Directors of Large Gardens

Dear APGA members, The Directors of Large Gardens (DLG) is pleased to make this DLG Benchmarking 2008 Synopsis available to all members of the American Public Garden Association (APGA). We hope this information will be of benefit to our colleagues as we all learn from each other and continue to advance the professional management of our institutions. The DLG commissioned benchmarking studies of our members in 2004, 2006 and 2008. These studies and this synopsis were completed by on behalf of the DLG. We are most appreciative of Dan Stark for his support, encouragement, and assistance to the DLG and for making this document available through the APGA Resource Center. With best wishes for the success of all public gardens, Directors of Large Gardens

Directors of Large Gardens Synopsis Benchmarking 2008 Richard H. Daley Principal

2 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Chapter I. Profile of Institutions 6 Chapter II. Human Resources 10 Chapter III. Attendance 13 Chapter IV. Membership and Development 14 Chapter V. Public Programs 16 Chapter VI. Revenues 18 Chapter VII. Epenses 23

3 INTRODUCTION The Directors of Large Gardens (DLG) is an organization of botanical gardens and arboreta with annual operating budgets of $2.5 million or more. Nearly all botanical gardens and arboreta with budgets of this size are members of the DLG. The DLG commissioned benchmarking studies of their members in 2004, 2006, and 2008. All studies have been completed by on behalf of the DLG. While the full studies are available only to DLG members for their own use, the DLG is providing this synopsis of the key findings of the 2008 study for wider distribution. The response rate for the survey for all three studies has been high, reaching 87% of the DLG institutions for the 2008 study with 47 of 54 institutions providing data. The information for this study was collected in the summer of 2008 by electronic survey. The operating budgets of the institutions range from the lower threshold for DLG membership, $2.5 million, to $60 million; in physical size, the range is from 6 acres to 9,000 acres; in number of staff members, the range is from 20 to 567 (full time equivalents). Large and Very Large Institutions Institutions were divided in to two groups: Large Gardens, with annual operating epenses from $2.5 up to $10 million, and Very Large Gardens with annual operating budgets of more than $10 million. The budget size was based on having both epenses and revenues eceed $10 million. Table A indicates the participating institutions. The median operating revenues for all participating organizations was $6.9 million. For the Large Gardens, the median income was $5.2 million; for Very Large Gardens, the median income was $26.8 million. The median epenses for all participating institutions were $6.5 million; for the Large Gardens, the median epenses were $5.0 million; for the Very Large Garden group, the median epenses were $27.7 million. Data Analysis Median values (the midpoint of the numbers) are used in most of the analyses since they are not nearly as strongly influenced as means (the arithmetic averages) are by outlier data points.

4 Acknowledgements Dr. Gerard Donnelly, President and CEO of The Morton Arboretum was the coordinator of the study for the DLG and deserves special thanks for the large amount of time he devoted to providing advice to EMD Consulting Group and encouraging the participation of the gardens and arboreta to submit information. Dr. Donnelly was assisted by a committee: Bob Jewell, President and CEO, Brookgreen Gardens; Sophia Siskel, President and CEO, Chicago Botanic Garden; and Timothy Taylor, Eecutive Director, Duke Farms, all of whom provided helpful suggestions. For this synopsis, special thanks go to Spencer Crews, Eecutive Director of Lauritzen Gardens who was the coordinator for DLG on this summary report.

5 Participating Institutions, Classified by Operating Budget Size Large Very Large Arizona Sonora Desert Museum Arnold Arboretum Atlanta Botanical Garden Bok Tower Gardens Brookgreen Gardens Brooklyn Botanic Garden Chanticleer Foundation Chicago Botanic Garden Cleveland Botanical Garden Cornell Plantations Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, Inc. Dawes Arboretum Denver Botanic Gardens Descanso Gardens Desert Botanical Garden, Inc Duke Farms Foundation Franklin Park Conservatory Fort Worth Botanic Garden Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park Ganna Walska Lotusland Holden Arboretum Laurtizen Gardens Longwood Gardens, Inc Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Inc Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Missouri Botanical Garden Montreal Botanical Gaden Morris Arboretum of the Univ. of Pennsylvania Morton Arboretum Mount Auburn Cemetery Mt. Cuba Center Naples Botanical Garden National Tropical Botanical Garden New York Botanical Garden Norfolk Botanical Garden North Carolina Arboretum Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Inc Powell Gardens Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Red Butte Garden & Arboretum Royal Botanical Garden San Antonio Botanical Garden San Francisco Botanical Garden/Conservatory Flowers Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Smithsonian Institution Horticulture Division United States Botanic Garden United States National Arboretum

6 CHAPTER I. PROFILE OF INSTITUTIONS I. GOVERNANCE Institutions were classified based on their governance (self-described) and the percentages for each category are shown in Figure I-1. Figure I-1. Governance of Participating Institutions Public Private Partnership 11% Governance Governemnt 13% University 13% Independent Non Profit 63% Board Size For the 40 institutions reporting the size of their boards, the median number of board members was 23; with a range was from 5 to 77. Of the 40 institutions, 17 percent had 15 or fewer board members; 36 percent had 15-30 board members; 21 percent had 31-50 board members; and 11 percent had more than 50.

7 II. TYPES OF INSTITUTIONS Institutions were also asked to classify themselves into the appropriate type of garden (Figure I-2). Figure I-2. Categories of Participating Institutions Display Garden, 8% Type of Organization Other, 11% Arboretum, 17% Botanical Garden, 64% Note: Throughout this report, the institutions collectively are referred to as gardens for convenience regardless of which type of institution they are. III. HORTICULTURAL ACCESSIONS The number of horticultural accessions varied widely. For those reporting on their accessions, the lowest number reported was 500; the highest number of plant accessions was 92,677; the median number was 11,201. IV. SIZE Acreage The total acreage of institutions varied enormously from a low of si acres to a high of 9,000 acres; the median size was 175 acres.

8 Interior Spaces Institutions varied widely in the amount of interior space they have that is open to the public, ranging from just under 500 square feet to more than a half million square feet. The median amount was 24,850 square feet. Retail Space Table I-1. Interior Spaces (sq. ft.) (medians) Under Glass 20,165 Offices 5,382 Operations/ Maitenance 5,100 Storage 4,474 Classrooms 4,162 Horticulture Workspace 3,578 Auditorium 3,240 Food Service 2,950 Science 2,406 Retail 1,868 Library 1,251 Eighty-five percent of the institutions reported having retail shop with a median amount of 1,868 square feet devoted to their retail shop. Food Service Space Sity-four percent of the institutions report food service areas, ranging from a modest 272 square feet to 21,600 square feet. The median amount was 2,950 square feet. Office Space The median amount of office space was 5,382 square feet with a maimum of 70,000 square feet. Storage Space The median amount of storage space was 4,474 square feet. The maimum amount of storage space was nearly 60,000 square feet.

9 Space Under Glass (display and production houses combined) The 34 institutions that reported their space under glass have a total of one and a quarter million square feet of space (1,265,000 sq. ft.). The median amount of area under glass was 20,165 square feet with a range of 300 to 200,000 square feet. Horticulture Space (offices and workrooms) This space specifically ecluded glass houses it is the office and work space for the horticulture staff. The median amount of space was 3,578 square feet ranging from a low of 500 to a high of 82,000 square feet. Operations and Maintenance Space The median amount of space for operations and maintenance was 5,100 square feet, from a low of 750 to a high of 28,043 square feet. Auditorium Half the participating institutions reported space for an auditorium, ranging from 1,500 to 11,320 square feet. The median size was 3,240 square feet. In many cases, auditorium space is multi-purpose space, not auditoriums with fied seating. Classroom and Meeting Space More than 90 percent of institutions reported classroom or meeting space, with a median amount of 4,162 square feet. The smallest amount of space reported for classrooms and meetings was 480 square feet, and the maimum was just over 50,000 square feet. Science and Research Space Seventy percent of institutions indicated space devoted to science and research with a median amount of 2,406 square feet devoted to this purpose. The range was from 42 to 95,000 square feet. Library Library space for members or the general public (research library space was reported as research space) was reported at nearly two-thirds of the institutions. The range was from just 20 square feet to 46,500 square feet, with a median of 1,251 square feet.

10 I. STAFF CHAPTER II. HUMAN RESOURCES Salaries, Wages, Benefits, and Payroll Taes Gardens spend most of their operating funds on staff salaries and benefits: the median amount epended on staff (salaries, benefits and payroll taes) was 57 percent of operating funds. There is no other single area of operating epenses that even approaches this percentage. The median value of benefits and payroll taes paid to full-time employees was 23 percent of the salaries; the range of percentages was quite large for benefits and payroll taes, from 10 to 60 percent of salaries. Payroll taes were 7.0 percent of salaries. Part-time workers receive about half the percentage in their benefits and payroll taes as do full-time employees with a median of 10.0 percent for part-time workers. The value of benefits offered to part-time employees varied widely: several institutions provide virtually no benefits while others pay the same percentage of salaries as they do to full-time employees. Medical benefits represented 8.8 percent of salaries. Other paid benefits (non-medical or dental) such as retirement and disability insurance amounted to 5.3 percent of salaries. Full-time, Part-time, Seasonal Employees The median staff size (FTEs) was 74, with a range from 22 to 567. Full-time workers were 73 percent of the total staffing (full-time equivalents); part-time workers and seasonal labor each made up 13 percent of the workforce.

11 Staffing by Function The percentages of staff devoted to each function by DLG institutions are shown in Table II- 1. Table II-1. Percentages of Staff (FTEs) by Department (medians) Horticulture 28 Visitor Services 12 Facilities 11 Administration 10 Public Programs 10 Science & Conservation 8 Development & Membership 6 Retail Sales 4 Security 4.5 Marketing 3 Food Service 2 Info Technology 1 Other 2 Another way to look at the staffing is to focus on the staff devoted to the three main mission oriented functions at public gardens: horticulture, public programs, and research. Table II-2 shows the percentages of staff in these functions, leaving out all the other functions (administration, membership and development, maintenance, marketing, sales etc, all of which support the mission functions). Table II-2 shows that just under half of staff are typically devoted to the three mission purposes and slightly more than half are required to support these functions. Table II-2. Percentage of Staff in Mission Functions (medians) Horticulture 27.9 Public Programs 9.6 Science & Consv 8.4 45.9 II. VOLUNTEERS The total number of volunteers reported at the participating institutions was 22,671, and they donated a total of 1.4 million hours of time. The median number of volunteer hours at the institutions was 20,586. The range of volunteer support was large, from 4 to a maimum of

12 2,000 volunteers, with a median of 400. The range of hours donated by volunteers was from 400 to 125,000 hours. Figure II-1. Number of Volunteers (medians) Volunteers Number of Volunteers 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 All Large Very Large

13 I. ATTENDANCE CHAPTER III. ATTENDANCE Total annual on-site attendance at the participating institutions was 39.1 million people. The Horticulture Division of the Smithsonian made up 22 million of these visitors. The median annual attendance among the DLG institutions was 229,936. Figure III-1. Number of Visitors On-site (medians) Number of Visitors On site Annual Visitors (medians) 800,000 700,000 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000 All Large Very Large Member Attendance Members are a very important element of most botanical gardens audiences and support and many institutions work hard to promote member attendance. The median member attendance at Large Gardens was 33,758 and 216,800 at Large Gardens.

14 CHAPTER IV. MEMBERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT I. MEMBERSHIP Member Attendance Member attendance is reported just above in Chapter III. Attendance. Member Households Eighty-seven percent of the participating institutions have membership programs ranging in size from 1,300 to 50,000 members with a median number of 7,465 households. Figure IV-1. Number of Member Households (medians) 30,000 Member Households 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 All Large Very Large Membership Retention Rates The median member retention rate was 77 percent. Membership Dues All the institutions offer many membership levels with many variations on the levels making comparisons of each level virtually impossible. The common denominator is the entry level the lowest cost membership offered. The minimum membership dues (median) were $50.00, with a range from $20 to $105.

15 II. DEVELOPMENT The revenue due to development activities is reported and analyzed in Chapter VI. Revenues. The section reports on the number of donors and on capital campaigns. The division between membership and development varies by institution. For comparative purposes, to standardize what constitutes a donor, the survey requested information on number of donors (whether through membership or development) who gave $500 or more, not including donations for capital campaigns. Figure IV-2. Number of Donors at $500 or More Number of $500+ Donors 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 All Large Very Large Capital Campaigns Forty percent of the institutions report that they are currently conducting a capital campaign, and 42% epect to launch a campaign within the net two years. The median goal for current capital campaigns is $20 million.

16 CHAPTER V. PUBLIC PROGRAMS I. PROGRAMS FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN The 47 participating institutions served a total of 1,044,000 school children, with 93% of children being served on-site. The median number of school children served at the DLG institutions was 10,934. Figure V-1 shows the large difference in children served at Very Large Gardens compared to the number served at Large Gardens. Figure V-1. Number of School Children Served (medians) 70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 School Children Served per Institution All Large Very Large II. ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMS The DLG institutions served nearly one million adults in programs (943,341); two-thirds (64%) of the adults served were in docent (or staff) led tours with the remaining third served through formal education programs (i.e., classes, lectures, or field trips). Figure V-2 shows attendance in formal adult education programs (classes, lectures, workshops) and does not include attendance in docent (or staff) led tours. The median number of adults was 2,891 in formal programs.

17 Figure V-2. Number of Adults in Formal Education Programs (medians) 5,000 Adults in Education Programs 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 All Large Very Large III. WEBSITE The most often reported statistic of website usage is the number of hits, but this is considered by most information technology eperts to be relatively meaningless. Still, we asked for this statistic since it is commonly used; the median number of website hits was 2,993,412. More meaningful is the number of website sessions, and the median number of sessions was 357,670.

18 CHAPTER VI. REVENUE The median operating revenues for the participating institutions were $6.9 million. For the Large Garden group, the median revenues were $5.2 million, and for the Very Large Garden group, the median revenues were $26.8 million. I. INCOME SOURCES Income is derived from four major categories of support: Earned Income, Private Support, Investments (endowments and other investments), and Governmental Support. The breakdown of these components is shown in Figure VI-1 and Table VI-1. Figure VI-1. Percentage of Support by Income Source (means) % 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Income by Source Earned Income Private Support Investment Income All Large Very Large Government Table VI-1. Percentage of Support by Income Source (means) Earned Income 35 Private Support 33 Investment Income 34 Government 21

19 II. ENDOWMENT Endowment Principal The median endowment balance for all the DLG participating institutions was $16.0 million. Figure VI-2 shows the large difference in endowment size between the Very Large and the Large Gardens. Figure VI-2. Market Value of Endowments $100,000,000 $90,000,000 $80,000,000 $70,000,000 $60,000,000 $50,000,000 $40,000,000 $30,000,000 $20,000,000 $10,000,000 $ Endowment Market Value All Large Very Large Endowment and Investment Income for Operating Budget Ninety-four percent of the institutions reported endowment income. For this analysis, institutions were asked to include both true (donor-designated) endowment funds and quasiendowment funds, those funds treated by the institution as endowment funds. The median income from endowment and investments funds was $1.1 million. Return on Endowment The return on endowment investments ranged from a loss of -8.7 percent to a gain of 15 percent. The median value of the return on endowment investments was 6.0 percent. III. PRIVATE SUPPPORT Private support includes that from private families, businesses, foundation, and from parent organizations. While endowments are originally generated from private sources, income from

20 endowment is treated as its own category and not combined with these other forms of private support. Private support provided 22 percent of the operating budget of the participating organizations. Figure VI-3. Percentages of Private Support Percentages of Private Support 60.0 % 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 Private Contributions Fundraising Events Foundations Parent Organizations Other All Large Very Large None of the Very Large Gardens reported receiving any support from a parent organization whereas 17 percent of the Large Gardens reported parent organization support. For those institutions, the median amount of support from the parent organization was $1.3 million. IV. GOVERNMENTAL SUPPORT Governmental support provided 21 percent of the total operating income to the institutions. Eighty-two percent of the DLG institutions reported some level of government support ranging from just $1,000 to $19.0 million. Table VI-2 and Figure VI-4 show sources of governmental support by percentages from federal, state, and local sources. Table VI-2. Sources of Governmental Support Federal State Local Local Dedicated Other All 21.5 13.9 45.9 14.1 4.5 Large 42.0 15.2 38.3 3.7 0.5 Very Large 10.9 13.2 49.8 19.6 6.6

21 Figure VI-4. Sources of Governmental Support Percentages of Government Support Other, 4.5 Local Dedicated, 14.1 Federal, 21.5 State, 13.9 Local, 45.9 Federal support was provided to 43 percent of institutions; state support to 30 percent, local support to 46 percent, and local ta authority support to 11 percent. V. EARNED INCOME Earned income includes revenue from memberships, admission and parking fees, facility rental income, program fees, gift shop and food sales and similar sources. Earned income was the largest component of income at DLG institutions (see the first section of this Chapter) providing just over one-third (35%) of all revenues. Table VI-3. Percentage of Earned Income by Source Admission/ Parking 27 Membership 19 Gift Shop 15 Food Service 9 Program Fees 7 Facility Rental 7 Special Events 6 Plant Sales 2 Rental Property 1 Publications 0.5 Royalties 0.1 Miscellaneous 6

22 Admission and Parking Income Together, admission and parking income provided 27 percent of earned income, by far the largest category of earned income. Eighty-three percent (39 institutions) of the participating institutions received income from admission or parking fees. Thirty-seven of the 39 received income from admission fees; seven received parking fees; and five received income from both admission and parking fees. Membership Membership income provided the second most important source of earned income for the participating institutions, 19 percent of all earned income. Retail Sales Eighty-seven percent of the institutions reported that they have gift and/or plant sales. Together, these retail sales provided 17 percent of all earned income (gross income). Gift Shops Note: Gift shop and plant sales are combined just above for retail sales. This section is based on gift shop sales alone. Net Income from Gift Shops The median net income for All DLG Participating Institutions was $47,000. Food Service Gross income from food services provided nine percent of all earned income. Half of the DLG institutions (52%) provided information on food service. The median gross income from food service was $172,743. Program Fees Program fees provided a total of seven percent of earned income with a median value of $160,000.

23 CHAPTER VII. EXPENSES The analysis for the most common categories of epenses is shown below. The most common categories were defined as those in which at least 50 percent of the institutions reported epenses and in which the median epense was at least five percent of total epenses. For these most common epenses, administration, finance and human resources were combined to limit the variability in how institutions report the epenses for these services; membership and development epenses were combined for the same reason. Figure VII-1. Median Ependitures for Most Common Functions Median Percentage of Ependitures Science & Conservation, 5.5% Retail (gift and plant sales), 5.7% Horticulture, 18.2% Membership & Develop, 6.4% Facilities Maintenance, 7.2% Public Programs, 7.8% Admin, Finance, HR, 11.9%

24 Table VII-1. Percentages of Total Epenses, for Most Common Functions, All Participating Institutions Median Low High Horticulture 18 4 81 Admin, Finance, HR 12 4 61 Public Programs 8 0.3 24 Facilities Maintenance 7 0.2 20 Membership & Develop 6 1 20 Retail (gift and plant sales) 6 0.2 16 Science & Conservation 6 0.2 45

25 For more information on the Directors of Large Gardens, please contact: Dr. Gerard Donnelly President and CEO The Morton Arboretum 4100 Illinois Route 53 Lisle, Illinois 60532-1293 630-719-2401 donnelly@mortonarb.org For more information on this study, please contact: Richard H. Daley Principal 150 Fawn Drive Sedona, Arizona 86336 928-282-7198 rdaley@emdcg.com