Membership Changes 2023
In July 2023, Tohono Chul made changes to all membership levels, benefits, and pricing. This comes after more than 5 years without any significant changes to our membership program or pricing.
During the past 5+ years, Tohono Chul has made many improvements to the park and enhanced the offerings for members, so this felt like a good time to refresh and make adjustments to our current membership levels.
Over the past 18 months, our members and guests have definitely noticed a lot of wonderful changes happening at Tohono Chul, including:
- Welcoming the Children’s Museum Oro Valley to our park. This has given folks with children (and grandchildren!) a chance to visit more regularly and enjoy the wonders of the Sonoran Desert with their little ones while finding much more for the whole family to do during their visit.
- Opening the park earlier and staying open later during the summer when temperatures can soar to 100° or more. By opening the park at 7:00 am instead of 8:00 am, we have expanded our hours of operation, giving our members even more options for when to visit. In addition to opening one hour earlier, the Gardens are also open late on Friday and Saturday evenings for Chillin at the Chul (through September 2).
- Introduced new events, like Chillin at the Chul, Jazz Under the Stars, Brewin at the Chul, Sunrise Stroll, and Sonoran Cinema.
- Expansion of our overall event efforts. During the past year, we’ve focused on finding ways to open the park to everyone. This means offering more events on weekend evenings. Chillin at the Chul, Brewin at the Chul, and Jazz Under the Stars are just 3 of the new events activating our wonderful park during the evening hours, something unheard of just a couple of years ago.
- Focusing on bringing in more educational offerings. Earlier this year, we featured an event highlighting the benefits of water harvesting. More than 300 folks came out to learn about the part they can play in addressing and combating climate change and we are looking forward to doing more events like this in the future.
- Upgrading our “Creature Comforts” throughout the park, including adding new, more comfortable seating, a coffee station, and vending machine
This is just a sample of everything we are doing to provide you with extra value for your membership.
Of course, you will continue to have access to many of the benefits you already cherish, including:
- Free daily access
- Discounts at the shops
- Member pricing for special events, workshops, and lectures
- Early access to plant sales
- American Horticultural Society reciprocal admission to over 300 gardens throughout North America and the Cayman Islands
- Much more!
New Membership Options
Check out our refreshed membership tiers below. We are introducing a new way to pay with monthly payments!
Individual Membership
Yearly Fee: $50
Monthly Fee: $4.17 (per month for 12-months)
- Daily admission for 1 adult
- Free admission to events like Sundays in the Garden, Estate Planning 101, State of the Garden Address, Members-Only Plant Sales, and New Member Tours
- Free Admission to children’s programming such as Children’s Museum Oro Valley, Desert Discovery Days, and Nature Ninos
- 10% discount in the shops, plant sales, greenhouse, and the Garden Bistro
- Discounts on classes, workshops, trips, and special events
- Reciprocal admission to any American Horticultural Society Gardens
- Receive digital newsletters
- 2 guest passes
Fair Market Value of benefits received for this membership is: $0
Amount that is tax deductible for this membership: $50
Dual Membership
Yearly Fee: $75
Monthly Fee: $6.25 (per month for 12-months)
- Daily admission for 2 adults
- Free admission to events like Sundays in the Garden, Estate Planning 101, State of the Garden Address, Members-Only Plant Sales, and New Member Tours
- Free Admission to children’s programming such as Children’s Museum Oro Valley, Desert Discovery Days, and Nature Ninos
- 10% discount in the shops, plant sales, greenhouse, and the Garden Bistro
- Discounts on classes, workshops, trips, and special events
- Reciprocal admission to any American Horticultural Society Gardens
- Receive digital newsletters
- 2 guest passes
Fair Market Value of benefits received for this membership is: $0
Amount that is tax deductible for this membership: $75
Family Membership
Yearly Fee: $100
Monthly Fee: $8.34 (per month for 12-months)
- Daily admission for 2 adults and 4 children/grandchildren (17 and under)
- Free admission to events like Sundays in the Garden, Estate Planning 101, State of the Garden Address, Members-Only Plant Sales, and New Member Tours
- Free admission to children’s programming such as Children’s Museum Oro Valley, Desert Discovery Days, and Nature Niños.
- 10% discount in the shops, plant sales, greenhouse, and Garden Bistro
- Discounts on classes, workshops, trips, and special events
- Reciprocal admission to any American Horticultural Society Gardens
- Receive digital newsletters
- 2 guest passes
Fair Market Value of benefits received for this membership is: $0
Amount that is tax deductible for this membership: $100
Friends of Tohono Chul Membership
Yearly Fee: $300
Monthly Fee: $25 (per month for 12-months)
- Daily admission for 2 adults and 4 children/grandchildren (17 and under)
- Free admission to events like Sundays in the Garden, Estate Planning 101, State of the Garden Address, Members-Only Plant Sales, and New Member Tours
- Free admission to children’s programming such as Children’s Museum Oro Valley, Desert Discovery Days, and Nature Niños
- 10% discount in the shops, plant sales, greenhouse, and the Garden Bistro
- Discounts on classes, trips, and special events.
- Reciprocal admission to any American Horticultural Society Gardens.
- Receive digital and mailed newsletters
- 2 lecture passes
- 2 tickets to Holiday Nights
- 4 guest passes
- Invitation to our annual Holiday Reception
- Recognition of your membership on our website and annual report
Fair Market Value of benefits received for this membership is: $200
Amount that is tax deductible for this membership: $100
Partners of Tohono Chul Membership
Yearly Fee: $600
Monthly Fee: $50 (per month for 12-months)
- Daily admission for 2 adults and 4 children/grandchildren (17 and under)
- Free admission to events like Sundays in the Garden, Estate Planning 101, State of the Garden Address, Members-Only Plant Sales, and New Member Tours
- Free admission to children’s programming such as Children’s Museum Oro Valley, Desert Discovery Days, and Nature Niños
- 10% discount in the shops, plant sales, greenhouse, and the Garden Bistro
- Discounts on classes, trips, and special events
- Reciprocal admission to any American Horticultural Society Gardens
- Receive digital and mailed newsletters
- 4 lecture passes
- 4 tickets to Holiday Nights
- 8 guest passes
- Invitation and recognition at our annual Holiday Reception
- Recognition of your membership on our website and annual report
- Two specialty Tohono Chul enamel pins
Fair Market Value of benefits received for this membership is: $300
Amount that is tax deductible for this membership: $300
Keys to the Garden Membership
Yearly Fee: $5,000
Monthly Fee: $416.67 (per month for 12-months)
- Daily admission for 2 adults and 4 children/grandchildren (17 and under)
- Free admission to events like Sundays in the Garden, Estate Planning 101, State of the Garden Address, Members-Only Plant Sales, and New Member Tours
- Free admission to children’s programming such as Children’s Museum Oro Valley, Desert Discovery Days, and Nature Niños
- 10% discount in the shops, plant sales, greenhouse, and the Garden Bistro
- Discounts on classes, trips, and special events
- Reciprocal admission to any American Horticultural Society Gardens
- Receive digital and mailed newsletters
- 8 lecture passes
- 8 tickets to Holiday Nights
- 16 guest passes
- Invitation and recognition at our annual Holiday Reception
- Recognition of your membership on our website and annual report
- Two specialty Tohono Chul enamel pins
- 50 guest passes donated to a K-8 school or non-profit of your choice
Fair Market Value of benefits received for this membership is: $500
Amount that is tax deductible for this membership: $4,500
FAQs
Why is Tohono Chul raising membership fees now?
It has been more than 5 years since Tohono Chul has made any changes to membership pricing and a lot has changed since then. In January 2023, Tohono Chul welcomed the Children’s Museum Oro Valley to our park. This has given folks with children (and grandchildren!) a chance to visit more regularly and enjoy the wonders of the Sonoran Desert with their little ones and find a whole lot more to do during their visit.
We’ve also introduced new events, like Sonoran Cinema, with differential pricing favoring members, while expanding our overall offerings. Of course, members will continue to enjoy free admission to the park any time we are open as well as a host of other benefits.
In addition to all of this, inflation has increased prices for overall goods and supplies by nearly 9%, year-over-year, increasing the cost of doing business for Tohono Chul. While we are always looking to create access to our great park for all, we also want to be sure we are financially stable so that we can be here for many generations to come.
Have benefits changed at all?
The most significant change has been the number of guest passes given out at each membership level. Once again, this decision was based on seeing how other like-sized organizations handle free passes as a member benefit and this change puts us more in line with other, similar organizations.
But don’t worry, each level still affords free daily access to all the wonder of Tohono Chul for all members as well as discounts at the shops, differential member pricing for special events, and so much more that you have come to expect and love about being a Tohono Chul member.
I’m on a fixed income and can’t pay for my membership all at once. Is there anything I can do?
Yes! With this new membership model, you can now set up a monthly payment for your membership. Instead of paying for a Family membership at $100 all at once, why not break up your payments over 12 months and pay just $8.25 a month?
In 2022, Tohono Chul became a member of Museums for All, an organization that encourages cultural institutions like ours to offer reduced admission prices to anyone who receives Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or WIC benefits. While this does not pertain directly to membership pricing, it is important to note that we continue to explore more ways in which we can make Tohono Chul a place which is accessible to ALL.
Why is Tohono Chul raising membership fees now?
This was done largely to streamline our membership offerings. However, we have received feedback from guests who felt that offering special discounts to any group of people is perceived as inequitable. In order to allay these perceptions and create a place that is welcoming to ALL, the decision was made to eliminate the differentiations between age groups for memberships.
I’m still confused. If I was at a certain level previously, what level should I move to now? Is there a conversion chart?
Yes! See below.
Thank you so much for your continued support of Tohono Chul. Should you have any questions or want to discuss these changes more, please reach out to us at philanthropy@tohonochul.org or by calling 520.742.6455.