Alabama · Nonprofit
THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC
THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC (Alabama) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,943,449 to it, the largest being LUCILLE S BEESON CHAR TR BOND MGMT ($1,857,124). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.0M
- Funders on record
- 45
- Grants received
- $4.9M
- Net assets
- $29M
What The Birmingham Botanical Society Inc does
Mission
The friends advance public knowledge and appreciation of plants, gardens, and the environment through education, volunteerism, and assistance to a public botanical garden.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Gardensthe friends assist with operational needs of a public botanical garden through ongoing stewardship and enhancement of more than 67 acres of garden grounds, including over two dozen themed garden spaces. Routine projects includes providing plants, supplies, tools, equipment, and contracted services; non-routine projects include repair, renovation, and enhancement of gardens and garden features. Dedicated personnel includes 4 staff horticulturists and 2 seasonal interns, and the friends coordinate thousands of volunteer hours annually.
$813,200 spent49% of program spendingEducation and community engagementthe friends' educational offerings are intentionally inclusive and designed to engage participants of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. The friends provide free, hands-on, curriculum-based science programming to thousands of area k6 students each year. Additional offerings include summer camps; stem teacher training; and adult classes, lectures, and workshops related to botany, horticulture, and environmental stewardship. The friends also maintain a public horticultural library with more than 6,000 circulating titles. Community engagement includes partnerships with organizations that celebrate diverse cultural traditions and encourage horticultural endeavors, such as cultural festivals and an annual community awards program.
$533,050 spent$83,157 earned by the program32% of program spendingCommunication & membershipthe friends' communications and marketing include maintaining a public-facing website for the garden, producing monthly e-newsletters, managing social media, and publishing a quarterly magazine. With more than 2,500 member households, the membership program provides benefits and engagement opportunities while generating financial assistance for the garden.
$325,345 spent$226,204 earned by the program19% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,671,595.
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 $25M to $22M (−13%).
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: 2020 7% · 2021 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
58% of THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC’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. 0 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
Thomas W Underwood
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $262k → $969k.
10 of 45 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 45 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
THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
46% 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 THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 65% · 2018 58% · 2019 62% · 2020 73% · 2021 63% · 2022 50% · 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
42% of THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 76% 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
96% of THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC's grant income comes from Alabama funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY 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 Alabama
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
62% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY 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 THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC?
- THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC (Alabama) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,943,449 to it, the largest being LUCILLE S BEESON CHAR TR BOND MGMT ($1,857,124). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC have?
- IRS filings report 45 organizations giving $4,943,449 in grants to THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC?
- LUCILLE S BEESON CHAR TR BOND MGMT is the largest funder on record, with $1,857,124 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE BIRMINGHAM BOTANICAL SOCIETY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Alabama. 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 Birmingham Botanical 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 45 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