Launched in May 2021, Project Giving Back (PGB) is the vision of two private individuals keen to support a wide range of charitable causes whose work suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic and continues to be affected by the economic downturn and cost-of-living crisis. The grant-making scheme gives UK-based charities and other charitable organisations the chance to apply for a fully-funded garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, subject to the usual RHS selection process. PGB grants cover the garden, transport and accommodation for essential staff.
All gardens supported by PGB must live on after the show in permanent locations around the UK as a lasting legacy for their individual good causes, as teaching gardens, community spaces and/or other beneficial green spaces.
PGB People
As trustees, Alex Denman (Former RHS Chelsea Flower Manager), Arne Maynard (garden designer), Mark Fane (Crocus Chief Executive & RHS Vice President) and Rosie Atkins (Curator & RHS Vice President) oversee the charity’s decisions and strategic direction. Hattie Ghaui, PGB’s CEO and her team, coordinate the funding applications and guide the chosen garden designers and respective charities through the process.
Mark Gregory, Managing Director of Landform Consultants is a PGB Mentor, assigned to share his experience in planting and RHS show design, landscaping and construction.
The two donors, reportedly RHS Life Members, have chosen to remain anonymous.
2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show
PGB are supporting seven show gardens, two sanctuary gardens and six ‘All About Plants gardens’ in the Great Pavilion.
Show Gardens supported by Project Giving Back:
- National Garden Scheme Garden, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith for the National Garden Scheme
- Muscular Dystrophy UK Forest Bathing Garden, designed by Ula Maria
- National Autistic Society Garden, designed by Sophie Parmenter & Dido Milne
- St James’s Church Piccadilly ‘Imagine the world to be different’ Garden, designed by Robert Myers
- Stroke Association’s Garden for Recovery, designed by Miria Harris
- Terrence Higgins Trust Garden, designed by Matthew Childs
- WaterAid Garden, designed by Tom Massey & Je Ahn
Sanctuary Gardens supported by Project Giving Back:
- World Child Cancer’s Nurturing Garden, designed by Giulio Giorgi
- The Freedom From Torture Garden: A Sanctuary for Survivors, designed by John Warland & Emma O’Connell
The six RHS ‘All About Plants’ gardens that are to be staged in the Great Pavilion will be announced by the RHS in January 2024.
Alex Denman, PGB Trustee and former show manager of RHS Chelsea, said: “RHS Chelsea has long been a show that inspires gardeners to think creatively, and sometimes differently, about the green spaces they nurture and enjoy. In recent years Project Giving Back has allowed a new wave of gardens for good causes to encourage conversation about issues such as biodiversity loss, climate change, mental and physical health and forced migration. I look forward to seeing the gardens PGB is supporting in 2024 and have no doubt they will spark further discourse about some of the most important issues facing our societies and our planet today and in the future.”
“It’s an incredible privilege to be working with another group of talented and inspirational designers who are bringing the work of a brilliant selection of good causes to life through the gardens we are supporting in 2024. Project Giving Back exists to offer the gift of an opportunity at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and we know from experience that charities can leverage huge benefits from the platform that RHS Chelsea provides. We are all looking forward to seeing the 2024 gardens realised at the show before going on to their ‘forever homes’ at locations around the UK as a lasting legacy for the causes that have inspired them”, adds Hattie Ghaui, CEO of Project Giving Back.
The Newt is once again the headline sponsor of RHS Chelsea for 2024.