Massachusetts · Nonprofit
MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY (Massachusetts) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,769,265 to it, the largest being THE WEEZIE FOUNDATION XXXXX0005 ($544,700). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.2M
- Funders on record
- 29
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $6.0M
What Massachusetts Horticultural Society does
Mission
Massachusetts Horticultural Society seeks to help people change their lives and communities for the better through growing plants together. For 196 years, Massachusetts Horticultural Society has had a mission to promote the art and science of horticulture, while staying true to its founding motto, `commune bonum,' for the public good.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The garden at elm bank:Massachusetts Horticultural Society (mhs) is located on 36 acres in the historic elm bank reservation. Elm bank is on the national register of historic places for its manor house, designed by carrere and hastings, the architects who designed the new york public library; its original owner, benjamin cheney, one of the founders of american express; and the landscapes created by the olmsted brothers firm in the early 1900s.with 20 acres under cultivation, the garden at elm bank offers adults and children from all backgrounds the opportunity to experience, enjoy and learn about plants and the environment. There are a wide variety of distinct garden areas including the historic italianate garden designed by the olmsted brothers, the new england trial garden that tests plant varieties for hardiness in our zone, the whimsical weezie's garden for children, and bressingham garden, which demonstrates perennial plants for the new england garden, designed by adrian bloom.Massachusetts Horticultural Society is open year-round for classes, workshops and symposia held in the education building, the hunnewell carriage house, and the putnam building with wet lab. The garden…
$2,463,114 spent$1,732,367 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,463,114.
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 2022 to 2023, from $6.2M to $7.0M (+14%).
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 8% · 2022 11% · 2023 21%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
23% of MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY’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. 3 of the last 9 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
James Hearsum
Executive director
Board chair
Gretel Anspach
Chair/board member
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $99k → $287k.
7 of 29 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 48% 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 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY’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
MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 31% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
49% 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 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 76% · 2018 70% · 2019 43% · 2020 47% · 2021 65% · 2022 46% · 2023 46% — 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
53% of MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 48% 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
MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY draws 63% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $850k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY's funding base is broadening — from 3 funders to 12 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $75k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$75k
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 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
62%
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 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: 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 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY?
- MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY (Massachusetts) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,769,265 to it, the largest being THE WEEZIE FOUNDATION XXXXX0005 ($544,700). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 29 organizations giving $1,769,265 in grants to MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY?
- THE WEEZIE FOUNDATION XXXXX0005 is the largest funder on record, with $544,700 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Massachusetts Horticultural Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 29 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