Grants for botanical gardens

Name: Top 25 grants made to botanical gardens and arboreta
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

257 botanical gardens and arboreta received at least $8.1 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 1,083 grants made from 882 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 882 foundations, 89% made just a single grant to botanical gardens, and 2% made grants to four or more botanical gardens. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$8,141,672

Total grant dollars given to botanical gardens

1,083

Number of grants made annually to botanical gardens

882

Number of grantmakers funding botanical gardens

$1,000

Median grant size to botanical gardens

Foundations that support botanical gardens and arboreta

Out of all grants made to botanical gardens, 79% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 78% of the dollar-value of grants to botanical gardens. Foundations funding botanical gardens also made grants to art museums, theaters, colleges, environmental education programs, and multiservice human service organizations.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	698
Medium	112
Large	72

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	17
Private	799
Corporate	42
Other	24

Grants made

Grants made to botanical gardens	Number of grantmakers
1	788
2-3	76
4-10	16
11+	2

Top 10 foundations supporting botanical gardens and arboreta

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to botanical gardens	Number of grants made to botanical gardens	Median grant size
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines	IA	State	0.1%	34	$1,000
JP Morgan Chase Foundation	NY	National	0.0%	11	$400
Community Foundation of North Central Wi	WI	Metro	0.6%	10	$2,095
Community Foundation of Collier County	FL	National	0.1%	9	$1,500
Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region	NY	Metro	0.6%	7	$5,000
Baird Foundation	WI	National	0.1%	7	$100
J Frank Schmidt Family Charitable Foundation	OR	National	3.7%	6	$1,275
Seattle Foundation	WA	State	0.0%	6	$1,000
Hampton Roads Community Foundation	VA	Metro	0.0%	5	$1,000
Tilia Foundation	NY	Metro	24.1%	5	$500

See all grantmaking to botanical gardens

Botanical gardens and arboreta grantees

Botanical gardens with more than $5 million in total revenues received 86% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 49% of all botanical gardens.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	1,082
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	1

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,000
$100k-$500k	$1,000
$500k-$1M	$1,500
$1M-$5M	$1,000
>$5M	$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
New York	160
Illinois	112
Florida	99
California	78
Other	634

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
New York City	151
Chicago	113
Naples	42
St. Louis	38
Other	676

Top 25 grants made to botanical gardens

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
New York Botanical Garden (NYBG)	$6,187,500	Support for Scientific Research, Horticulture and Living Collections, Audience Development, and Visitor Services and To Add To the Recovery and Restoration Fund.	LuEsther T Mertz Charitable Trust
Ganna Walska Lotusland	$5,000	General Support	The Susanne and Gary Tobey Family FND
Inniswood Garden Society	$5,000	Conservation	The Columbus Foundation
Old Westbury Gardens	$5,000	Environmental Preservation	Ainslie Foundation
Holden Arboretum	$5,000	Non Restricted Operating	Lincoln Electric Foundation PFDN 20-1205380
School of the Garden State Ballet	$5,000	To Provide the Much Needed Scholarship Support for Minority Youngsters in Our School	Geraldine R Dodge Foundation
Tucson Botanical Gardens	$5,000	Support Horticultural and Ecological Education	Elizabeth Read Taylor Foundation
Bartram's Garden	$5,000	General Operating	Miller Walter J TW
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Corporation	$5,000	General Operating Support	J M Kaplan Fund
The Morton Arboretum	$5,000	General Support	The Couch Family Foundation
Green Bay Botanical Garden (GBBG)	$5,000	Program Support	Morley - Murphy Foundation
Wave Hill Incorporated	$5,000	Charitable	The Mills Family Foundation
Chicago Botanic Garden	$5,000	General Support	TAWANI Foundation
Norfolk Botanical Garden	$5,000	General Fund	Shearwater Foundation
Chicago Botanic Garden	$5,000	General Purposes	Martin and Mary L Boyer Foundation
Cape Fear Botanical Garden	$5,000	To Support Charitable Mission	Carolyn Riddle Armstrong Family Foundation
New York Botanical Garden (NYBG)	$5,000	General	Michael Tuch Foundation
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (FTBG)	$5,000	Nature Conservation	The Mcgregor Smith Foundation
Iowa Arboretum	$5,000	Education	Robert and Rebecca Shaw Foundation
Denver Botanic Gardens	$5,000	Covid Emergency Response Grants	Bonfils-Stanton Foundation
Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion- State Historic Park	$5,000	Support for Local Nonprofit Organization	Finger Lakes Area Community Endowment
Grassroots Gardens of Western New York	$5,000	Growing Tomatoes and Potatoes in Food Deserts Program	JM McDonald Foundation
Pittsburgh Botanic Garden	$5,000	Matching Gift	Eqt Foundation
Friends of the Gardens of Spring Creek	$5,000	General & Unrestricted	Louis and Anne Abrons Foundation
Carpenter Art Garden	$5,000	General - Operating	Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation

See all grants to botanical gardens

Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Botanical gardens" category for this page is determined by the "C41: Botanical Gardens, Arboreta, and Botanical Organizations" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.