Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria Annual Report 2018-19

4: Towards a
Sustainable
Future
OUR COMMITMENT
We will demonstrate
sustainable and
environmentally
responsible practices,
living up to our values and
build capacity to achieve
our vision and mission.
Corporate Plan 2014–2019
Match Stick Bromeliad (Aechmea gamosepala)
YEAR IN REVIEW
The $27 million funding package from
the State Government in June 2018 has
supported projects throughout 2018–19
that will transform Royal Botanic Gardens
Victoria for increased social and scientific
impact. Improvements in accessibility,
public safety and inclusive programs
have been made providing new channels
for our 2.3 million visitors to engage with
our Gardens.
Year one of an integrated Business
Development and Tourism strategy
was rolled out. The strategy focused
on Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria’s
re-engagement with the tourism sector
and growth in utilisation of our unique
tourism product, as well as development
of strategic corporate partnerships that
benefit the work of the Royal Botanic
Gardens Victoria.
In February 2019, the retail function
moved from the Corporate Division to
Engagement and Impact Division. This
was proposed in the organisational
restructure, bringing it closer to
the organisation’s other business
development and visitor experience/
tourism activity. Product development
and retail strategy functions are managed
by Development, Marketing and
Communications, collaborating closely
with the Visitor Experience, Access and
Tourism team to manage retail operations.
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria’s
fundraising successfully secured support
for programs and projects across our
engagement pillars of nature, culture
and science. Our generous donors have
supported three Wellbeing Gardens which
resulted in the creation of a Sensory
Garden to complete the transformation
of Fern Gully at Melbourne Gardens
along with gifts to our learning programs,
Foreign Collection, Cranbourne Gardens
and landscape projects across our two
Gardens. The Ian Potter Foundation
has provided funding for the Genomes
of Australian Plants project led by the
National Herbarium of Victoria and Helen
MacPherson Smith Trust has provided
an impact grant to support Care for the
Rare, a program helping regional botanic
gardens to create conservation collections
of rare and threatened Victorian species.
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