A Look at Our Finances

Providing transparency to the community about Leach Botanical Garden's budget is core to our values and mission. The chart above shows our funding sources and expenses over our fiscal year June 2026 to July 2027.

By sharing this information, we hope you can quickly see where we stand today. We are in a solid financial place and are also looking for ways to be sustainable for the long term.

Leach Botanical Garden has a budget of roughly $1.2 million in 2026-2027, which is down by 20% from the previous year. This is primarily due to a smaller staff size, along with some changes to our operations to keep costs down.

We've rounded these numbers to make them easier to read.

Total projected income for 2026-2027: $1,228,000

Total projected expense: $1,193,000

Projected net income: $35,000

Funding sources include a mix of earned income, including: Admission, Gift Shop Sales, Special Events, Rentals, Contributed Income (individual giving from donations and memberships), and Grants from Foundations and Government.

Our revenue mix is split with $616,000 coming from earned income, $281,000 coming from individuals (donations), $105,000 from foundations, and $200,000 from Government support from the City of Portland. We also raise a small amount, less than $20,000, from fundraising events. We receive $5,000 per year from our endowment at the Oregon Community Foundation.

Our largest expense by far is staffing and benefits. In this fiscal year, we will have 17 people working at the Garden on a variety of schedules. The cost to the organization is $815,000. Some staff are seasonal for the summer months when attendance and horticultural needs are at their highest. Staffing costs include the cost of taxes, insurance and other benefits provided to staff.

The next largest expense is the cost of goods sold (COGS) for the Gift Shop at $75,000. We also pay $53,000 to a reserve capital fund jointly owned by the City of Portland to cover future maintenance costs of the Garden. This amount is based on a percentage of admission fees (20%).

The remaining $250,000 is for operating expenses (utilities, cleaning, advertising, supplies, printing insurance, etc.).

We are working hard to ensure the Garden is open well into the future. Your visits, membership purchases, donations, Gift Shop purchases, and event attendance are needed to keep the Garden thriving. Thank you for your support!