Arizona · Nonprofit
TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS
TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS (Arizona) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,691,963 to it, the largest being WALLACE RESEARCH FOUNDATION ($731,000). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.2M
- Funders on record
- 55
- Grants received
- $3.7M
- Net assets
- $11M
What Tucson Botanical Gardens does
Mission
Tucson Botanical Gardens connects people with plants and nature through art, science, history and culture.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
In 2025, Tucson Botanical Gardens (tbg) placed 4th in usa today's top 10 best botanical gardens for the 3rd year. For years tbg has been awarded the best botanical garden in tucson by the community. With over 7,000 plants and 17 specific gardens, tbg is the only public garden that boasts a plant & pesticide care program that is 100% organic. Tbg attracts over 175,000 guests a year, has over 6,000 member households, programs, 4 galleries, curates a live tropical butterfly & orchid exhibit, as well as manages gift shops and edna's caf.
$1,301,421 spent$1,315,969 earned by the program44% of program spendingTbg offers classes, workshops & lectures to people of all ages, abilities & backgrounds. In addition to adult and children's educational programs, tbg manages the only formalized horticultural therapy program working with people with disabilities. Additionally, tbg offers events throughout the year that highlight topics of educational and cultural interest to the community. An annual lecture series is provided to broaden the impact of the onsite exhibits as well as tour guides.
$808,704 spent$148,577 earned by the program27% of program spendingSpecial exhibits: a tucson family tradition, the 3rd year of the holiday light show, lightsup was a success and attracts people from across arizona and beyond. In the fall the fiesta de los animales was installed as the initial phase of the frida's garden exhibit. Other exhibits feautured the work of tom collazo, john benedict, quilt for a cause, susan ellenbogen, lucy masterman, amerind foundation's indigenous art in an abundant land, the mexican consul's children's art show this is my mexico, and the curious allies asba 5th triennial show.
$714,439 spent$657,985 earned by the program24% of program spendingTucson Botanical Gardens hosts weddings and other private events as part of our program offerings.
$142,380 spent5% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,966,944.
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 2024 to 2025, from $9.1M to $12M (+34%).
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 3% · 2019 2% · 2020 11% · 2021 1% · 2022 1% · 2023 5% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
56% of TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS’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
Michelle Conklin
CEO/presiden
Board chair
Ellen Wheeler
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 27 funders, grant income rose $179k → $319k.
10 of 55 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% 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 TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 55 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
TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 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 TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 50% · 2019 28% · 2020 15% · 2021 33% · 2022 29% · 2023 16% — 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
46% of TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
60% of TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS's grant income comes from Arizona funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $801k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS 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
Government funding TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $30k on record.
- Department of the Interior$30k
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 TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS
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 Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS: 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 TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS?
- TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS (Arizona) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,691,963 to it, the largest being WALLACE RESEARCH FOUNDATION ($731,000). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS have?
- IRS filings report 55 organizations giving $3,691,963 in grants to TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS?
- WALLACE RESEARCH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $731,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TUCSON BOTANICAL GARDENS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. 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 Tucson Botanical Gardens →
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 55 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