Tennessee · Nonprofit
MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC
MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,714,142 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC ($2,267,414). 19 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 FY2025
- $4.8M
- Funders on record
- 34
- Grants received
- $4.7M
- Net assets
- $14M
What Memphis Botanic Garden Foundation Inc does
Mission
The memphis botanic garden exists to enhance lives by connecting people with nature to increase awareness and appreciation of our environment.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The memphis botanic garden foundation, inc. Supports the municipally owned memphis botanic garden by funding capital improvements, educational programs, administrative support, and other activities.
$3,038,705 spent$1,716,226 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,038,705.
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 2021 to 2022, from $14M to $17M (+19%).
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 8% · 2018 7% · 2019 4% · 2020 4% · 2021 56% · 2022 41% · 2023 5% · 2024 4% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
75% of MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC’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 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
Marylynn Mack
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $159k → $538k.
6 of 34 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.
Left out of every figure on this page: $23k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Little Garden Club of Memphis). These are real filings, and they are not money MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC raised.
From the IRS filings of MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 34 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
MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
61% 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 MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 36% · 2019 63% · 2020 40% · 2021 48% · 2022 65% · 2023 50% — growing more concentrated.
“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
50% of MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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 MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC'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 $2.2M that is directly attributable, 83% of it comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC
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
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC: 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 MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC?
- MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,714,142 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC ($2,267,414). 19 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 MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 34 organizations giving $4,714,142 in grants to MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,267,414 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MEMPHIS BOTANIC GARDEN FOUNDATION INC 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 Memphis Botanic Garden →
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 34 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