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American Public Gardens Association at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

American Public Gardens Association

We champion and advance public gardens as leaders, advocates, andinnovators in the conservation and appreciation of plants.

$243k
Granted FY2024still arriving
6
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$31k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Food & Nutrition$1.7MEnvironment$55kArts & Culture$12kEducation$6k
02FY2024 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 6 grants below total $136,969, the rows itemized in this filing. The $242,926 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $105,957 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $6k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $131k
$25,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$1.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NATIONAL TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN$30,969
GARDENS OF GOLDEN GATE PARK$25,000
TREES ATLANTA$25,000
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN$25,000
BOTANICAL GARDEN OF THE PIDMONT$25,000
ATLANTA BOTANICAL GARDEN$6,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY22–23, $39k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%OLIVEWOOD GARDENS AND LEARNING CENTER: $20k → 11%ABILITY GARDEN: $19k → 12%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
WA
ID
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
WY
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
AL
GA
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

63%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 19 repeat orgs$634k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against +2% for those funded once.

19 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 16 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
32

Total granted

$1.1M
$553k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+2%

Still filing today

95%
78%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 41% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $81k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentArts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesFood & NutritionOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • ML
    MINNESOTA LANDSCAPE ARBORETUM FOUNDATION
    3× · 2021–2023 · $105k · revenue +13%
  • QB
    QUEENS BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY INC
    3× · 2021–2023 · $105k · revenue +49%
  • TP
    THE PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
    3× · 2021–2023 · $105k · revenue +37%

Funded once

  • GP
    GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE
    one grant, 2023 · $69k · revenue +13%
  • GB
    GEORGESON BOTANICAL GARDEN
    one grant, 2023 · $20k
  • AB
    ALASKA BOTANICAL GARDEN INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $20k · revenue +37%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Sonoma Botanical Garden
—
2
Friends of Mounts Botanical Garden Inc

Mission: to inspire and educate through nature.vision: we envision our public garden as a nationally acclaimed attraction for residents and visitors alike. its cultural, social and educational activities will draw attendees to enjoy,…

Environment
3
New York Botanical Garden

The new york botanical garden is a museum of plants and a scientific research center devoted to the study of plants and their uses. it is the garden's mission to improve public understanding of the natural world, horticulture, and the…

Environment
4
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Inc

Mission - we connect people to plants by inspiring communities to explore and conserve nature.our commitments - organizational sustainability, environmental resiliency, collaboration and gathering, social responsibilityour vision - we are…

Environment
5
Quail Botanical Gardens Foundation

The mission of san diego botanic garden: we garden to create, share, and apply plant wisdom in our world. the organization's diverse topography and wide variety of microclimates provides visitors with the varied sensations of strolling…

Environment
6
Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens

The mission of the jenkins arboretum & gardens is to preserve natural, tranquil woodlands for community enjoyment, to showcase native plants and a world class collection of rhododendrons and azaleas, and to promote environmental…

Environment
7
Na 'Aina Kai Botanical Gardens
Philanthropy
8
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Inc

Organization's mission statement true to the ambitious vision of its founder and her spirit of creative risk-taking, the mission of the isabella stewart gardner museum is: - to bring to life and preserve the rich historic collection; - to…

Arts & Culture
9
Pittsburgh Botanic Garden

Pittsburgh Botanic Garden inspires people to value plants, garden design and the natural world by cultivating plant collections of the Allegheny Plateau and temperate regions, creating display gardens, conducting educational programs and…

Youth Development
10
Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum
—
11
Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens Society Inc

The mission of the buffalo and erie county botanical gardens society, inc. is to deepen the connection between people and plants through beautiful gardens and extraordinary experiences.

Environment
12
The Holden Arboretum

The holden arboretum connects people with the wonder, beauty, and value of trees and plants, to inspire action for healthy communities.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Queens Botanical Garden Society Inc; the most unlike its peers is Henry E Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

47 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 47 of the 54 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
46/47
Grantees still filing
31/47
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MINNESOTA LANDSCAPE ARBORETUM FOUNDATION: $105,000 · EnvironmentMINNESOTA LANDSCAPE ARBORETUM FOUNDATIONQUEENS BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY INC: $105,000 · EnvironmentQUEENS BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY INCTHE PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $105,000 · EnvironmentTHE PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETYTHE ATLANTA BOTANICAL GARDEN INC: $90,750 · EnvironmentTHE ATLANTA BOTANICAL GARDEN INCDESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN INC: $89,800 · EnvironmentDESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN INCGARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE: $68,800 · EnvironmentGARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCEDELAWARE CENTER FOR HORTICULTURE INC: $55,000 · EnvironmentKNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM: $50,100 · EnvironmentTREES ATLANTA INC: $45,000 · Environment+29 more: $573,275 · Environment+29 moreREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $104,045 · OtherREGENTS OF THE U…MARY MITCHELL FAMILY AND YOUTH CENTER INC: $40,000 · OtherMARY MITCHELL FA…FRIENDS OF THE GARDENS OF SPRING CREEK: $35,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF THE G…GEORGESON BOTANICAL GARDEN: $20,000 · OtherGEORGESON BOTANI…UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK: $14,886 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MA…THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: $13,878 · OtherTHE UNIVERSITY O…UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY: $11,200 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $9,970 · Other+1 more: $5,597 · OtherPHILA SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LANDMARKS: $55,000 · Arts & CultureHENRY E HUNTINGTON LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY: $11,806 · Arts & CultureEarthDance: $40,000 · Food & NutritionUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION: $20,000 · EducationCONNECTICUT COLLEGE: $19,800 · EducationOLIVEWOODS GARDENS & LEARNING CENTER INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesAbility Garden: $19,400 · Human Services
Environment$1,287,725Other$254,576Arts & Culture$66,806Food & Nutrition$40,000Education$39,800Human Services$39,400

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMINNESOTA LANDSCAPE ARBORETUM FOUNDATION: $105,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetQUEENS BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY INC: $105,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTHE PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $105,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE ATLANTA BOTANICAL GARDEN INC: $90,750 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetDESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN INC: $89,800 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetGARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE: $68,800 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetPHILA SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LANDMARKS: $55,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetDELAWARE CENTER FOR HORTICULTURE INC: $55,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetKNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM: $50,100 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetTREES ATLANTA INC: $45,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMARY MITCHELL FAMILY AND YOUTH CENTER INC: $40,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetEarthDance: $40,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetPHIPPS CONSERVATORY AND BOTANICAL GARDENS INC: $38,700 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetDENVER BOTANIC GARDENS INC: $35,806 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE GARDENS OF SPRING CREEK: $35,000 over 2y, 5.1% of budgetFriends of the National Arboretum: $34,750 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetMISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES: $31,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN: $30,969 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY AT STRYBING ARBORETUM: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBOTANICAL GARDEN OF THE PIEDMONT: $25,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetALASKA BOTANICAL GARDEN INC: $20,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetFAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOLIVEWOODS GARDENS & LEARNING CENTER INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens: $20,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetTHE MORTON ARBORETUM: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCITY GREEN INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCONNECTICUT COLLEGE: $19,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDOWNTOWN GREENS INC: $19,800 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetCLEVELAND BOTANICAL GARDEN: $19,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAbility Garden: $19,400 over 1y, 36% of budgetISAAC W BERNHEIM FOUNDATION: $18,600 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGuadalupe River Park Conservancy: $17,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetBROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN CORPORATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetIDAHO BOTANICAL GARDEN INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetWORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE CONSERVATORY: $15,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetBROOKGREEN GARDENS: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE STATE BOTANICAL GARDEN OF GEORGIA INC: $15,000 over 1y, 8.9% of budgetPAUL J CIENER BOTANICAL GARDEN: $15,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA BOTANICAL GARDEN FOUNDATION: $14,893 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCAPE FEAR BOTANICAL GARDEN: $14,100 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetGEORGESON BOTANICAL GARDEN FRIENDS: $12,159 over 1y, 12% of budgetHENRY E HUNTINGTON LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY: $11,806 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHUNTSVILLE MADISON COUNTY BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY INC: $5,998 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSANTA FE BOTANICAL GARDEN: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Ibm International Fou…Dominion Energy Chari…National Philanthropi…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…Ge Aerospace Foundati…Vanguard Charitable E…Charities Aid Foundat…The US Charitable Gif…The Chicago Community…Edward Jones Foundati…Gs Donor Advised Phil…American Endowment Fo…
Ibm International FoundationNY17.6× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ibm International Foundation · Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Charities Aid Foundation America · The US Charitable Gift Trust · The Chicago Community Trust · Edward Jones Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · American Endowment Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization American Public Gardens Association funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from American Public Gardens Association. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • City Green Inc: 100% of income from government
  • Delaware Center for Horticulture Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Worcester County Horticultural Society: 2% of income from government
  • Connecticut College: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 54 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home