California Botanic Garden

What California Botanic Garden does

California Botanic Garden (CalBG) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit institution founded in 1927 by Susanna Bixby Bryant and headquartered on an 86-acre campus in Claremont, California, approximately 35 miles east of Los Angeles. It is the largest botanic garden dedicated exclusively to California native plants, operating as an integrated living museum, scientific research institution, and conservation organization. The Garden serves a diverse stakeholder base spanning individual visitors, members, the scientific community, K-12 and graduate students, conservation organizations, and government agencies.

The Garden's core assets are its physical and biological collections: a Living Collection of 22,000+ California native plants across approximately 1,170 taxa; the RSA-POM Herbarium with over 1.25 million vascular plant specimens (the third-largest in California and tenth-largest in the United States); the California Seed Bank with 6,000+ accessions representing 2,400+ native species; and a 32,000-volume specialized library. Supporting programs include the Restoration Nursery (contract propagation for habitat restoration), Production Nursery and Grow Native Nursery (retail), Laboratory Studies (population genetics and DNA sequencing), Field Studies (rare plant monitoring), and the Collections Connection educational modules. The Garden maintains a graduate program in partnership with Claremont Graduate University producing M.S. and Ph.D. botanists.

Revenue is generated through a diversified mix of channels: visitor admissions and memberships; charitable donations including tribute dedications ($500–$15,000); planned giving via the Susanna Bixby Bryant Council legacy society; retail native plant sales at Grow Native Nursery; event venue rentals (six venues up to 250-person capacity); commercial photography and filming permits ($500–$2,500/day); seed and herbarium specimen distribution to institutions ($30 base + $10/sample); and grants/fellowships from NSF, BLM, and private foundations. The institution is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and rebranded from Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG) to its current name.

Name

California Botanic Garden

Legal name

California Botanic Garden

Website

https://calbg.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1927

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

California Botanic Garden is a 501(c)(3) non-profit living museum and research institution on an 86-acre campus in Claremont, California, dedicated to conserving California native plants through living collections, an herbarium, seed bank, restoration nursery, and graduate education programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Botanical Garden and Conservation Services

NAICS

Zoos and Botanical Gardens (71213), Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (71219), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Zoos, Aquariums & Botanical Gardens (Educational Collections) (THAJADAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Parks, Gardens & Botanical Attractions (THAJACAH), Native & Pollinator Garden Design/Install (HSAIABAG), Plants, Seeds & Nursery Retail (Garden Centers) (CRAIAIAB)

Keywords

• Botanical garden conservation
• Native plant research
• Herbarium specimen curation
• Seed bank services
• Habitat restoration nursery

Headquarters

HQ city

Claremont

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Visitor Admission: General admission tickets for visitors to the Garden grounds and exhibits
2. Membership Program: Annual memberships providing benefits including discounts at Grow Native Nursery, free admission, and other perks
3. Donations and Tribute Gifts: Tax-deductible charitable donations including tribute and memorial gifts, pathway paver dedications ($1,250), plant and tree dedications ($500-$5,000), and bench dedications ($15,000)
4. Planned Giving and Estate Gifts: Bequests in wills, beneficiary designations on retirement assets, and gifts of life insurance through the Susanna Bixby Bryant Council legacy society
5. Grow Native Nursery Sales: Retail sales of California native plants through the on-site Grow Native Nursery, a not-for-profit nursery open to the public nine months a year
6. Event and Facility Rentals: Rental revenue from venues for weddings, receptions, business meetings, memorial services, and celebrations. Includes Lewis Family Forest Pavilion (up to 250 capacity), California Courtyard, Outdoor Gallery (150), and other venues
7. Photography and Filming Permits: Fees for professional photography sessions ($20 per group member for portrait), commercial photography ($500-$2,500/day based on group size), and filming sessions
8. Seed Sales to Institutions: Seed samples distributed to botanic gardens, conservation, research and educational institutions for a base rate of $30 plus $10 per sample

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels8 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

California Botanic Garden operates an 86-acre living museum in Claremont, California dedicated to California native plants, providing public visitor access, on-site retail plant sales, facility rentals, and educational programs. The Garden also functions as a scientific research institution offering herbarium specimen access, seed distribution to researchers, restoration nursery contract services, molecular genetics laboratory analyses, and graduate-level botany education through Claremont Graduate University.

Product overview

California Botanic Garden is a single-site botanic garden and living museum (not a software company) dedicated to California native plants. The organization operates as an integrated portfolio of interconnected conservation, research, education, and public engagement programs. The core collections include the Living Collection (22,000+ native plants across 86 acres), the Herbarium (1.25 million+ plant specimens), Library & Archives (32,000 books), and the California Seed Bank (6,000+ seed accessions). Supporting these are the Grow Native Nursery (retail plant sales), Restoration Nursery, Production Nursery, Laboratory Studies (molecular/genetics), and Field Studies programs. Educational offerings include Collections Connection modules, the Botany Seminar Series, and a Graduate Program. Event venues and facility rentals provide revenue, while scientific publications (Aliso journal) and conservation plans document research. The Garden displays approximately 1,170 taxa across naturalistic plant communities representing four floristic provinces, with specializations in oak collections through the NAPCC.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Grow Native Nursery: A nonprofit retail nursery that helps support the conservation, education, horticulture and research efforts of California Botanic Garden. Open to the public nine months a year.
• California Seed Bank

Products and services

• Grow Native Nursery A nonprofit retail nursery at CalBG selling California native plants to the public nine months a year. Members receive a 10% discount. Customers can browse the online plant inventory list and schedule pickup.
• Restoration Nursery Services Contract-based restoration services for government agencies and conservation organizations, including seed bulking, plant propagation, and out-planting for habitat restoration and mitigation projects. Contact recommended 1-2 years in advance for projects.
• California Seed Bank Distribution Seed sample distribution to botanic gardens, conservation, research, and educational institutions. Base rate $30 per request plus $10 per sample; each sample contains 25-200 seeds from a single accession. Available only to qualified institutions.
• Herbarium Specimen Loans and Access Herbarium specimen loans to research institutions and plant identification services. Access to a museum-quality collection of over 1.25 million vascular plant specimens via the RSA-POM web portal and Consortium of California Herbaria (CCH2.org).
• Event Venue Rentals Rental of six distinct outdoor venues for weddings, receptions, business meetings, memorial services, and celebrations of life. Capacity ranges from 50 to 250 guests. Includes event coordination and catering coordination.
• Photography and Filming Permits Permits for professional portrait photography ($20/group member, 2-hour reservation) and commercial photography or filming ($500-$2,500/day based on group size, plus $250/hour outside normal hours). Requires certificate of insurance naming CalBG as additional insured.
• Annual Membership Program Annual Garden membership providing unlimited free admission, 10% discount at Grow Native Nursery, and additional member benefits for individuals and families visiting California Botanic Garden.
• Visitor Admissions General admission tickets for visitors to access the 86-acre living museum displaying California native plants. Open Tuesday-Sunday with extended summer hours (8 AM - 8 PM).
• Collections Connection Educational Modules Online educational resource for undergraduate and high school students on California native plants and collections-based science. Four modules include video content and exercises utilizing herbarium specimens, with topics covering plant diversity and climate change.
• Chaparral Fern Project Multi-year horticultural research project introducing five native, low-water-use fern species to the nursery trade for California landscapes. Includes horticultural trials, scientific documentation, and propagation research.
• Graduate Program in Botany Graduate-level botany program offered in partnership with Claremont Graduate University, leading to M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in systematic and evolutionary botany with research conducted at CalBG's herbarium and laboratories.
• Aliso Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany International scientific journal specializing in plant evolutionary biology and systematics, featuring papers on floristics and botanical research pertaining to the western United States. Published by California Botanic Garden.
• Tribute and Memorial Dedications Tribute and memorial donation program offering pathway pavers ($1,250), tree dedications (minimum $5,000, 10-year guarantee), plant dedications ($500-$2,500), and bench dedications (minimum $15,000 with 20-year term). Includes installation, maintenance, and engraved plaques.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 6,000 seed accessions representing 2,400+ California native plant species preserved for long-term conservation
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• California Plant Rescue (CaPR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding member of California Plant Rescue, a collaborative effort to prevent the extinction of California's rare plants. Works with other seed collecting institutions across the state with the long-term goal of securing all of the California flora in seed banks or living collections.
• Bureau of Land Management (Seeds of Success)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParticipates in Seeds of Success (SOS), a national native seed collection program led by the BLM with the mission of collecting native seed for research, development, germplasm conservation, and ecosystem restoration. The CalBG SOS team primarily collects seeds from the deserts of southern California.
• National Science Foundation - California Phenology TCNcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative NSF-funded project including 22 California universities, research stations, natural history collections, and botanical gardens to capture images and data of nearly 1 million herbarium specimens to track phenological changes in California's biodiversity hotspot.
• National Science Foundation - Southern Rocky Mountains TCNcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration to digitize 60,700 vascular plant specimens from the Southern Rocky Mountain Region, enhancing the ongoing Southern Rockies Digitization Thematic Collections Network for climate change research.
• National Science Foundation - Sherwin Carlquist CollectionmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNSF award to California Botanic Garden Herbarium (RSA) and Botanical Research Institute of Texas Library (BRIT) to curate and digitize the biological and archival materials of botanist Sherwin Carlquist, comprising 191,789 collection objects.
• Consortium of California HerbariacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerActive member of the Consortium of California Herbaria, contributing specimen records and images available through the CCH2.org portal for statewide botanical data access.
• North American Plant Collections Consortium (NAPCC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of NAPCC Multi-Institutional Oak Collection, a collaborative venture of 20 botanic gardens dedicated to preserving and displaying oaks of the world. CalBG is working to include specimens of every oak native to California.
• Claremont Graduate UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHome of Claremont Graduate University's Botany Program, providing graduate education leading to M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Garden serves as primary research facility for botany students.
• The Claremont CollegesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliated institution of The Claremont Colleges since 1951. Library services provided through The Claremont Colleges Library catalog. Collaborative research and educational opportunities across institutions.
• Bureau of Land Management / U.S. Geological SurveycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on landscape genomics project for genetically informed desert restoration in the Mojave Desert, part of the National Seed Strategy for Restoration and Rehabilitation.
• Xerces SocietyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for Milkweed Fest events showcasing butterfly gardening and monarch conservation. Xerces Society provides expertise on pollinator conservation and native plant gardening.
• Monarch WatchminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for Milkweed Fest events, contributing milkweed mapping and monarch butterfly conservation education.
• California Revealed (State Library initiative)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerState Library initiative to digitize, preserve, and provide online access to archival materials. Has awarded CalBG cataloging assistance grants for processing and inventorying collection materials.
• Online Archive of CaliforniaminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorArchive collections finding aids available through the Online Archive of California (OAC), increasing discoverability of CalBG archival materials.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens: Major Southern California cultural institution with extensive botanical gardens including a renowned desert garden, Chinese garden, and herbarium/research programs. Operates as a 501(c)(3) with comparable educational, conservation, and visitor functions at significantly larger scale and budget.
• Missouri Botanical Garden: Major U.S. botanical institution with globally significant herbarium (one of the world's largest), active research and conservation programs, and Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development. Highly comparable scientific scope to CalBG's research mission.
• New York Botanical Garden: Premier U.S. botanical garden operating a major herbarium, research programs, living collections, and public gardens. Highly comparable mission (conservation, research, education) at much larger scale, with similar revenue model spanning admissions, memberships, retail, and grants.
• Chicago Botanic Garden: Large-scale botanic garden with extensive plant collections, research programs, and conservation initiatives including a seed bank. Operates comparable programs (conservation, education, horticulture, retail) at much larger scale than CalBG.

Direct peers

• UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley: University-affiliated botanical garden with living collections, research, and education programs. Comparable in combining curated plant collections with active research and conservation mission, though with broader geographic scope than CalBG's California-only focus.
• Santa Barbara Botanic Garden: California native plant-focused botanic garden and living museum operating as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Direct peer with mission centered on California native flora, herbarium collections, seed conservation, and visitor education — almost identical operating model to CalBG in a different California region.
• UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden: University-affiliated arboretum with California native plant collections, teaching, and public garden functions. Direct peer in California native plant mission, education programs, and conservation outreach.

Regional players

• Desert Botanical Garden: Arizona-based botanic garden specializing in desert flora with comparable conservation, education, and visitor programs. Regional peer operating in adjacent Southwest arid ecosystems with similar native plant focus.
• Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden: Nearby Southern California botanic garden with similar living collection displays, education programs, and event venue rentals. Geographic peer operating in overlapping LA region market, competing for similar visitor and event audiences.
• San Diego Botanic Garden: Southern California botanical garden with comparable operations including living collections, educational programs, event rentals, and retail. Regional peer serving similar Southern California visitor market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/CaliforniaBotanicGarden
• Instagraminstagram.com/californiabotanicgarden
• Xx.com/CABotanicGarden

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about California Botanic Garden