Michigan · Nonprofit
WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS
WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS (Michigan) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $54,892,989 to it, the largest being THE MEIJER FOUNDATION ($46,420,848). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $38M
- Funders on record
- 54
- Grants received
- $55M
- Net assets
- $417M
What West Michigan Horticultural Society Inc Dba Frederik Meijer Gardens does
Mission
To promote the enjoyment, understanding and appreciation of gardens, sculpture, the natural environment and the arts. The most significant activity is to allow guests to experience horticulture and the arts.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Collections and exhibitions: the frederik meijer gardens & sculpture park (meijer gardens) promotes the enjoyment, understanding, and appreciation of gardens, sculpture, the natural environment and the arts. Throughout the year, guests experience exhibitions on their own, through a guided tour, a tram ride or with a downloadable tour. Permanent exhibitions include indoor display gardens (tropical conservatory, arid garden, victorian garden, and carnivorous plants), acres of outdoor gardens and a world renowned sculpture collection.temporary exhibitions generally include up to three sculpture exhibitions per year, the fred and dorothy fichter butterflies are blooming (march and april), the university of michigan health -west christmas and holiday traditions (thanksgiving through the new year), chrysanthemums & more (sept/oct), and an ever-changing seasonal display. During the summer months, artists perform concerts in our outdoor amphitheater. Winter includes our holiday light show that runs in conjunction with university of michigan health west christmas & holiday traditions. Guest count is approximately 843,501
$22,767,359 spent$12,095,531 earned by the program72% of program spendingCulinary arts & events: the culinary arts & events of meijer gardens includes taste of the gardens cafe, as well as the ability to enjoy social or corporate functions in one of our event spaces. Event gatherings may be enhanced with our on site audiovisual services and our catering and beverage service. Culinary arts & events offerings also include concessions food and beverage at outdoor artistic events such as concerts and winter light show.
$6,517,717 spent$7,203,731 earned by the program21% of program spendingEducation: meijer gardens offers educational opportunities for temporary exhibitions and permanent displays through interpretive signage, guided tours, looking guides, films, downloadable tours and interaction with knowledgeable staff and volunteers. Additional offerings include classes, camps, workshops, lectures, school tours and programs. Because we believe that learning should be fun and that the most effective education sparks curiosity, virtually all of our educational offerings are innovative and interactive. Approximately 30,560 children interacted with our educational opportunities.
$1,538,094 spent$129,115 earned by the program5% of program spendingMembership development: allows our guests to purchase a membership which allows them annual access to our organization to enjoy all of the seasonal changes that occur throughout the year. With this access comes benefits such as certain discounts, educational classes and camps, invitations to exhibition related events, and our membership magazine, seasons.
$790,935 spent$3,690,495 earned by the program3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $31,614,105.
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 $419M to $372M (−11%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 8% · 2021 6% · 2022 7% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
34% of WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Charles Burke
President/CEO
Board chair
Candace Matthews
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 17 funders, grant income fell $5.7M → $646k.
18 of 54 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $46M from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS raised.
From the IRS filings of WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 54 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
WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 85% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 94% · 2018 44% · 2019 45% · 2020 77% · 2021 92% · 2022 96% · 2023 49% — 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
45% of WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
100% of WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS is better cushioned than half of the 195 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 195 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER 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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
42%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER 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 WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS?
- WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS (Michigan) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $54,892,989 to it, the largest being THE MEIJER FOUNDATION ($46,420,848). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS have?
- IRS filings report 54 organizations giving $54,892,989 in grants to WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS?
- THE MEIJER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $46,420,848 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WEST MICHIGAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC DBA FREDERIK MEIJER GARDENS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 54 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