Durango Botanic Gardens

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
452504868
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Durango, CO, USA
Phone
9708804841
Rating
60
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Botanical Gardens, Arboreta and Botanical Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$237,914
Expenses
$65,418
Assets
$419,433
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Bill LeMaire (President)
  • Barbara Johnson (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Bill LeMaire (President)
  • Barbara Johnson (Vice President)
  • Connie Markert (Treasurer)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to create public gardens that demonstrate best practices, advance horticultural education, and celebrate the inspriations power of sustainable gardens.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Durango Botanic Gardens, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, was founded in 2010 as the Durango Botanical Society with the goal of producing one of the Southwest's premier public gardens. All of our garden sections are funded by donations and memberships and maintained entirely by volunteers, guided by a volunteer board of directors.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue comfortably covers expenses. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 41
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 51
  • Sustainability: 87
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 19.5%; rating input score 20
  • Program expense ratio: 66.8%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $32.4 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 77.8%; rating input score 78; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 72.5%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.41; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 23.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 30.4% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 19.5% of revenue deployed · 66.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 9 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $44K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 17 of 18 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 20/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.