The Bioregional Incubator is how the Department of Bioregion helps place-based teams form, find their footing, and grow into lasting bioregional organizations. It is both a starting home and a path: a way to begin organizing in your watershed today, with the support to grow into a fully resourced program over time.
The growth ladder
We grow bioregional teams into Departments of Bioregion, the same way a landscape grows a seed group into a landscape group. The path has two stages. A place-based team is where the work begins: a few people gathering around the place they share. A Department of Bioregion is what that team can become: a formal, locally led program with the full benefits of operating under a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
You do not need a nonprofit, a budget, or a board to begin. You need a place you care about and a willingness to invite others in. The Incubator carries the rest until you are ready.
Stage one: start a place-based team
A place-based team is the open entry point. It can begin with a single person who wants to get active in their landscape and is looking for others nearby. The work is relational and low-lift by design, so anyone can begin without taking on fundraising, compliance, or governance from the start.
In this stage, a team gathers people who care about the place, walks the land and learns together, begins mapping the watershed and the relationships within it, and finds others nearby doing related work. From the Department of Bioregion, an early team receives:
- A starting framework for organizing, governance, and decision-making, adaptable to local needs
- Practical startup tools to hold first meetings and build a simple public presence
- A library of foundational guides, templates, and mapping toolkits, open to anyone
- Mentorship from organizers who have done this work, and a community of peers
The aim is a working team in its place, not a year spent on setup.
Stage two: grow into a Department of Bioregion
When a team is ready, usually once a few people have formed a working relationship and want to take on the work formally, it can become a Department of Bioregion: a locally led program operating under our 501(c)(3) umbrella, with full nonprofit benefits. You choose your own name, identity, and structure, in the way that best fits your place.
A Department of Bioregion typically works across three areas: bioregional learning, research, and mapping; identity and movement-building; and coordination for long-term regeneration.
What comes with formal status
- Financial services. Receive tax-deductible donations and apply for grants under our 501(c)(3). Funds sit in a dedicated account tracked separately to your team, with payroll and contractor payments including across borders, plus accounting and end-of-year reporting. Ten percent of incoming revenue supports the shared services that make this possible. No fee is charged on balances you bring with you.
- Nonprofit compliance. Liability and directors-and-officers insurance for eligible activities, inclusion in our annual 990 filing, and state charitable registration handled centrally, so your team does not file separately.
- Digital infrastructure. A page on our shared platform, a team email address, and shared tools. Teams are welcome to run their own website and mailing lists, connected to the shared system so information flows both ways without double entry.
- Programmatic and relational support. Onboarding and ongoing support, day-to-day administrative help, and regular bioregional gatherings where teams across the network share what is happening in their places.
- Brand and identity. You carry your own name and visual identity in your bioregion, with shared templates and tools available if useful.
- A wider network. Each team holds its own work in its own place. Together they form a coordinated bioregional network, with shared infrastructure, learning, and resourcing that no single team could carry alone.
Choosing your path
A team is never held longer than it wants to be. As it matures, it can become a Department of Bioregion for its own area, use our Fiscal Sponsorship Program as the nonprofit backbone for a specific project, or become a fully independent nonprofit of its own. Teams can move between these as their needs change. The people who live in a place are best suited to lead its care, and that includes choosing how the work is held.
How to begin
- Reach out to projects@deptofbioregion.org to introduce yourself and your team.
- Meet with our staff to talk through your vision and confirm fit.
- Submit your application. We follow up within one week, and the process moves faster when we already know your work.
- On approval by our Board of Directors, sign the community agreement that formalizes the relationship.
- Begin your work with the full support of the network.
Ready to begin? Start your application →