Donations
The Diggers Club is a certified social enterprise, with all profits flowing to the Diggers Foundation, a registered charity approved by the Australian charities and not-for-profit commission.
Preserving and protecting what must not be lost
Every gift to the Diggers Foundation is an act of stewardship that allows us to
• protect heirloom seeds from extinction
• preserve living collections in our historic gardens
• provide gardeners with the wisdom to grow sustainably in a changing climate
• share the importance of growing with school children
• strengthen food security by safeguarding genetic diversity.
What you give is more than a gift. It is a legacy that will outlast all of us.
To make a tax-deductible donation of any amount, click below.
Christmas Appeal - Help us grow the next generation of gardeners.
At Diggers, we believe that gardening is about more than growing beautiful plants. It is about understanding our environment, caring for the soil, protecting biodiversity and learning how to grow nutritious food. It is about passing on the knowledge and skills that can help create a healthier, more sustainable and food-secure future. That is why we are investing in education.
Across our gardens, schools and online platforms, we are developing new ways to share the knowledge of generations of gardeners with more Australians.
This includes:
• our Garden School Program at Heronswood
• online learning, masterclasses and educational resources
• new interpretive signage that will bring the stories, plants and sustainable gardening practices of our historic gardens to life.
A living defence for our future
Across Australia, gardeners are quietly doing something extraordinary. They are choosing to save heirloom seeds, feeding themselves and their families with food they have grown, and nourishing small patches of earth using regenerative gardening principles. Gardeners are forming a living defence against climate pressure, biodiversity loss and declining food security.
The start of a movement
In Australia, this movement began with one family’s belief that gardeners have the power to nurture the earth and safeguard its future. Clive and Penny Blazey spent their lives preserving heirloom seeds, historic properties and gardens, and sustainable gardening methods.
In 2011, the Blazey family did something extraordinary. They gifted their life’s work — the Diggers Club, three historic gardens, and a national community of gardeners — to a charity so that future generations could inherit something richer than what exists today. That charity is the Diggers Foundation.
The start of a movement
In Australia, this movement began with one family’s belief that gardeners have the power to nurture the earth and safeguard its future. Clive and Penny Blazey spent their lives preserving heirloom seeds, historic properties and gardens, and sustainable gardening methods.
2024 favourites to grow in your garden
Costoluto Genovese
A unique heirloom uncovered through our seed donation program, this wonderful beefsteak has a rich story and flavour.
Nonna Peppina's
The oldest tomato in cultivation yet still one of the most popular, this was the winner in the staff beefsteak taste test.
Barry's Crazy Cherry
Profuse (really – crazy!) clusters of yellow fruit that change in flavour from tart to sweet as they ripen. Simply delicious.
Grab your free kick-starter heirloom tomato guide.
Our mission
The Foundation exists to have a positive impact across three global challenges
- Climate change - Applying and sharing regenerative gardening practices that support a healthier planet. Biodiversity
- Protecting heirloom seeds, rare plants and living collections, and the genetic diversity they hold.
- Food Security - Empowering Australians with the knowledge, plants, seeds and tools, to grow their own food.
‘Heirloom varieties are a gardener’s inheritance. We don’t need new varieties, because we have an inheritance 100 times more rich and diverse than the commercial market’ Clive Blazey AM, Founder of Diggers
Why this work matters
Australia faces a rapidly changing climate, declining biodiversity and pressure on our food systems.
- Climate change poses a direct threat to the plants we rely on for our health and the health of the planet. Gardeners are already experiencing hotter summers, shifting seasons and plants that no longer thrive where they once did. Australia is now 1.5°C warmer than when national records began in 1910.
- Declining seed and plant biodiversity driven by commercial seed and food industries poses a huge risk, one pest or disease can wipe out an entire variety. They favour seed varieties that deliver crop uniformity at the expense of an heirlooms’ resilience, flavour and diversity.
- As a result, 12 plant varieties provide 75 per cent of the world’s entire plant food supply. And since 1903 we have lost 93 per cent of heirloom fruit and vegetable varieties have disappeared and with it their genetic diversity.
- In Australia, our food security is in decline. One in three Australian households doesn’t have reliable access to food. For half of those households, fresh fruit and vegetables is the first thing to be cut back.
Doing nothing means more of what we need will be lost. Together, we need to act now, we can protect the seeds, plants and knowledge that future generations of Australians will depend on.
'Through education and understanding, we can reverse the generational damage done to our environment but if we don't act quickly, we risk irreparable damage to the planet's climate' - Clive Blazey, AM
Our impact
- 1 million heirloom seeds donated to schools and community groups annually
- 500,000 heirloom seed packets shared annually
- 350,000 gardeners educated annually
- 450 heirloom varieties preserved in the seed bank
- 300 schools and community groups provided with seeds
- 3 historic gardens protected and preserved
Our programs and projects
The Diggers Foundation has a range of programs and projects in place established to deliver a positive impact towards preserving heirloom seeds, protecting historic buildings and gardens, and passing on the knowledge of sustainable gardening to future generations.
- The Living Plant Library - A living collection of heirloom varieties from our seed bank.
- The Diggers Garden School – Educating primary school children about seeds, growing and the environment
- Seed the Future - Donates 1 million seeds to schools and community groups across Australia each year
- Save a seed – Diggers members can donate treasured heirloom seed varieties and Diggers will preserve them
Nonna Peppina, who smuggled her beloved tomato seeds from Italy to Australia in her bra. The seeds were donated to Diggers by her grandson.
What your gift makes possible
Every gift to the Diggers Foundation is an act of stewardship that allows us to
- protect heirloom seeds from extinction
- preserve living collections in our historic gardens
- provide gardeners with the wisdom to grow sustainably in a changing climate
- share the importance of growing with school children
- strengthen food security by safeguarding genetic diversity
What you give is more than a gift. It is a legacy that will outlast all of us.
The Diggers Foundation achieves Deductible Gift Recipient status
In 2026, The Diggers Foundation achieved Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status after years of advocacy and dedication. It is an acknowledgement of the importance of seed conservation, plant diversity and sustainable gardening in building a resilient future, and a landmark milestone.
Our supporters can now make tax-deductible donations to help preserve heirloom seeds, plant diversity and gardening knowledge for generations to come.
Our online giving functionality is currently being developed. In the interim The Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) provides a secure donation portal.
Become part of the movement
If you believe that Australia’s gardening heritage, our heirloom varieties, our historic houses and gardens, and our gardening knowledge, needs to bew protected and preserved.
If you want future generations of Australians to inherit a world that is more biodiverse, more resilient to climate change and more food secure.
Then we urge you to become part of this movement and to support The Diggers Foundation.
Start a conversation about giving
We invite you to contact Stephen May, The Diggers Foundation’s Head of Philanthropy, to discuss the Foundation’s work and how you can support it to achieve its mission.