Ohio · Nonprofit
THE DAWES ARBORETUM
THE DAWES ARBORETUM (Ohio) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,126,044 to it, the largest being COLUMBUS FOUNDATION ($710,420). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 77% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.4M
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $105M
What The Dawes Arboretum does
Mission
The Dawes Arboretum is dedicated to enriching lives through the conservation of trees, nature and history. This includes but is not limited to sharing the love and knowledge of trees, nature and history through exhibits, programming events and community outreach.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Dawes Arboretum science & conservation and grounds departments manage 2,000 acres of contiguous land in licking county, ohio which is explored by over 96,423 visitors annually. In addition to 4 miles of auto tour trials, the arboretum has over 14 miles of walking trials that guide visitors through specialty gardens, meadows, wetlands, and woodlands. The 2024-2025 science & conservation department manages all the arboretum's natural areas, maintains extensive plant records, curates a diverse collection of plants and plant materials, and conducts extensive environmental research. Nearly 4,700 members and 346 volunteers (including trained land stewards) support the mission of the arboretum on an annual basis.
$5,440,232 spent$115,055 earned by the program91% of program spendingThe Dawes Arboretum's learning and engagement department (l&e) instructs and engages daily with nearly 4,700 members, 96,423 visitors and the extended community. L&e offers nature education and exploration opportunities for adults and children through self-guided interpretive signage on grounds as well as professionally led programming and curricula focused on stem and the promotion of outdoor environmental learning.annually, camp dawes welcome over 3,516 school-aged children (5-14) from diverse backgrounds to safely observe and explore nature/ structured and self-guided curricula engages children in a variety of eco-systems, creates outdoor-inspired crafts with friends and cultivates a lifelong sense of curiosity and adventure as it related to our natural world.
$508,167 spent$159,642 earned by the program9% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,948,399.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
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 $110M to $87M (−21%).
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: 2023 0% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 4 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
Stephanie Crockatt
CEO (start 11/5/24)
Board chair
Henry Hauser
Chair
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 narrowed from 7 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $135k → $252k.
5 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 77% 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 DAWES ARBORETUM’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
THE DAWES ARBORETUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
86% 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 DAWES ARBORETUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 52% · 2018 67% · 2019 60% · 2020 47% · 2021 51% · 2022 56% · 2023 94% — 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
31% of THE DAWES ARBORETUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
77% of THE DAWES ARBORETUM'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 $255k that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $871k 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.
Organizations like THE DAWES ARBORETUM
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
34%
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 DAWES ARBORETUM: 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 DAWES ARBORETUM?
- THE DAWES ARBORETUM (Ohio) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,126,044 to it, the largest being COLUMBUS FOUNDATION ($710,420). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 77% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE DAWES ARBORETUM have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $1,126,044 in grants to THE DAWES ARBORETUM, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE DAWES ARBORETUM?
- COLUMBUS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $710,420 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE DAWES ARBORETUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Dawes Arboretum →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 22 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