Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Jan 1970.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
74 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
Something off? Claim to add context
Who runs it and what they're paid
20 people listed on the 990; $255K paid to officers and key staff.
Michelle Conklin’s $207K as CEO/Presiden is at the 85th percentile of top reported officer pay among 1851 $1–10M environment nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 2 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michelle Conklin | $206,942 | $171,991 | $138,142 | $148,723 | $129,083 | $123,650 |
| Lynn Richards | $94,909 | $82,828 | $80,009 | $69,590 | $69,116 | $70,478 |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
See Tucson Botanical Gardens executive salaries →On this list? Claim this org
Something off? Claim to add context
Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Connects people with plants and nature through art, science, history, and culture.
Questions for Tucson Botanical Gardens
Your first name shows with your question. Tucson Botanical Gardens answers here, for everyone.
Know this org? Add your story
Garden plant collections and exhibits in 2024, tucson botanical gardens (TBG) placed 4TH in usa today's top 10 best botanical gardens for the 2ND year in a row. For over 10 years TBG has consistently been awarded the best botanical garden in tucson by the community.
Educational & Outreach Programs
TBG offers classes, workshops & lectures to people of all ages, abilities & backgrounds. Over 12,000 children participated in youth programs. TBG'S horticultural therapy program (HTP) worked with people with disabilities through both outreach and on-site programs.
Special Exhibits
La calavera catrina returned to TBG as well as the 2ND year of the holiday light show, lightsup in the spring washed ashore: art to save the sea was a popular exhibit. Other exhibits featured the work of john benedict, joan mcgann, vicky stromee, catherine harold, the matthew b johnson florilegium, parks in focus, and lectures from…
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2024 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY24 | End FY24 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $2.6M | $3.0M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $890K | $1.0M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $4.4M | $4.4M |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $8.4M | $9.1M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $679K | $642K |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $7.7M | $8.5M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $310K | $173K | $86K | $52K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $959K | $752K | $18K | $189K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $91K | $67K | $15K | $9K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $94K | $68K | $10K | $16K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $9K | $9K | ||
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $25K | $25K | ||
| Professional fundraising feesLn 11e | $219K | $219K | ||
| Investment management feesLn 11f | $10K | $10K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $234K | $207K | $12K | $15K |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $103K | $94K | $9K | |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $212K | $151K | $5K | $56K |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $189K | $182K | $2K | $5K |
| TravelLn 17 | $12K | $7K | $3K | $3K |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $34K | $23K | $3K | $8K |
| InterestLn 20 | $1K | $1K | ||
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $211K | $190K | $10K | $11K |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $43K | $32K | $7K | $5K |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $460K | $420K | $4K | $36K |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $3.2M | $2.4M | $217K | $634K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $6.2M | $3.8M | $2.5M | $11.0M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 Viewing | $3.9M | $3.2M | $687K | $8.5M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $3.7M | $2.7M | $959K | $7.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $3.5M | $2.2M | $1.3M | $6.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $2.7M | $1.7M | $988K | $5.5M | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $2.3M | $1.9M | $309K | $4.5M | 990 PDF |
More to add? Claim this org
Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2024 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $3,905,392 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 18 of 18 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $3,905,392 across 10 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $3,218,044 across 18 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $9,123,756 assets, 16 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $8,481,798 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2024 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
Similar organizations you could support · Compare with another nonprofit
Names, privacy, and removal requests More
The names, titles, and compensation shown on this page are reproduced from IRS Form 990 filings, which are public records.
Philanthropy.org does not alter the content of those filings. All information appears exactly as reported by the filing organization for the tax year shown.
We publish only information contained in the public IRS filing — and less than the filing contains. Our profile pages do not display street addresses, telephone numbers, personal email addresses, or other personal contact information, even where the filing includes them.
Many people share the same name. A name shown on this page reflects only what one organization reported in one IRS filing for one tax year. It should not be interpreted as identifying any other individual with the same or a similar name.
If you are no longer affiliated with the organization, your name will generally stop appearing in future IRS filings once the organization no longer reports you. Pages for tax years in which you were reported remain published because those filings remain part of the public record.
Philanthropy.org does not alter or remove IRS filing records. Removing a page from this website would not remove the underlying IRS filing, which remains publicly available from the IRS and other publishers of the same information.
If you believe the IRS filing itself is inaccurate, corrections must be made by the filing organization or the IRS directly.
Your org? Add context
Made it to the end? Claim this org