Help Restore Pollinator Habitats and Beautify Public Spaces in Massachusetts
Our annual Plant Something Bee-eautiful program awards $10,000 in grants to Keep Massachusetts Beautiful chapters and other organizations. These grants support the planting of pollinator-friendly plants and trees in public spaces. Our goal is not only to beautify public spaces, but also to restore critical habitats for pollinators.
Thank you to Edrington for providing $10,000 in funding to support this program.
Bees and other pollinators are in serious decline around the world. The decline of pollinators is caused by habitat destruction, the overuse of pesticides that include neonicotinoids, farming practices that eliminate patches of wildflowers and cover crops, parasites, and pathogens, as well as climate change.
According to the Pollinator Partnership, the monarch butterfly population has declined by 90% over the past 20 years. Pollinators, including 20,000 species of wild bees, contribute to the growth of fruit, vegetables, and flowering plants. Plants that depend on pollination make up 35 percent of global crop production volume with a value of as much as $577 billion a year.*
The annual deadline for submitting a grant request is July 31. Please scroll down to submit a grant application.
Congratulations to Our 2024 Plant Something Bee-eautiful Grantees!
In 2024, we received numerous grant applications and issued 14 grants totaling $10,000. Grantees included:
- Worcester Green Corps: $2,500 for the expansion of five existing pollinator gardens, including new signage.
- Keep Gardner Beautiful: $1,000 for the creation of two new pollinator gardens at the Gardner transfer station and the Gardner police station.
- Keep Boylston Beautiful: $1,000 for the creation of three new pollinator gardens at the Boylston town offices and Boylston police station.
- Salem Beautification Committee: $500 to expand pollinator-friendly plantings in unclaimed traffic islands.
- Boston: $500 for a new pollinator garden and raised beds installation outside the Family Nurturing Center in Dorchester’s Fields Corner neighborhood.
- Southampton Good Earth Gardeners: $500 for the creation of a demonstration pollinator garden at the Southampton Public library to teach residents about the benefits of supporting pollinators.
- Framingham State University: $500 for the creation of a new pollinator garden at Hemenway Hall.
- Town of Salisbury: $500 to plant native plants to strengthen coastal dunes while also providing much needed pollen to the coastal area.
- Swampscott Conservancy: $500 for the creation of a Pollinator Education Garden at the new Swampscott Elementary School.
- Randolph Middle School: $500 for the planting of a new pollinator garden in front of the school.
- South Dennis Free Public Library: $500 for the planting of a new pollinator-friendly wildflower garden.
- Watertown Community Gardens: $500 for the planting of native pollinator plants to replace invasive species that have been removed along the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway.
- Adams: $500 for the planting of a native pollinator community at the Old Stone Mill Zero Waste Makers Space.
- Friends of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail: $500 to build two pollinator-friendly beds at the start and end of the trail in Westfield.
Congratulations to our 2024 Plant Something Bee-eautiful grantees! You are all doing beautiful things for our environment and our pollinators.
The annual deadline for submitting a grant is July 31.
