News published: 28 November 2023, updated 08 December 2023

Supporting botanic gardens to protect plant diversity.

BGCI is delighted to be taking part in BigGive’s 2023 #ChristmasChallenge. This means that from 28th November and 5th December, any donations made through the BigGive platform will be doubled! This is thanks to the generosity of The Reed Foundation and The GB Gibson Charitable Trust.

Botanic Gardens have long been centres of excellence for plant conservation; collectively they conserve more than 40% of threatened plant species in their living collections and seed banks. However, many gardens have limited resources to pursue plant conservation, particularly those in developing countries, where often the greatest plant diversity is found. Such gardens are in need of garden infrastructure, trained staff or funding to dedicate to conservation activities.

BGCI manages a Global Botanic Garden Fund, disbursing grants of £2,500 to gardens worldwide since 2019. Gardens submit short applications detailing their conservation problem and how the funds will be spent; projects are selected and gardens have 1 year to complete their project aims. To date BGCI has disbursed £350K funding 150 projects worldwide. This has helped gardens in projects such as recovering from Covid-19 impact, garden infrastructure, discovering lost species to restoring habitats.

We were overwhelmed by the response of our supporters for our BigGive #ChristmasChallenge 2023. Over the campaign week we had 57 donations which raised a total of £14,174 – which, plus GiftAid, takes us over our target of £15,000! That is an incredible contribution to our Global Botanic Garden Fund, and will help with plant conservation across the world.

Another huge thank you to our supporters, our champions The Reed Foundation and The GB Gibson Charitable Trust, who helped to double the donations made. Plus, a thank you to the BGCI member gardens who helped us spread the message over the week of the campaign.

We look forward to updating you on the work of the recipients of The GBGF in the future.

Learn more about BGCI’s Global Botanic Garden Fund: