Help Protect our First Acre.

Brunswick County is changing fast. Not someday. Now.

The creeks, woodlots, floodplain edges, and small forests that define this place — that quietly protect our neighborhoods, hold our water, and carry the memory of who we are — are being rezoned, cleared, and developed before most people even notice they were at risk.

Large conservation organizations do important work. But their model is built for large properties, major donors, and long timelines. By the time a grant gets written, reviewed, awarded, and deployed, the parcel is already gone.

That's not a criticism. That's a structural reality.

And it's exactly why we built something different.

The First Acre Initiative is conservation owned by this community.

Not managed from Raleigh. Not directed by a foundation in Chapel Hill. Not dependent on whether Brunswick County fits this year's grant priorities.

Every dollar raised here is controlled here. Every acquisition decision is made here — by a board accountable to this community, informed by the people who fund it.

When we identify a parcel, Substack and First Acre Founders get a formal comment period before the board votes. Your input isn't a survey that gets filed away. It's part of the record. The board considers it before any acquisition moves forward.

You're not donating to someone else's conservation agenda. You're directing your own.

That's not how conservation usually works. It's how it should work.

You are the grant.

Most conservation funding flows through organizations competing for dollars from foundations that serve dozens of counties. They write the grants. They set the priorities. They decide what matters.

We're building something that cuts that entire structure out.

40,000 Brunswick County residents giving $20 a month is $800,000 a month in community-controlled conservation capital. No application. No timeline. No restrictions from a program officer who has never stood at the edge of a longleaf stand in Brunswick County.

Just neighbors protecting the places that matter to them.

We're not there yet. But it starts with the first acre.

What your support does.

Every dollar raised here is restricted to one purpose: protecting land permanently.

80% goes directly toward acquiring our first community conservation project.

20% is permanently set aside in a stewardship endowment — because protecting land isn't a one-time act. It's a perpetual commitment. That endowment funds the ongoing monitoring, maintenance, and legal defense that keeps protected land protected.

No overhead. No organizational expenses. No exceptions.

When that first acre is protected, it proves something beyond the parcel itself — that the people of Brunswick County can fund and direct conservation without waiting for someone else's permission.

Every conservation movement begins somewhere. This is ours.

Become a First Acre Founder.

$20/month — $240/year — makes you a founding member of Brunswick County's only community-directed conservation land fund.

Founders receive a formal voice in every acquisition we consider. That's not a benefit. That's the model.

[Become a Founder — $20/month]

Or give what you can. Every dollar goes to the land.

[givebutter.com/FirstAcre]

The First Acre Initiative is a project of Citizens for Better Brunswick, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Contributions are tax-deductible.

CFBB's Community Heritage Land Fund

Citizens for Better Brunswick’s First Acre Initiative