HWB Updates & News

1. The Botanica Conference generously donated a booth to HWB for the Botanica 2022. We are excited to share more about our work, members, and Chapters/Clinics/Projects at this event. Our ED is also presenting Using Tools for PTSD When Working in Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Aid.
2. Membership Levels: We are updating all membership levels to include bundled memberships in larger quantities for larger businesses, nonprofits, and schools. Our new membership levels will allow us to expand memberships to larger organizations and schools and support our work on a bigger level. Our benefits are growing to have tiered benefits as well, so that we can hopefully grow our membership moving forward, and therefore have more support for our programs and aid. We are also updating our membership checkout process. We know having the two step process can be confusing, but we really focus on equity and accessibility globally (not just US/Europe) in our sliding scale and applications so that anyone around the planet can join. We are working to create a meld of more of a seamless checkout for annual members while still allowing for monthly recurring dues in PayPal so that we do not lose that sliding scale option. We of course will continue to personally welcome each and every member (and not have it be automated) so we can read more about you and connect you to resources, chapters, groups, information, and more. The human connection is so important.
3. Seed Grants: We had another successful seed grant year for US Chapters and Members. We distributed over 2000 packets of seeds! We are also working to offer additional technical support for people planning gardens with garden designs, plans, themes, planting seeds and seed saving guides, and more. We will be uploading all of these resources and support into our member portal as we have them. Exciting!
4. Our Herbal Academy Course Scholarships were awarded for the Botany & Wildcrafting Course. There were so many fantastic applicants! We have two more course scholarship opportunities coming this year. In May we will have scholarship opportunities for Mastering Formulations Course and in August, for the Advanced Herbal Course. We are grateful to the Herbal Academy for donating these scholarships. 
5. Coordinators: Q1 Quarterly Reports are due BEFORE April 30. Login to the Coordinator portal & complete your report to remain in good standing. We are having another book giveaway for Coordinators completing reports on time. Visit the private Coordinator facebook page for more on which books are being given away in the coordinator drawing.
6. Podcasts are returning! Due to popular demand, our podcast series is resuming, and we will also be offering webinars that tie into podcast series topics for deeper dives. We are using info from our webinar survey to find the hot topics our members and coordinators want to learn more about and are creating a large amount of resources to go with each topic as well, including handouts, templates in canva, printables, and resource intensives. 
7. Interested in being a guest on our podcast? Fill out our webinar & podcast survey form if you haven't already, and down at the bottom share a little more about yourself as potential guest/presenter. 
8. INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING WITH OUR CORE? We have started Second Fridays Volunteer Hangouts. Each month on the second Friday we have a zoom call for all current and potential volunteers. We can hear more about what folks are interested in and their areas of skills, and assign projects to those willing to help us keep HWB running and offering quality content and support for members and coordinators. It is a great way to meet folks, get involved, and find out how you can be a part of HWB. Login to the website to get more information and find out our next hangout date. 
9. Portal Updates: Don't forget to login to the website regularly to see our latest portal updates and news. We are working to communicate more in the portal, so keep an eye out. We also have a big series of handouts and resource guides in the works for members including Trauma Support, Recipe Database, How to Make Self Care Packs, Creating a Self Care Station, Self Care for Herbal Activists, and more!
10. Have you thought about forming a Chapter? Did you know members can also form a Clinic or Project under HWB as well? Learn about the different types of member groups that can organize under our 501c3. How to Form an HWB Chapter, Clinic, or Project. 

A big welcome to all of our new members. As a small, volunteer-driven nonprofit, memberships are what makes our programs and work possible and keeps us going. THANK YOU!