Endowment Strategies for the University of Delaware Botanic Garden through Case Study Analysis

The University of Delaware Botanic Garden (UDBG), located in Newark, is in transition, moving from its initial founding as a public garden by dedicated faculty and a volunteer group to an organized and efficient entity with widely recognized achievements and reputation. To make this leap, UDBG is faced with the particular need for an endowment to fund its operations, staff, and collections to continue future success. An endowment will provide a steady source of monetary support to operate and maintain UDBG. This study was conducted to discover the best endowment strategies based on the experience of four other public gardens associated with universities. These interviews were compiled and compared. The resulting recommendations for UDBG are based on the following five areas: organizational structure, planning, current strategies, the endowment, and the donor. The insights into how all five of these areas affect endowments may also be beneficial to other university public horticulture entities seeking to build an endowment.