March 15, 2010

Dear Farmers,

The HumanLinks Foundation is continuing a program that we instituted in 2009 to provide financial support to local farmers. We hope to strengthen the local farming community in Washington and get a better understanding and overall picture of the problems that small farmers in Washington face and how we can work together to address the shared difficulties you face.

This micro-loan program, for loans of $2,500 to $25,000, has been created to assist established, small local farmers with operational needs in bridging costs during difficult periods. Because each individual farmer works in unique circumstances we are requesting very clear and specific information on your financial circumstances as well as asking for a description of your individual farm's short, and, where possible, long term strategies and needs. To put it simply: we want to know who you are and how these loans will help you in your overall goals as a farmer in the local community.

Our goal with this program is to work with you to rebuild the local farming economy in Washington. Your applications themselves will provide us with information on individual farmer's needs and, for those who receive loans, a follow-up report from you on the use of your funds will provide us with information on how to continue assisting local farmers in the combined effort to build a sustainable farming network.

Please take the time to fill out the application carefully. We may not be able to fund every request this year but we will seriously consider all of them and assist as many of you as possible. Feel free to pass the word around to other organic or sustainable farmers who may need help and send this letter to any lists that you participate in.

Please submit applications no later than May 31, 2010. We will announce our decisions a few weeks later. You may contact me by email at if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Nancy Iscovitz,
HumanLinks Foundation

Because of the sensitive nature of the LOAN application, we recommend applications be mailed to:

HumanLinks Foundation
c/o Wellspring Group PS
10885 NE 4th Street, -Suite 320
Bellevue, WA 98004

Download the LOAN APPLICATION here. The application is in Adobe PDF format. For a free Adobe reader go here.

HumanLinks Foundation c/o Wellspring Group PS 10885 NE 4th Street, Bellevue, WA 98004 (206) 442-2061