came from out-of-state donors. Suzanne White, the library director, states that the best method is to form a pilot project and then implement an aggressive PR campaign to draw in as many pledges as possible. More information on counties and crowdfunding can be found here.