Board Member

Background: The Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden connects the community to nature through a diverse and beautiful collection of historical gardens. It is an 11-acre public garden in SeaTac, WA. The Garden honors its location, memorializing the horticultural legacies of longtime Burien resident, Elda Behm and of the Seike family, who operated a nursery with an outstanding Japanese garden in Des Moines. It also embraces other notable local horticultural efforts and groups, through partnerships with local associations, such as the King County Iris Society, the Puget Sound Daylily Society, the Seattle Rose Society, the Species Fuchsia Society, and the Puget Sound Fuchsia Society. The Garden is a community asset that welcomes all visitors and provides a refuge for appreciation of natures beauty. Some of the ways the community engages with the Garden include quinceaeras, wedding and graduation photo ops, picnics, weddings, tours, inspiration for gardening, gardening workshops, exercise classes, and simply exploring. The Highline Botanical Garden Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that develops and manages the Garden and Garden-related programs. The Garden was created and is operated by the Foundation in cooperation with the City of SeaTac and the Port of Seattle.

Role of the Board of Directors: The Board of Directors meets monthly to consider issues related to maintaining and developing the Garden. Board members contribute their ideas for addressing these issues and for creating programs to make the Garden more accessible to the community and to involve the community more with the Gardens affairs. The Foundation publishes a quarterly newsletter that is produced by the Board. Board members manage development projects, they raise funds, they advise on the design of new areas of the Garden, and on the contents of the Foundations website and social media posts. They plan and execute special events in the Garden like the Ice Cream Social and Plant Sale. The Board manages the Foundations funds. The Foundation has both an Executive Director and a person who coordinates and manages rental and volunteer events at the Garden, both part-time, but a great deal of the work of the Foundation is done by the Board members.

Time Commitment: The Highline Botanical Garden Foundation Board meets once a month on the first Wednesday at the North SeaTac Park Community Center. Each Board member is expected to take part in some of the various activities of the board: planning and executing events at the Garden, producing the newsletter, contributing design and development ideas, fundraising, and any of the many tasks that need doing to keep the Garden a vibrant community asset. However no Board member is expected to help with everything. We each have our interests and abilities and work best within those parameters. The Boards unpaid officers contribute the most time to the organization, ranging from the President, which at present could easily be a full time job, through the Treasurer, easily a part-time job managing the small payroll, keeping the books, and managing the budget; the Secretary, who records the proceedings of the Boards meetings and organizes the digital files and paper files that document the Boards activities; and the Vice President, who at present is the lead on event planning and execution. As they say, many hands make light work, and it is our expectation that as the Board grows, the time burden on any one member, including the officers, will be at least somewhat reduced.

Funding Commitment: All Board members are asked to support the Foundation financially by becoming paid members and are encouraged to support the Foundations work financially. However, we recognize that not every Board member is able not to make a major financial contribution to the Garden, and that contributions of time add precious value to our work.

Satisfaction: Every Board member of the Highline Botanical Garden Foundation shares the joy of watching the Garden grow, bringing beauty to an area that has needed a place of respite for a long time, and reminding visitors the ordinary people can do extraordinary things with plants. Were located in a SeaTac neighborhood with families who have come to love the North SeaTac Park and the Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden. We are happy that you have expressed an interest in the Highline Botanical Garden Foundation. If you would like to join us on the Board, please complete and return the following Board Candidate Profile to:

Board Membership

Highline Botanical Garden Foundation

P.O. Box 69384 SeaTac, WA. 98168

or email [email protected]