2017 annual report The mission of Lan Su Chinese Garden is to cultivate an oasis of tranquil beauty and harmony to inspire, engage and educate our global community in the appreciation of a richly authentic Chinese culture. board of directors Officers Directors Terry Smith Shelley Dutton Travis Rigby President Scott Gray Helen Ying Raymond W. Cheng Connie Hiram Vice-President Rosaline Hui Trang Lam, Jill Chen Ted Johnson ex-officio Treasurer Christine Lau Kia Selley, Betty Jean Lee Stephen Ledoux ex-officio Secretary Betty Jean Lee Kathy MacNaughton, Greg Martin Immediate Past Shelley Peng President John Spencer Stewart Wendy Tanada Lan SU Staff Leadership STaff Lisa James, CFRE Sanders Anderson Kevin O’Neil Vanessa Abahashemi Mandi Atkinson Stacy O’Rourke- Edward Hemmings Clayton Beach Powell Katie Hill Zoë Clark Anne Perrigo Van Machado Simone Gee Lisa Santo Rebecca Mackey Harris Goodman Venus Sun Scott Steele Calvin Hamann Anna Truxes Kathie Titzler Trevor Howell Craig Walker Glin Varco Brandon Lenzi Pam Winkler Gary Wilson Carla Lilyquist Maggie Lim a letter from chair of the board of directors Terry Smith I have personally had a long love affair with Lan Su. It began many years ago when I met my wife, SaTina while we were both involved in Dragon Boat racing and our shared interest in Chinese culture brought us to the garden. My sincere gratitude for the garden grows every day when I see it from my office across the street or enjoy a lunch-time stroll through its beautiful serenity. I was honored when I was elected as President of the Board of Directors in 2017. We use these Annual Reports to document our accomplishments and even we are surprised to see the tremendous growth in our programming and community outreach. In 2017, we thanked our hardworking volunteer board members who had reached the end of their terms: Shelley Dutton, Christine Lau, and Shelley Peng. Kia Selley, the City of Portland’s ex-officio representative to our board, retired and was replaced by the Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation, Trang Lam. We welcomed new board members Scott Gray, Rosaline Hui, Ted Johnson, John Spencer Stewart and Wendy Tanada. We also renewed our strategic planning goals with an exciting long range vision. Overall, this is a genuinely terrific organization to be involved with on every level. I am confident we are impacting lives by inspiring curiosity about the cultural, natural and built world around us while educating a global audience to appreciate the rich history and contributions of China. Through efforts like these we all become better citizens of the world. a letter from executive director Lisa James, CFRE Our team at Lan Su is truly exceptional! The garden’s cultural programming activities — free with membership or admission — continued to grow to a new record of more than 800 different programs in 2017. We are bursting at the seams, welcoming more than 3,000 school youth in educational programs. An ever-growing list of tour companies and retirement homes kept everyone busy and bus parking full. Our partnership with PDX Jazz sold-out six summer evening concerts quickly and was considered a magical exprience by all. All indicators are showing positive growth and a community that continues to step-up when we ask for help maintaining these irreplaceable buildings and protecting our unique botanical collection. Significant repairs were made to the roofs and a remodel of all the restrooms to improve our ADA accessibility and aesthetics got underway. Our work is made possible because of the thousands of members, hundreds of individuals and organizations that donate and partner with us and the nearly 100 volunteers who welcome you and assist us in multiple ways every day of the year. To each of you, across the county and across the globe we offer an enormous thank you for your continued support, advice and collaboration. 2017 financials revenue & expenses revenue Admissions $987,526 40% Garden Shop Sales $387,392 16% Garden Shop Membership Grants Contributions & Donations $386,479 15% Teahouse Membership $259,041 10% Total Concessions Garden Rentals, Event Grants $199,000 8% Revenue Rentals (net) & Misc. In-kind Revenue $109,921 4% Contributions In-kind & Donations Teahouse Concession $60,548 2% Event Revenue (net) $58,695 2% Admissions Garden Rentals $33,456 1% Other revenue $13,446 1% Investment revenue $2,209 0% Total revenue $2,497,713 100% Programming Membership expenses Total Administration Garden Operations $848,911 36% Expenses Programming $598,353 25% Fundraising Admissions & Garden Shop $548,152 23% Admissions & Garden Garden Shop Fundraising $180,737 8% Operations Membership $130,813 6% Administration $58,089 2% Total expenses $2,365,055 100% Total revenue $2,497,713. Total expenses ($2,365,055) A copy of Lan Su Chinese Garden’s Audited Financial Statements are available upon request net revenue $132,658. Lan Su In 2017, 97 active volunteers gave more than 5,495 hours of their time (valued at $132,650). They served as docents, garden hosts, event volunteers and worked with our horticulture and facilities departments. We Volunteers thank them for their dedication and time. Vic Aguirre Jane Kao JoAnn Albrecht Andie Karinen Dale Archibald Gena Keith Michael Babbit Jane Kennedy Ellen Bartholomew Michelle Koeppe James Bertold Dave Kohl Wes Bevans Koki Lane Bill Bond Kang Foon Lee Jim Bosket Mel Lee Katsy Bruce Sidne Lewis Michael Carter Frances Li Katie Davenport Dan Lucas Ken Diener Kim Luey Angela Do Steve Marsh Becky Dresselhaus Pamela Martin Jeanne Dunnewind Jane Maynard Barbara Fleming Jacquie Moon Ramona Fouts Kevin O’Neil Roy Fox Carlton Olson Sue Friedman Warren Oster Steve Goodrich Janet Parenteau Charlie Graham Steve Pearson Rory Greenway Lucinda Pierpont Carol Gwo Stan Poirier Stephen Haber Phitchapha Pulsasem Bill Hanson Kathryn Putz Staff from the neighborhood office of Business Partner Airbnb regularly come to the garden to volunteer in helping the facilities Leigh Harper Sandra Riegler Susan Harris Molly Rios-Nogales team with the nooks and cranny volunteer tasks. Caroline Henry Stephen Roberts Trina Hing Charlene Rogers Shirley Hoem Finola Schmal-Waggoner Trish Trout K.L. Yeung Trevor Howell Henry Schwarz Ann Van Fleet Marti Yoder Pamela Hsu James Scorzelli Mason Vanderford Raynette Yoshida Daniel Hunter Matthew Shane Jan Vreeland Leigh Young Dan Huynh Karen Shavel Peg Vrooman Emma Zhang Anna Jackson Suzanne Silverstein Phil Wagoner Fay Zhang Yizhi Wang Frank Zhang 160,000+ Daniel Jansen Daniel Skach-Mills Marilyn Johnson Elizabeth Smith Molly Weinstein and Visitors to Lan Su Chinese Garden in 2017 Helen Jones Ralph Smith Bart Whalen Staff from Airbnb Doug Kagel Anna Tanada Michele Wier In 2017, Lan Su hosted more than 800 programs and activities in the garden including events like Chinese New 2017 program Year, Autumn Moon Festival, Asian Heritage Month, Ninth Moon Floral Design Showcase, Lan Su in Bloom — a showcase of botanical artwork — and a series of weekly and on-going activities focused on families and highlights children. The following pages offer a sampling of some of these featured events. Chinese New Year Year of the Rooster Beginning January 28, 2017, Lan Su’s Chinese New Year celebration included more than 75 unique programs over the course of the traditional two-week festival, culminating in four chinese new year sponsored in part by nights of Lantern Viewing. Festivities included a Wishing Tree Activity, Year of the Rooster Mask Activity Card, Learn How to Perform a Traditional Lion Dance, Calligraphy Demonstrations and a series of weekend Lion Dances. Presented in part by grants from: The Lantern Viewing Evenings showcased Lan Su’s lantern sculptures which included The Jackson a 20’ lit dragon, lilies and more. The Portland Chinese Dance Troupe performed in Foundation traditional costumes and the Lee’s Association Dragon & Lion Dance Team ‘danced’ Herbert A. through the garden with an illuminated dragon. The Autzen Rose E. Tucker Walter Clay Hill & Foundation Templeton Foundation Charitable Trust Family Foundation 2017 program highlights Asian Heritage Month The Silk Road Jazz in the Garden Autumn Moon Festival with PDX Jazz May is Asian Pacific American Lan Su introduced a new series of Lan Su partnered with PDX Jazz Zhong Qiu Jie (中秋节), the traditional Heritage Month in the U.S. events with The Silk Road in June to present a series of six concerts Mid-Autumn Festival, has roots back of 2017. Visitors journeyed along the freaturing local, national, and Lan Su celebrated the month with to ancient times and is an important ancient trade route and learned about international jazz singers and cultural performances and activities traditional Chinese holiday. nomadic life with talks that covered musicians in July and August. each weekend representing the the history of the Silk Road, silk Performers included Ryan Meagher Taking place during the autumn cultures of China, Thailand, Japan, textiles, embroidery art and a display and All Across the City, Darrell “harvest moon,” it is a time for Indonesia, Korea, Cambodia, Pacific of live silkworms. Grant and All 4 Naught, David family, storytelling and mooncakes. Islands and more. Goldblatt Sextet, Eugenie Jones, Jane Bunnett & Maqueque and Daymé Arocena. Supported in part by Supported in part by Supported in part by Supported in part by The Jackson Foundation Juan Young Trust Rose E. Tucker The Jackson Herbert A. Foundation Templeton Rose E. Tucker Herbert A. Templeton Charitable Trust Foundation Charitable Trust Foundation Lan Su in A Pluviophiles* Guide to Lan Su Chinese Garden the RAIN *plu•vio•phile — (n) a lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days. Eight Reasons to Visit Lan Su in the Rain 1. Staying dry while walking under the traditional walkways and pavilions which cover 70% of the garden.