Missouri · Nonprofit
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES (Missouri) receives grants from 232 organizations whose IRS filings report $89,305,497 to it, the largest being THE CRAWFORD TAYLOR FOUNDATION ($20,075,000). 175 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $61M
- Funders on record
- 232
- Grants received
- $89M
- Net assets
- $407M
What Missouri Botanical Garden Board of Trustees does
Mission
To discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment in order to preserve and enrich life.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Horticulture: the garden's horticulture program develops plant collections and maintains landscapes for display, home gardening demonstrations and information dissemination, and in support of research and ex-situ conservation. The garden's seed bank, located at oertli family hardy plant nursery, holds 40 percent of the state of missouri's native flora. Our plant collections included 17,242 taxa and 9,141 species. The garden's 79 acres feature indoor and outdoor plant displays that attracted 1,047,438 visitors in 2025. Home gardeners from around the world regularly use the garden's on-site and digital resources. There were more than 22.5 million views of gardening web resources in 2025.
$15,488,839 spent$6,938,847 earned by the program31% of program spendingScience: the missouri botanical garden is a world leader in plant discovery and plant conservation around the world. In 2025 garden scientists discovered more than 200 new plant species, which is roughly 10 percent of all new plants discovered each year worldwide. Our herbarium, with 8 million specimens including nearly 2 million digitized specimens, is among the largest and serves as a global database of plants used to make evaluations on conservation status. By knowing what plants are threatened, we can identify areas of high conservation value where protecting landscapes may save threatened species. The garden also continues to add its tropicos database, and works with partners around the globe to digitally document all known plant life through world flora online.
$17,575,733 spentof which $848,856 as grants$133,886 earned by the program36% of program spendingEducation: the garden takes seriously its mission to share knowledge about plants and the environment with people of all ages. In 2025 345,231 people participated in educational experiences led by the missouri botanical garden, from community-based projects to on-site and virtual classes and events to year-long programs and community-based projects. Of this number, 37,801 were prek-grade 12 students and teachers who connected with the garden in ways that deepened their understanding and appreciation for plants, nature, and the importance of living sustainably. In the community, the garden is a leader in educating and activating the public to steward local lands and waters, from creating more biodiverse home landscapes to helping steward local parks, trails, creeks, streams, and other green space in their own community.
$12,024,563 spent$440,785 earned by the program24% of program spendingPublic programs: public events such as the best of missouri market. The best of missouri market is part of the american arts experience st. Louis, an annual celebration of the arts throughout the st. Louis area.
$2,954,464 spent$3,426,771 earned by the program6% of program spendingButterfly house was established in 1995 to increase awareness of the natural habitat in which butterflies thrive.
$1,152,957 spent2% of program spendingFacility rentals: the missouri botanical garden is an ideal setting for corporate events, private parties, and weddings. The 79 acres of beautiful horticultural display provides an oasis in the city for all guests to enjoy.
$30,798 spent0% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $49,227,354.
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 $316M to $365M (+16%).
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 4% · 2018 4% · 2020 3% · 2021 4% · 2022 3% · 2023 4% · 2024 4% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
73% of MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (87% 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.
Board chair
Dr Michael K Stern
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 59 funders to 125 funders, grant income rose $1.0M → $8.8M.
20 of 232 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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: $6.4M from 12 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest St Louis Community Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES raised.
From the IRS filings of MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 232 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
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 16% · 2019 71% · 2020 41% · 2021 26% · 2022 18% · 2023 23% — 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
61% of MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
80% of MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES's grant income comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES's funding base is broadening — from 59 funders to 125 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.5M on record.
- National Science Foundation$5.7M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$1.4M
- Department of Agriculture$1.1M
- Department of the Interior$760k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$325k
- Environmental Protection Agency$73k
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 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Mbg Properties Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES: 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 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES?
- MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES (Missouri) receives grants from 232 organizations whose IRS filings report $89,305,497 to it, the largest being THE CRAWFORD TAYLOR FOUNDATION ($20,075,000). 175 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES have?
- IRS filings report 232 organizations giving $89,305,497 in grants to MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES, 175 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES?
- THE CRAWFORD TAYLOR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $20,075,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 Missouri Botanical Garden Board of Trustees →
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 232 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing