Donors & Sponsors

Donate to the development of the Botanic Gardens and receive a tax deduction.

With a donation you will help ‘grow’ the Gardens. Friends of Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens are a ‘Deductible Gift Recipient’ and a receipt will be provided for taxation deduction purposes. All of your donation will go directly to Friends projects within the Gardens – environmental – scientific, educational and horticultural.

Corporate, Community and Personal donations welcomed.

Whether you want to sponsor the purchase and maintenance of a 8 person electric buggy (people mover) that will give more people access to the gardens, support an education program for children or contribute to the provision of major infrastructure identified in the Master Plan of the Gardens, your generosity will be put to good use and appropriately acknowledged.

Click here to download our donation and sponsorship brochure

The Rotary Education Pavilion – A Community Project of Gold Coast Rotary opened at Gold Coast Regional Botanic gardens on Friday 11 March 2016

In 2008 Rotarian Justin Schaffer donated funds to Gold Coast Rotary to be used for ‘education programs that extended or catered for subjects not covered by the school curricula”.  These funds were invested and supplemented over a number of years by club fund-raising.

 In 2011, the Rotary Club of Gold Coast and the Friends of Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to support the development of educational facilities and delivery of environmental education programs for children at the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens.  This was initially focused on the delivery of a world class ‘Garden for Children’ but later changed to the provision of a sheltered outdoor teaching space. Justin and his late wife Elsa had a passion for education and spent part of their life in South Africa in horticulture, as flower farmers, breeding and exporting Proteas. The Rotary Education Pavilion and the education programs of the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens perfectly matched Justin’s desires for the use of his funds.

The pavilion provides a focal point for these education programs and enables teachers and volunteers to deliver better outcomes.  In addition, the pavilion provides an outdoor space for practical demonstrations to secondary and tertiary horticulture groups attending other programs in the Gardens.

The Rotary Education Pavilion accommodates a number of botanical display boards to inform and educate visitors to the Gardens.  These interpretive display boards are designed to provide information about the amazing world of plants and the importance of biodiversity.

But this pavilion can also provide a temporary shelter for walkers during a sudden rain shower, a space for practical demonstrations or small-scale exhibitions.  It may also provide a sheltered backdrop for an outdoor performance or event.

On Friday 11 March, octogenarian Justin travelled from Sydney to officially open this important facility for the Botanic Gardens. More than 50 invited guests gathered for a short ceremony.  Members of Gold Coast Rotary and the Friends of Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens were joined by several Councillors and senior staff of the City of Gold Coast, Rotary District leaders and guests with an interest in the project.

Project Manager David Baguley from Gold Coast Rotary said, “This wonderful facility would not have been possible without the pro bono design and documentation services of Burling Brown Architects, Burchills’ Engineering Solutions and Thomas Independent Certifiers led by Architect Andrew Brewer.  Local Rotarian David O’Dwyer made sure the construction was carried out with minimum disruption to Gardens’ visitors. He also thanked Cr Paul Taylor for contributing funds to ensure the pavilion design intent was fully realised.”