Speakers Fund

Support for conferences and workshops on sustainable agriculture

The Northeast SARE speakers fund supports organizations who are bringing speakers with expertise in sustainable agriculture to meetings, conferences, and workshops.

Goal of the fund

The goal is to disseminate sustainable techniques and approaches, and the primary audience must be commercial farmers or agricultural service providers such as Cooperative Extension or NRCS staff. Since the goal is exclusively educational, speaker funds cannot be used promote the for-profit sale of products or services, even though the presentation itself, as proposed, may have an educational component. Topics should focus on practical, scientifically sound techniques that farmers and farm service providers can use to improve profits and enhance stewardship.

SARE funds can be used to defray the costs of travel, lodging, meals, and speaking fees, up to $1,000. Because funds are limited, we will only consider one speaker fund request per event and will fund only one application per host organization per year.

Who can apply

To apply, you must be holding your event within the northeast region, which is made up of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

The application must come from the organization hosting the event, and the speaker must be offering workshop content that is consistent with SARE's goals of farm profitability, environmental stewardship, and community benefit. Typically, applications come from institutions, farm support nonprofits, environmental and soil conservation organizations, extension, and other entities that serve the agricultural community.

How to apply

Speakers fund requests should be sent at least six weeks before the workshop, conference, or event. In an e-mail message to nesare@uvm.edu, please give us the following information:

1. Name, address, phone, and contact information for your organization. Include the e-mail contact for the event and the event web site if there is one.
2. Federal ID number of your organization
3. Name of speaker
4. Title of the workshop or presentation
5. Date and location of the workshop or presentation
6. Description of the workshop or presentation
7. Description of how the workshop or presentation will improve the sustainability of farms in the Northeast
8. Brief (no more than 300 words) biography of speaker that emphasizes relevant background
9. Expected attendance at the workshop or presentation
10. If applicable, expected attendance at the larger conference or gathering where the workshop is being offered
11. Target audiences (extension, farmers, researchers, the general public, etc.)
12. A description of how you will acknowledge Northeast SARE support
13. Your specific request, not to exceed $1,000, followed by a clear description of how SARE funds will be used. Do not submit a general budget for the entire event. Requests should be clearly linked to one or perhaps two speakers at most, and we will need a breakdown of estimated transportation costs (bus, plane, or other carrier), mileage (SARE currently allows 50 cents a mile), lodging, food, and speaker fees.

How funds are paid

Speaker funds are paid as a reimbursement to the host organization, so plan to save all receipts for the speaker's travel, meals, lodging, and other costs. Funds cannot be released in advance, nor can we reimburse a speaker directly. We will also ask for a brief narrative report about the event.

Other speaker options

Perhaps you already have a speaker in mind, but if you don't you may want to read more about SARE's Sustainable Farmer Educators. These speakers are farmers with specific areas of expertise and already have access to SARE funds for time, travel, and other expenses associated with giving workshops and presentations.