Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 232726419
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Devon, PA, USA
- Phone
- 6106478870
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Single Organization Support
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,392,679
- Expenses
- $1,986,054
- Assets
- $26,894,275
- Liabilities
- $26,591
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KAREN HUANG (VICE PRESIDENT)
- TED PATTERSON (PRESIDENT)
- THOMAS A SMARR JR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- THOMAS A SMARR JR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $108,689 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Jenkins arboretum & gardens celebrates the wonder of plants and place as a destination for education, conservation, and community connection.
What it reported doing in 2025
Education - in addition to welcoming 90,000+ visitors annually, garden enthusiasts and novices alike are invited to learn and engage with jenkins arboretum & gardens through a multitude of public programs and publications on nature and horticulture throughout the year. Jenkins believes in fostering a love of nature at every age, offering programs for people of all ages and walks of life. The gardens further serve as the setting for community connection through several special events, such as the spring blooms celebration and winter luminary weekend. Jenkins is committed to training the next generation of professionals through our student programs. Our two-year hamilton horticulture apprenticeship program offers a student to professional opportunity to work alongside our horticulture staff in the gardens, thus gaining an understanding of how to grow plants and maintain a public garden. Our summer horticulture internship and education/outreach internship offers an opportunity for 3-4 individuals, typically college students or career changers, to learn from our professional staff to further share the love and skill for gardening, nature stewardship, and public engagement.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 89% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 68.2%; rating input score 68
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.26 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -42.6%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 13.54; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.5%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.7% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 68.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $109K · 22 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 9/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 49/100.