Support art and heritage at Kew
Help us inspire new generations with a passion for botanic art, royal heritage and architectural innovation.
A few of the botanical pictures from our collection
Over two and a half centuries, Kew’s passion for art and architecture and pursuit of knowledge about plants and the natural world has endowed us with an extraordinary legacy - our unparalleled collection of botanical resources and historical treasures.
Give now and help us look after our art collections and heritage
Art at Kew
Opened in 1882, the Marianne North Gallery has recently been fully restored, at a cost of £3.7 million. The project involved making much needed structural repairs to the building, and restoring and conserving all of the 832 paintings.
The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art opened at Kew Gardens in April 2008 and is the only continuously open gallery in the world dedicated solely to botanical art. It holds regular exhibitions throughout the year featuring historical and contemporary botanical illustrations.
Kew's Library has more than 200,000 prints and drawings, including original works of art in various media. These range in date from the great masters of botanical illustration of the 18th and 19th century, together with the work of 20th century and present-day contributors. The library also holds an extensive collection of portraits of individuals relating to all aspects of botany and horticulture.
There are many opportunities for donors to support the Library, both with on-going conservation of art, and also with the more than half a million other items, including books, photographs, letters and manuscripts, periodicals, biographies and maps.
Heritage at Kew
Existing buildings, lost monuments and follies; gardens and landscapes new and old; botanic collections and Kew's places of work, they are all part of Kew's heritage, as are the people who inspired them; or designed and built them. On 3 July 2003 the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was officially inscribed on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
One person who had has left a lasting impression, is Decimus Burton (1800 – 1881), a brilliant architect from an early age. He designed two of Kew’s most iconic buildings, the Palm House (opened 1848, with Richard Turner) and the Temperate House (started 1859, though not completed until 1899), as well as other buildings including Museum No. 1 (opened 1857), the Queen Elizabeth Gate (1846 - now the entrance to the Lower Nursery), and the Main Gate, off Kew Green.
How your donation can make a difference
By giving a donation today you can help us look after our treasures and collections of national importance. Your gift will help Kew:
- Inspire new generations of artists and designers with one of the world’s greatest botanical art collections of over 200,000 works.
- Conserve and restore Kew’s 44 structures of national importance. These include buildings such as William Chambers’s Pagoda, the Temperate House, and the world’s most famous botanical conservatory, the Palm House.
- Improve access to our collections through public exhibitions and digitisation projects.
Donate Now | Set Up a Direct Debit | Download a donation form (pdf)
Introducing the Kew Fund
The Kew Fund is an annual fundraising campaign that pools the collective force of thousands of individuals to make a big impact with their contributions at Kew. Through the Kew Fund, we ask members and supporters to make a contribution to support our extraordinary institution.
Kew relies on a mix of funding including philanthropy, government grants from Defra, as well as memberships, gate receipts and other earned income. Kew’s annual budget is around £50 million, of which almost 50 per cent is provided by non-government sources.
Every contribution, no matter what size, makes a difference to Kew. You can make a regular gift by Direct Debit, or give by credit/debit card online (or download a form to post). We’ll keep you in touch with how your support is helping Kew.
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How you are helping
Kew is taking part in the 'Big Give Christmas Challenge'
09 Nov 2012
This year, Kew is taking part in the 'Big Give Christmas Challenge', a campaign to encourage philanthropic giving by matching a donors’ gift. Effectively your donation to the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership could be doubled! We need to raise £50,000 for next year’s seed collecting trips, as well as expanding our work on using existing collections. Please note: This campaign ran from 6 to 19 December 2012 and has now finished.
Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank Partnership ‘top banana’ as it celebrates banking 10% of the world’s wild plant species.
15 Oct 2009
Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is celebrating collecting, banking and conserving 10% of the world’s wild plant species by banking its 24,200th plant species.
