ANNUAL REPORT 2020 OUR MISSION TABLE OF CONTENTS The mission of Denver Botanic Gardens is to connect people with plants, especially Message from the CEO ..............................5 Board of Trustees ....................................20 plants from the Rocky Mountain region and similar regions around the world, providing delight and enlightenment to everyone. Year in Review .................................... 6-13 Message from the Board Chair ..................21 The four core values of the Gardens − transformation, relevance, diversity and By the Numbers ......................................15 Donor List ......................................... 22-27 sustainability − spell out the Gardens’ intentions in the years ahead. These core values, Treasurer’s Report ...................................17 Volunteers ..............................................29 along with the Gardens’ brand platform, strategy, icon and capital campaign, are cohesive and serve as a map to chart our course. With the support of friends, we set out Financial Report ................................ 18-19 Photo Collage ................................... 30-31 to ensure Denver Botanic Gardens will forever flourish. Evenings al Fresco 2 | Our Mission | 3 MESSAGE FROM THE CEO There were many life-changing moments. Silence descended in March, cloaking everything in a sense of gloom. As the world began to hunker down, the team at Denver Botanic Gardens got to work. The exceptional horticulture and operations staff labored tirelessly to prepare gardens and watch over facilities as if visitors were streaming through the gates. Communications were at a fever pitch, extending a virtual taste of plants as they awoke in the spring. Everything had to be modified, from memberships to development, from events to human resources. Exhibitions were juggled, educational programs went online, research was focused onsite, crops were planted, and the budget was overhauled. The mission was clear: Keep everyone healthy and employed and be ready to serve a community that would need what our institution offers more than ever before. The Gardens was the first cultural institution in the state to receive a variance enabling us to reopen, though with strict limitations. As our first guests—the amazing volunteer corps—arrived, the emotion said it all. Walking in a safe space, filled with beauty and life, began to revitalize souls. Behind the scenes, we had the luxury of fine-tuning every element of the Freyer – Newman Center without incessant timing pressure. And for the community, we launched Evenings al Fresco, which provided delight to attendees and a rare chance to perform and earn revenue for our cultural partners. We also created Evenings of Healing, a free event of music and nature for community partners who represent the underserved and front-line medical staff. Pretty much all of 2020 introduced high stress to everyone, but it was also a year of miracles. People rallied, quietly, to surround each other with support. The Gardens was awash in kindness, from grateful and gracious visitors to neighbors who demonstrated real care. Donors were extremely generous; sponsors kept their commitments and colleagues were always there to lend a hand or advice. This spirit of resilience even broke out in frequent moments of fun. As a society, we contemplated our mortality in a deeply communal way. We wept for those we lost, and we cared for those who struggled. And now we continue to emerge. Let us take a beat to contemplate how we can take what we have learned and move forward to a future of gratitude and grace. Onward, Brian Vogt Denver Botanic Gardens CEO Rainbow over Monet Pool | 5 YEAR IN EVALUATION & VISITOR STUDIES Center For Global Initiatives • Visitor studies helped the Gardens understand • The Gardens continued collaboration on REVIEW and respond to the needs of visitors in a uniquely InSPIRE-Puerto Rico Coffee/Solar Co-Location challenging year. Survey data helped program Project, a coffee research project in Puerto managers navigate the transition to virtual Rico, to study the feasibility of solar panels offerings and ensure the best possible experience used as shade for coffee, while simultaneously Exhibitions, Art & Learning onsite for visitors amidst new entry, admission providing energy to the farms affected by and safety procedures. Hurricane Maria and recent earthquakes. This Engagement project seeks to provide a sustainable system • Survey data showed that the Gardens continued for growing coffee and providing energy on to be a respite where people felt not only safe but EXHIBITIONS a farm. Director of Horticulture & the Center recharged and refreshed. Respondents expressed for Global Initiatives Sarada Krishnan, Ph.D., • Four exhibitions were presented in Freyer – high overall satisfaction with their visit, as well as traveled to Puerto Rico in February, visiting Newman Center galleries: Pink Lemonade Hope: high ratings of their purchasing/reserving tickets coffee farms to develop criteria to select a model Works by Koko Bayer, Ghost Forest: Works by and entry experiences. They were comfortable farm for this project. Collaborative partners Melanie Walker, From the Vault: Wonders and during their visit, including mask requirements. include National Renewable Energy Laboratory Oddities from the Gardens Collections and 93% said they were very likely to visit the (NREL), El Laboratorio, Twende Solar, Puerto Garden & Haven: Botanical Art & Illustration. Gardens again. Rico State Energy Program, University of Puerto • The Gardens-developed exhibition La Calavera Hilary Lorenz, Herbists Bloodleaf, 2020, linoleum block print • P articipation in a regional cultural visitation Rico, Mayaguez and Utuado, Techno Serve, The Catrina traveled to Tucson Botanical Garden for study, led by Denver Museum of Nature and Solar Foundation of Puerto Rico, Colorado State display September 2020 to January 2021. Science, gave the Gardens a sense of the University and Hyperion Systems, LLC. SCHOOL OF BOTANICAL ART & potential impacts of the pandemic on visitation • The Gardens joined the Global Conservation ILLUSTRATION and membership. Student and instructor surveys Consortium for Oaks, serving at the Species gave valuable input into the future of onsite and • 78 art and illustration classes were offered, most Champion level and focusing on Quercus virtual program offerings. online. 820 seats sold. havardii. The Gardens has a strong oak collection with 82 species and 96 taxa, of which 100 • Three visiting instructors worked with students: accessions (56 taxa) are of wild provenance. Louise Bath (Centennial, CO) taught Rosemåling in person in February. Online, Hilary Lorenz • As a member of the Plant Collecting (Brooklyn, NY) taught Block Print: Birds and Plants Collaborative, the Gardens received germplasm and David Clarke (Fairfax, VA) taught Anatomy collections from Dawes Arboretum, Arnold for Illustrators. Arboretum and U.S. National Arboretum. Excess plants from the Gardens’ Plant Collecting • Three online Café Botanique programs served Collaborative expedition to the Republic of 125 participants. Georgia were offered to members of the Collaborative. • 19 free online Zentangle classes were attended by a total 2,865 participants from around • A partnership between the Gardens and the the globe. Afghan Fellowship Legacy Project of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, • A partnership with Access Gallery served youth From the Vault: Wonders and Oddities from the Gardens Collections along with Emerging and Developing Economies with disabilities. In addition, an online papel Network, seeks to catalyze the formation of picado workshop was offered in conjunction with a botanical garden network in Afghanistan the Mexican Cultural Center. ART COLLECTIONS dedicated to the research of plants relevant to food, medicine, horticulture and ecological • The art collection moved from temporary LEARNING ENGAGEMENT integrity. This network of botanic gardens off-site storage into the Freyer – Newman Center will be operated by universities, and to date, and became more accessible to artists • Online engagement activities included three universities in Afghanistan have signed and researchers. Biodiversity Bingo in both English and Spanish up to be part of the project: Paktia University, and a crossword puzzle about water in Colorado. • Two IMLS-funded student assistants from the Bamyan University and Kabul University. Three University of Denver worked to re-catalog the • Docents continued to tour and rove when possible virtual workshops were held in 2020 with the collection, completing nearly three-quarters of the and stayed connected through Docent Walks universities. collection, approximately 1,000 pieces. (docent-organized walks for other docents). Oak Grove 6 | Year in Review | 7 YEAR IN REVIEW (continued) • All school programs during May and June were Education & Helen Fowler delivered virtually, with more than 30 virtual Library programs delivered in May. • Instructors presented an online Teacher EDUCATION Professional Development course, Bringing Nature • To keep the younger audience engaged, two Indoors, for 45 early childhood educators. Corn Maze at Chatfield Farms Pumpkin patch at Chatfield Farms Veterans Farm Program at Chatfield Farms weekly Seedlings Show and Share programs were offered through Zoom. These 20-30-minute • Summer camps were canceled, but onsite programs included songs, stories and an children’s and family programming resumed in LIBRARY opportunity for