Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
Friends of the National Arboretum
Friends of the National Arboretum (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,166,382 to it, the largest being THE INDEPENDENT CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($625,000). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.1M
- Funders on record
- 57
- Grants received
- $3.2M
- Net assets
- $4.2M
What Friends of the National Arboretum does
Mission
The Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA) is an independent, non-profit organization established to enhance, through public and private sector resources, support for the U.S. National Arboretum. See Schedule O for Continuation
As stated on its FY2022 Form 990.
Programs
Washington Youth Garden: FONA operates the Washington Youth Garden, a one-acre urban farm on the USNA grounds. The Washington Youth Garden is open to the public daily as a living, interactive program space that welcomes thousands of visitors each year. As a working urban demonstration farm, FONA grows over 7,000 pounds of food a year, which is donated to the community. USNA supports the Washington Youth Garden by providing mulch, access to water, and use of the greenhouses. The Washington Youth Garden (WYG) serves as the home base for the following programs: School Garden support: Friends of the National Arboretum supports local teachers and schools in growing and maintaining sustainable gardens integrated in the school community that serve as an outdoor science classroom, a living nutrition lab, and a creative space to get in touch with nature. We offer a week-long Summer Institute for teachers, followed by in-depth assistance to a cohort of eight schools during the school year. We will also co-teach standards-aligned, garden-based lessons so that educators develop confidence in delivering interactive, outdoor lessons. High School Internships: Our Green Ambassadors paid high…
$998,431 spentof which $5,031 as grants53% of program spendingProjects and activities: FONA holds numerous temporary and permanently restricted funds given for various purposes to benefit the U.S. National Arboretum. Every year, in consultation with the Arboretum leadership and staff, FONA releases funds from these restricted assets or general operating funds to the Arboretum to achieve a designated purpose. FONA then works with the Arboretum staff, often over a multi-year period, to ensure that the donors objective for each project or activity is fulfilled in a timely and cost-effective manner. For example, in recent years, FONA has collaborated with the Arboretum on the following projects and activities: -Updating the Arboretums Master Plan and identifying follow-on campaigns and related activities. -Cleanup and restoration as well as ongoing monitoring of Springhouse Run along with monitoring of Hickey Run, two crucial watercourses that traverse the Arboretum, emptying into the Anacostia River and ultimately into the Chesapeake Bay. -Completion of the Flowering Tree Walk, a universal access walkway providing magnificent views of the Arboretums great meadow and Capitol Columns. -Preservation and maintenance of the Arboretums heritage…
$589,497 spentof which $118,918 as grants31% of program spendingAnnual Garden Fair and Plant Sale Event: The Garden Fair is held in early spring and typically attracts 10,000 people to the grounds of the Arboretum. Traditionally, the National Arboretum curators serve as plant experts providing advice for novice as well as experienced gardeners.
$253,809 spent13% of program spendingMembership and outreach: FONA runs an active outreach program designed to broaden and expand the visibility of, and to provide public support for, the Arboretum locally, nationally, and internationally, as well as to increase the Arboretums visitor base. For example, FONA hosts numerous public programs such as forest bathing, yoga classes, family programs, and community events. FONA also partners with other Arboretum stakeholders, interest groups, and community organizations for the betterment of the Arboretum. FONA staff and board members continually reach out to the media, government officials, community leaders, and industry associations, and maintain ongoing relationships with these and other key decision-makers and influential organizations and citizens. FONA also maintains an active public presence via its website and through social media such as Facebook and Instagram. In addition, FONA runs a membership program to recruit and serve 1,000+ members and supporters each year with member events and activities, volunteer opportunities, and weekly enewsletter with updates on Arboretum News, and other member benefits.
$58,817 spent3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,900,554.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $3.4M to $4.2M (+22%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 19% · 2018 16% · 2019 18% · 2020 19% · 2021 24% · 2022 24% · 2023 16% · 2024 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
81% of Friends of the National Arboretum’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Craven Rand
Executive Director
Board chair
Martha Van Dale
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 29 funders, grant income rose $206k → $470k.
13 of 57 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Friends of the National Arboretum’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 57 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Friends of the National Arboretum has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
69% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Friends of the National Arboretum.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 40% · 2019 30% · 2020 33% · 2021 24% · 2022 14% · 2023 13% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
44% of Friends of the National Arboretum's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
54% of Friends of the National Arboretum's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $1.5M that is directly attributable, 63% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 12 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
Friends of the National Arboretum has grown faster than half of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Friends of the National Arboretum receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $682k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$509k
- Department of the Interior$173k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Friends of the National Arboretum
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
65% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Friends of the National Arboretum: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Friends of the National Arboretum?
- Friends of the National Arboretum (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 57 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,166,382 to it, the largest being THE INDEPENDENT CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($625,000). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Friends of the National Arboretum have?
- IRS filings report 57 organizations giving $3,166,382 in grants to Friends of the National Arboretum, 35 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Friends of the National Arboretum?
- THE INDEPENDENT CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $625,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Friends of the National Arboretum find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 57 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing