Tennessee · Nonprofit
KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM
KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM (Tennessee) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $644,954 to it, the largest being EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION ($461,454). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.0M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $645k
- Net assets
- $2.9M
What Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum does
Mission
Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum provides and maintains gardens for the benefit and enjoyment of the general public.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum (kbga) is a 44-acre public garden located on the historic howell nurseries site, just minutes from downtown knoxville. Listed on the national register of historic places, kbga features 18 distinct display gardens, 16 historic structures, two miles of stone walls, and community agricultural beds. The grounds are open to the public year- round at no charge, attracting over 36,000 visitors in 2024, with approximately 25% from outside the area. Kbga supports local non-profit and civic organizations by providing meeting spaces and hosting community-focused events, including an annual free family festival. The garden offers educational programs for individuals, groups, public schools, and the university of tennessee. In addition to preserving rare plant specimens and historic plantings, kbga maintains the site's original plans and architecture, contributing to the ongoing development of downtown and the economic growth of east knoxville.
$624,067 spent$15,438 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $624,067.
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 2017 to 2018, from $3.2M to $3.1M (−4%).
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 38% · 2020 9% · 2021 22% · 2023 6% · 2024 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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 $34k → $65k.
7 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 90% 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 KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM’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
KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
98% 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 KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 84% · 2022 69% · 2023 69% — 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
75% of KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 50% 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
90% of KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND 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 $63k that is directly attributable, 98% of it comes from funders outside Tennessee, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $582k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM runs a healthier operating margin 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
Organizations like KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND 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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
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 KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND 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 KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM?
- KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM (Tennessee) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $644,954 to it, the largest being EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION ($461,454). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $644,954 in grants to KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM?
- EAST TENNESSEE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $461,454 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KNOXVILLE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND ARBORETUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum →
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 10 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