California · Nonprofit
HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION
HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $105,517 to it, the largest being HUMBOLDT AREA FOUNDATION ($75,407). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $575k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $106k
- Net assets
- $3.3M
What Humboldt Botanical Gardens Foundation does
Mission
To establish and promote an enjoyable and educational botanical garden accessible to everyone in or near humboldt county and northwestern california. To promote the use of botanical gardens by developing botanical displays of special interest, and for conducting botanical or horticultural programs.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The HBGF maintains a 44.5 acre site that contains over 7 acres of developed formal gardens, a 345 foot elevation overlook with sweeping bay views, multiple hiking trails, and the only 100-foot diameter earth sculpture in the United States. The formal gardens include an ornamental terrace garden,a heather garden,a rose garden, the largest native plant garden in Northern California, a riparian area, and a temperate woodland garden. The site is open to the public year round and hosts a variety of educational programs and special events for people of all ages. Programming includes free admission and docent-led tours to all of schools in Del Norte and Humboldt County.The HBGF encourages research and maintains a plant specimen accession database.
$276,158 spent$234,266 earned by the program97% of program spendingThe organization has been putting on a music series for the pleasure of all those who visit the garden.
$5,568 spent$4,531 earned by the program2% of program spendingThe funds were spent on updating the irrigation system in the Moss Family Temperate Woodland Garden.
$3,637 spent1% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $285,363.
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 2019 to 2020, from $2.7M to $3.0M (+11%).
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: 2021 9% · 2022 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
43% of HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $2k → $12k.
2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 72% 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 HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
72% 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 HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 87% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 83% · 2022 94% · 2023 91% — 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.
Where its funders are
72% of HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION'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 $30k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $76k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 4,264 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
56% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION: 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 HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION?
- HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $105,517 to it, the largest being HUMBOLDT AREA FOUNDATION ($75,407). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $105,517 in grants to HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION?
- HUMBOLDT AREA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $75,407 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HUMBOLDT BOTANICAL GARDENS FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Humboldt Botanical Gardens →
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 6 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