Support for the Gardens

Financial support

Financial support is a very important part of the Friends’ work for the Gardens. Since the Friends formed in 1990 we have contributed around $2 million through projects and grants, and more projects are in the pipeline.

As well as membership fees, the Friends raise funds through activities such as Botanic Art and Photographic exhibitions, Growing Friends plant sales, and through tax-deductible donations.

We try to spread our financial support across as wide a range as possible of the Gardens’ roles and functions: horticulture, scientific research, aesthetic and visitor experience.

More about financial support for the Gardens, and our process to identify and assess potential projects for funding. See a map of Friends-funded projects (PDF, 541 KB).

Tax-deductible donations

The Friends seek donations to finance worthwhile projects within the Gardens; projects of the kind that could not be financed from the Gardens’ budget.

Since 2004 over $400,000 has been donated and directed towards projects in the Gardens. More about completed projects.

Tax deductions are available for donations over $2 made through the Friends' gift fund. You can easily donate online and pay by credit card, direct bank deposit or cheque as you prefer. Donors are issued with an official receipt which clearly shows that the donation is tax deductible.

Until January 2024, tax-deductible donations were required to be made through a special 'Public Fund' that was limited in how the funds could be spent. Deductible Gift Recipient status now applies to the Friends of the ANBG itself.

Practical support

Volunteering at the Gardens is very rewarding and great fun. For an overview of opportunities to get involved in Friends activities and the life of the Gardens, see Volunteering at the ANBG.

Visitor Information Centre

Volunteers from the Friends provide services in the Visitor Information Centre 9:30am—4:30pm each weekday. The volunteers meet and greet people as they arrive, and assist them to get the most out of their experience at the Gardens.

The Volunteer Visitor Information Program was introduced primarily to improve and expand the customer service provided to visitors to the Visitor Information Centre. It has developed into a most rewarding opportunity for a number of volunteers and is freeing up staff resources for other essential functions in the Gardens.

The Volunteer Programs are now being evaluated to lead to further improvements for the Gardens, the volunteers and, most of all, the visitors.

Guided walks

Guided walks through the Gardens help visitors to see and understand the beauty of Australia's native flora, and to appreciate the clever adaptations of Australian plants. Knowledgeable guides share stories about the fascinating array of Australian plants on display and the Gardens’ many achievements. More about guided walks.

Flora Explorer mini-bus tours

Flora Explorer, a 12-seater electric vehicle, was originally funded by the Friends and is operated by Volunteer Guides. It takes visitors on a 45-minute guided journey to discover the Gardens’ highlights. People of all ages – young and old – can easily experience more remote areas of the Gardens that they may never have seen before. More about Flora Explorer tours.

The 'Find a Plant' app provides access to the Living Collection database on any web browser, including mobile phones

Plant Finder App

Stage 1 of Find a Plant was described in the April 2019 edition of Fronds. This has already proved most useful to Friends, Gardens staff and visitors who wish to locate specific plants held in the Gardens.

The Gardens has improved the user interface and functionality in Stage 2 of the project. You can now search by accession number, choose to view a summary of all taxon in a section or all individual plant records, choose to see just mapped plants or all plant records and choose whether the records are presented as both mapped and unmapped records together or in separate blocks. When displaying individual details about a plant, all clones can be displayed. The colours, icons and legends have been changed to allow a more consistent mapping interface. Logged-in users can undertake mapping of stock to enable real-time recording within the Gardens.

Find a Plant is at https://www.anbg.gov.au/fap. The app should be accessible on any web browser, including mobile phones, but works best on Google Chrome or Firefox.

Development of this app has been a project supported by the Friends financially (about $13,600) and through volunteer input.