Tending the Garden

In 2006, organizations, corporations, Garden employees, Garden Trustees and community members just like you, pulled together to help launch and make the Tending the Garden campaign an overwhelming success. The campaign was initially started as a way to help secure $16 million in an effort to support exhibits, education, research and endowment, but in the end, the Tending the Garden campaign received:

• 2,621 donations total
• 865 gifts from first-time donors to the Garden
• $5.9 million from 54 corporations and foundations
• $2.5+ million from Garden Trustees
• $145,000 from Staff member contributions
• $17.8 million in gifts and pledges total

Make a Tending the Garden pledge payment today.

You and other Valley community members are the reason Tending the Garden was a success. Every dollar raised directly funds one of these critical projects:

The Endowment Fund

The Endowment Fund is designed to provide financial stability essential to furthering the Garden’s mission, sustaining its collections, exhibitions, programs and research efforts for generations to come. The living collections are the Garden’s greatest treasure and the very heart of the on-site experience. Tending the Garden helped bring:

Cactus and Succulent House Renovations
The Sybil B. Harrington Cactus and Succulent Galleries opened April 2008 

New Entry/Exit Galleries
Ottosen Entry Gallery opened November 2008

Garden Orientation Signage for Visitors
New signage installations were completed May 2009

Agave Yucca Forest
The Berlin Agave Yucca Forest opened to the public in November 2009

Center for Desert Living Trail Renovations
Currently underway, exhibit enhancements will be completed in spring 2011

Education

The Garden’s education programs deliver innovative and engaging experiences to 40,000+ students each year with Tending the Garden assisting with:

Sonoran Desert Adventure Digital Curriculum Unit for Teac hers
Completed in fall 2009 and distributed to 2,700 Arizona schools statewide

Audio Tours System
Launched in November 2008, a technologically advanced audio tour program launched in five languages

Scholarship Fund for Title 1 Students
Launched in October 2008, the Garden has provided over 45,000 free Sonoran Desert Adventure Field Trips to school children statewide

Research

Garden scientists monitor rare and threatened plants, especially those impacted by rapid urbanization and drought. Donations made it possible to expand the research team:

Conservation Biologist | 5 years
Dr. Shannon Fehlberg, The Dorrance Family Foundation Conservation Biologist, joined the staff in September 2008.

Plant Physiologist and Anatomist | 5 years
Projected hiring in 2010-11 pending creation of a new research laboratory.

International Desert Research Fellowship | 5 years
The Garden seeks future funding for this project.