New York · Nonprofit
THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC
THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC (New York) receives grants from 179 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,864,062 to it, the largest being THE RUETTGERS FAMILY CHARIT FOUNDATION ($669,090). 120 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.7M
- Funders on record
- 179
- Grants received
- $5.9M
- Net assets
- $44M
What The Garden Conservancy Inc does
Mission
To preserve, share, and celebrate america's gardens and diverse gardening traditions for the education and inspiration of the public.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Our organizational practices focus on three main areas: preservation, education, and advocacy. We work to restore historic american gardens, assist private gardens in their desire to become public amenities, present educational programs for all ages relating to the history and cultural significance of gardens and gardening, and open private gardens across the nation to the public through our "open days" program.continued on schedule o.in 2025, the garden conservancy continued to strengthen and expand its programs thanks to the generosity and engagement of a growing community of members, donors, and event participants. During the 2025 season, open days welcomed more than 32,000 visitors to 347 garden-visiting opportunities and presented sixteen virtual programs to over 7,000 participants. The national speaking tour featured celebrated photographer ngoc minh ngo, who shared her passion for roses and photography and her insights into breathtaking rose gardens from england and france to japan and the united states. Our garden futures grants program (including the page dickey grant for american gardens) supported twenty-eight non-profit organizations making a difference in their local…
$4,212,497 spentof which $161,350 as grants$1,448,970 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $4,212,497.
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 $38M to $31M (−17%).
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 5% · 2021 7% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
43% of THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY 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. 1 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
James Brayton Hall
President & CEO
Board chair
Robert Balentine
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 48 funders to 92 funders, grant income rose $402k → $682k.
24 of 179 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 179 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 GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
49% 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 GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 12% · 2018 12% · 2019 9% · 2020 22% · 2021 12% · 2022 46% · 2023 12% — broadly stable.
“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
51% of THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC draws 68% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 24 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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 GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC runs a healthier operating margin than half 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 GARDEN CONSERVANCY 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
71%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 14 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY 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 GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC?
- THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC (New York) receives grants from 179 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,864,062 to it, the largest being THE RUETTGERS FAMILY CHARIT FOUNDATION ($669,090). 120 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC have?
- IRS filings report 179 organizations giving $5,864,062 in grants to THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC, 120 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC?
- THE RUETTGERS FAMILY CHARIT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $669,090 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 179 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