Dakota, Pete, and Ramazan help carry the work in Peru, Mexico, Turkey, and beyond through long-term relationships and direct experience.
How We Work
Keep the wonder alive. Keep the trail clear.
The Community Garden is built around relationships: trips, books, films, art, archives, and donations matter when they move through people who know the ground. This page is for the practical questions: who leads, where support goes, what gets reported back, and how we handle consent.
$150k+ documented spending on relief, documentation, and care
501(c)(3) U.S. nonprofit
EIN 92-0810800
Named projects, partners, and field leads
The way in
The work starts with relationships, not campaigns.
Margarita, Jazmín, Jose, and other local collaborators keep the work tied to the people, places, and context behind each project.
Travelers, donors, artists, readers, and viewers become part of the support system when they join with respect and clear expectations.
How support moves
Attention should become action, then proof.
People join
Support can come through trips, donations, monthly giving, artists, books, films, or simple word of mouth.
Partners shape the need
Field leads and local collaborators help decide what is useful, possible, and respectful.
Work gets done
Support becomes books, art education, documentation, direct aid, artisan relationships, archives, and trip-connected work.
Updates come back
We share photos, records, field notes, and project updates where consent and context allow.
What it has looked like
The proof is specific: named people, places, records, and outcomes.
Haviv's medical support
Our first fundraiser helped a 7-year-old from Urubamba reach specialist care in Lima and supported her family through a long medical battle. The public GoFundMe shows $15,519 from 383 donations, with in-person support beyond that record.
Turkey earthquake relief
With support from MiniMinuteMan and his audience, more than $57,000 helped a Turkish village with home repairs, heaters, blankets, mattresses, stoves, and essentials.
Escuela Uno
The One Tattoo initiative helps fund an open-air art school in Libertad, Peru, where children can draw, paint, meditate, compete, and create.
Shipibo children's book
The first language book is a trilingual children's story in English, Spanish, and Shipibo, supported through Amazon relationships and translation help.
Trips
Trips are the front door, not a side project.
At their best, trips are built through existing relationships, led with cultural context, and connected to projects people can understand and later follow.
Guides, artists, hosts, families, and field partners are part of the journey because they are already part of the work.
Trip revenue helps support the people, books, archives, schools, and documentation connected to the places guests visit.
Travelers come as guests and learners. Some moments can be photographed and shared; others stay off-camera.
Culture, consent, and care
Some knowledge is shared. Some knowledge stays private.
Books, films, photos, archives, plant knowledge, ceremonies, and partner stories all require care. We treat documentation as a responsibility: support what people want carried forward, and keep private what should not be public.
Ask before documenting, publishing, or using someone's story.
Share context, not spectacle.
Pay local guides, artists, translators, and collaborators when the work depends on their labor.
Leave space for privacy, community protocols, and the right to say no.
Transparency
For the people who want the practical details.
Legal identity
Organization: Community Garden. Public brand: The Community Garden. EIN: 92-0810800. Confirmed U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit. View our public IRS record →
Public giving record
Our public IRS filings report $150k+ in total spending since 2023. The Haviv and Turkey fundraisers ($72.5k+ combined) are the publicly itemized portion in GoFundMe records; the remainder covers cultural documentation, books, and field programs. More project-level reporting is being organized as the foundation grows.
Foundation leadership
Dakota Wint, Peter Tran, and Anita Spelich serve as board members and officers guiding the nonprofit.
Donation paths
Donations are accepted securely online through Stripe (card and bank). As a U.S. 501(c)(3), contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law, and donors receive a receipt for their records. We follow up directly when a project needs more context.
Public record still growing
We have public fundraiser records, field photos, and project pages now. We are building cleaner closeout notes, partner updates, and annual reporting as the foundation grows.
Next steps
See the work. Join a trip. Support the next project.
The public record will keep getting stronger as we add more photos, updates, partner notes, and field reports.