How to Support Calflora
Calflora is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Berkeley, California, and it relies on individual donations to survive. If you want to support it, the direct route is making a tax-deductible contribution through the donation link on calflora.org. Those donations fund Calflora's staff, projects, and programs. The site states that it is not affiliated with other organizations, so individual giving—rather than support routed through a partner group—is what keeps it running.
What your donation actually funds
According to Calflora's own support page, contributions go toward:
- Staff — the people who maintain and develop the database
- Projects — ongoing work on the platform
- Programs — the services built on top of the data
The organization describes itself as independent and unaffiliated with other organizations, which is why it says it depends on individual donations rather than institutional backing.
Why the database is worth supporting
Understanding what you're helping maintain makes the case clearer. Calflora's database includes:
| Measure | Figure cited by Calflora |
|---|---|
| Plant observations | Over 3.1 million |
| Plants covered | More than 8,000 |
| Detailed "Great Places" entries | Over 150, and growing |
That content supports tools like What Grows Here?, which answers questions such as what plants grow in a particular state park or what an interesting plant spotted on a hike might be, and the Planting Guide, which lets you find your location on a map, filter for conditions like low water, shade, or riparian plants, and search for species that fit.
How to make a contribution
- Go to calflora.org.
- Find the Support Calflora section.
- Click the link to make a tax-deductible contribution.
Calflora's page does not list specific donation amounts, tiers, or membership levels, so the amount is left to you. The site's framing is simply that "every donation helps."
What is not stated
The available Calflora material does not describe:
- Specific suggested or minimum donation amounts
- Recurring versus one-time giving options
- Membership benefits or recognition tiers
- Any non-donation ways to support the organization
If those details matter to you, check the donation page directly, since the support information summarized here covers only the general mechanism and purpose of giving.