California · Nonprofit
RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN
RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN (California) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,920,208 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($1,386,724). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.0M
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $5.9M
- Net assets
- $32M
What Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden does
Mission
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens promotes botany, conservation, and horticulture to inspire, inform and educate the public and scientific community about california's native flora. The garden is devoted to the collection, cultivation, study, and display of native california plants and to graduate training and research in plant systematics and evolution. Through all its programs, the garden makes significant contributions to the appreciation, enjoyment, understanding, and thoughtful utilization of our natural heritage.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Conservation - we are working to conserve california flora through inventory, monitoring, research, horticulture, restoration and seed bank programs. Plant conservation at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (rsabg) is central to our mission and is a natural extension of our rich history in research and horticulture. Conserving biodiversity is challenging as we face catastrophic drought, wildfires, invasion of exotic species, and expanding urbanization and development. Rsabg has been a cornerstone in the world of california native plant conservation and, as our challenges grow, rsabg will continue to work at the front lines. Rsabg has active programs in floristic research, rare plant research and monitoring, population genetics, seed collection and preservation, plant propagation, restoration, and invasive species management to advance conservation of california's native plants and habitats.
$1,428,558 spent$1,715,929 earned by the program30% of program spendingGraduate education, community education, visitor and nursery services in promotion of the organization's mission.
$1,114,731 spent$665,651 earned by the program23% of program spendingResearch, library and herbarium - the organization maintains a comprehensive living collection of california native plants, an extensive dried specimen collection in the herbarium, and a wide-ranging collection of botany volumes held in its library. No cost has been capitalized for these collections as it is impractical to determine their value due to the large number of items and the long span of years it has taken to create the collections. In addition, capitalizing collections contradicts standards of collections stewardship and is counter to the ethical standards set forth by the museum field. Library and archive - the research library contains approximately 48,000 volumes and 750 current journals and periodicals. Acquisitions increase yearly and include bound journals and periodicals. The library also houses the archives which include the marcus jones archives and collection, as well as the samuel parish collections; both men were local botanists in the late 19th century. Herbarium - the combined herbarium of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens is about the tenth largest in the united states and the third largest in the western united states, with current holdings totaling over…
$1,138,528 spent$425,669 earned by the program24% of program spendingHorticulture - living plant collections: living collection - the living collection contributes to the research and conservation mission of the garden. Through public horticulture, the living collection also promotes the thoughtful utilization of our natural heritage. The living collection covers 86 acres housing over 2,500 accessions of plants native to california and baja. Those accessions represent 1,400 taxa, different kinds of plants, including 900 species. Seed conservation program - the primary function of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden's seed program is the curation and management of the garden's extensive seed collection. The collection is comprised of over 4,000 accessions representing more than 1,600 california native plant species and cultivars.
$1,150,447 spent24% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,832,264.
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 $25M to $30M (+23%).
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 5% · 2019 5% · 2020 7% · 2021 17% · 2022 12% · 2023 23% · 2024 4% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
39% of RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN’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. 4 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
Lucinda A Mcdade
Executive director
Board chair
Cindy Walkenbach
Chair, trustee
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $564k → $1.0M.
10 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 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
RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
71% 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 RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 75% · 2018 44% · 2019 68% · 2020 36% · 2021 36% · 2022 40% · 2023 55% — 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
42% of RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN draws 71% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN is better cushioned than half of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.0M on record.
- Department of the Interior$4.5M
- Department of Agriculture$2.5M
- National Science Foundation$1.8M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$250k
- Department of Defense$15k
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 RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
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 RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN: 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 RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN?
- RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN (California) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,920,208 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($1,386,724). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $5,920,208 in grants to RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN?
- NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,386,724 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RANCHO SANTA ANA BOTANIC GARDEN 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 Rancho Santa Ana 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 36 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