How should the City assess support for a specialized destination operated with a nonprofit?
What the sources establish
The presentation describes a long-term nonprofit operation at a City-owned destination. The report names Leach Garden Friends. These establish the partnership example but not the current full-cost or public-access account.
Presentation, slide 11Progress report rosterFY2025–26 report; September 8, 2026 presentation. Reviewed 2026-09-12. Historic investment, current grants, operating receipts and City staff support require separate source records and periods.
- City responsibilities to verify
- Verify operating grants, retained horticultural or maintenance staffing, utilities, capital ownership and lifecycle obligations.
- Partner responsibilities to verify
- Verify visitor services, garden care, educational programming, admission or rental receipts, donations and restricted grants.
- Financial evidence
- No combined annual-value total. Separate historic capital investment from current operating grants, earned revenue, donations and retained City costs; avoid counting grant receipts again as public benefit.
- Public access and participation
- Document admission and free-access policies, concessions or discounts, hours, accessible routes and aggregate attendance, including education programs.
- Operating risks and requirements
- Specialist staffing, living collections, seasonal revenue, asset replacement and continuity of public access during changes in funding.
- Minimum next evidence
- Current agreement and grant scope; one fiscal year's operating accounts and City support; historic capital sources by project; hours, access policies and aggregate attendance.
- Alternatives to compare
- Continue support; tie revised support to defined access and care outcomes; compare changes in service scope with their staffing and lifecycle effects.
- Proposed success measures
- Full City cost, delivered access, collection-care obligations and visitor/education participation, with agreed service quality and affordability measures.