ABOUT THIS EFFORT
our guiding principles
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We celebrate discovery made possible in nature’s healing spaces.
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We foster belonging through shared experience and community care.
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We strengthen prevention and recovery by connecting people to nature’s freely given gifts.
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We honor multiple ways of knowing: Cultural, academic, scientific, and lived learning. Each way offers insight into health and well-being.
clement – /ˈkle-mÉ™nt/ (adj.)
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mild, peaceful, calming;
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merciful.
our story
Rooted in reflection.
Growing through relationship.
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Clement Waters began with two founders seeking understanding after an unexpected healing reshaped their lives. What started as a personal awakening became a steady call to help others rediscover what health, peace, and belonging can feel like when supported by nature and community.
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In the early years, everyone worked by hand. A handful of people would meet at each volunteer event, clearing trails and planting trees on four acres of neglected woodland in Kansas City, or starting food plant seedlings in a greenhouse borrowed from a KC public school.
From 2017 to 2019, two founders and 600 volunteers accomplished a lot with manual labor. When the scale of need outgrew our reach in 2020, we found new answers in partnership.
​In the time since the pandemic started, Clement Waters has guided the establishment of 28 community-led organizations across the Midwest and Plains whose leaders also work with nature to improve health.
Each capable leader has shown lived wisdom learned from the very communities they serve. Their successes have refined and strengthened our resolve: to lift up leaders already healing their communities with their culturally-aligned food growing, shared nature-based practices, and good old-fashioned community care.
Our work through Groundswell Growth makes reciprocity an asset.
The multiplying difference:
It's healing to feel thankful so greatly that you want to give what you can of what you have. That's the way healthy communities roll.
Sharing is healing for community changemakers, and healing for you. And this "giving-back and getting-boosted" 2-way street runs all year.
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Be a blessing to others, and discover unexpected returns that thrive and grow outside of the monetary value system.
Big change often starts small. We have noticed a pattern: People who earn less for their hard work often share their effort, foods, tools, and money when it's needed, no matter what. They find practical workarounds when there is an abundance of need but not very much money to fix problems.
Normally, that is a blessing for the whole community. But when when a widespread crisis strikes an under-resourced community, even the most effective grassroots leaders can struggle to keep the helping lanes open.
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Groundswell Growth, Clement Waters’ consulting arm, exists to sustain these unsung heroes. Grassroots leaders find out how to access free nonprofit resources, navigate the grant world, and build healthy donor relationships.
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With these operations basics in place, grassroots leaders can keep doing what they do best — bringing better health and hope to their neighbors.
Through a shared circle of generosity called the Reciprocity Cycle, support flows the same way nature moves energy: freely, adaptively, and seeking balance.
​Part of that work is helping leaders unlock ‘reimbursement grants’ that they easily win. But only after proof of purchase will the grantor write the check — nearly impossible when there's tight cash flow. We remove that barrier by finding new donors who can fill in the gap.
We bring operational and financial help where it's most needed in dire moments. That work is driven by the Reciprocity Cycle: regular support from everyday people who want to see more good to happen in the world.
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As services are delivered and the benefits are felt by communities, the gratitude of leaders flows back in the form of heartfelt stories and virtual site visits. Seeing compassion in motion can be healing too. That's why we keep this circle going.
how this cycle works
Pictured here: the cyclical flow of the Reciprocity Cycle
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You give a reasonable monthly amount, joining others moved to do the same.
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We help grassroots leaders access tools, connect with donors, secure grants, and measure their results.
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Communities get extra support worth far more than any single contribution could provide.
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Leaders, in turn, help you rest easy, knowing your generosity is restoring balance in real lives.
a support circle mirroring natural cycles
Your steady monthly gift becomes a driver for their stability.
When these leaders thrive, families eat better, stress lightens, and whole communities can heal. And as their gratitude and learned lessons circle back to you through stories, photos, and heartfelt updates, you witness something rare: generosity proving itself.
It’s a simple exchange repeated again and again: lessons and hope, flowing both ways.
Won't you keep generosity moving?