Sponsor a Species in the National Collection

You Can Help Save a Rare Plant in Your Area!

The National Collection of Endangered Plants is composed of more than 750 of the most imperiled plants in the country. The collection consists of rare plant material that is collected and maintained by CPC’s participating botanical institutions. Scientists collect seeds and plant material from the rare plants in their region. They use this material to grow the plants for restoration work and for scientific research.

The work being done by CPC institutions represents the final line of defense against extinction for our native plants. Many National Collection plants are found in only one or two locations in the wild. Often these sites are threatened by development or encroachment of invasive plant and animal species. Loss of national collection species could have implications for entire ecosystems. Many of these plants are closely related to commercial crop species and their loss could also have far-reaching economic impact.

CPC institutions invest significant resources and effort in securing and holding imperiled plant material in trust for the nation. Our institutions also work hard to learn how to grow and restore the imperiled species of the nation’s flora. In the process they and their visitors learn a great deal about native species, their unique properties, their habitats, and how to protect and restore them.

These plants are our legacy for future generations. Without the type of work supported through the National Collection of Endangered Plants, our children and grandchildren will live in a world with only a fraction of the beauty we have today, and significantly fewer precious natural resources. And, if any of these plants should become extinct in the wild, the National Collection becomes its only hope for recovery.

How Plant Sponsorship Works

Your gift to our plant sponsorship program provides steady, stable funding for the long-term work of saving our most vulnerable plants. A sponsorship provides significant help and stability for the institutions working with our National Collection species. Sponsorship contributions are placed in an endowment fund, which generates an annual stipend to the institution working with the sponsored species. The endowment also supports related data management and conservation activities at CPC’s national office.

A donation of $10,000 will fully sponsor a plant in the National Collection, but smaller gifts are always welcome. You can choose to designate your gift to a particular species or we can pool your undesignated gift with others to use as matching funds to complete more sponsorships faster.

Click here to print our sponsorship donation form or call 314-577-9457 or e-mail cpc@mobot.org to find out more about this unique program.