The concepts of community outreach, as well as the growth of UC Berkeley and lack of funding, are essential pieces of context that have shaped the trajectory of the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens. Originally founded for the purpose of serving the Department of Botany at UC Berkeley, the budget of the gardens was provided entirely by the University and the garden was not intended for community use. In addition, the community around Berkeley was barely established at the time of its inception. Through the history of Berkeley's Botanical Garden, the placement of emphasis regarding its mission and purpose has continuously shifted as it has grown. Now, while the Garden places an importance on education and its use for UC Berkeley research and classes specifically, it also places a close importance on serving the community around Berkeley in many ways to make sure it receives the funding it needs to stay afloat. It functions as a means of conservation for exotic and native plants alike, entertainment space for the community with different events and exhibitions, source of research materials and facilities for UC Berkeley classes, place to reconnect with nature, and an educational resource for the broader Berkeley community: 

• “The Botanical Garden with primary emphasis on its education roles, both formal and informal, serves a broad community. Its fields of activity are, in order of importance, first, the University education and research programs; second, general public education; and third, community enrichment—benefits resulting from activities or features which are not primarily educational in nature but which are significant for the community, such as plant sales and open space preservation.”[1]

• “A place to grow, study and appreciate a diversity of living plants in a setting which is as close to nature as is possible, away from their place of origin…The importance of displays of living plants and of provision of information about plants carries an urgency in this era of shrinking world resources, vanishing species and growing concern for the quality of our environments: for all of us –researcher, student and gardener alike – there is a real need to k. now one’s place in nature.” [1]

• The Botanical Garden defines its own mission as being: "Our mission is to develop and maintain a diverse living collection of plants, to support teaching and worldwide research in plant biology, further the conservation of plant diversity, and promote public understanding and appreciation of plants and the natural environment." [2]

Wayne Roderick, a prominent Botanical Garden employee from 1960-1976, described the different educational functions he witnessed or was involved in at the Gardens during his time working there: ​

• "​At that time I also guided all the college classes that used to come around to visit the garden. I took them through the garden and lectured them on the different plants." [3]

• "She could only take grammar school kids , which has turned out to be one of the greatest things of all: there's all these grammar school kids coming, and they have a tremendous bunch of docents that take the classes around, getting the youngsters broken in on plants early." [4]

• "Well, the botany classes had all the different materials they needed for class, and the most important class that I was associated with was the taxonomy class, where they had to learn... Unfortunately, that class started in January, so it was very difficult to get a lot of material for that time. I'd get the list of the families that they wanted- -some quite often with the genus, they'd want maybe three different genera in one family- -so, when I was out I'd watch for seeds that would bloom early or late in those families. Plus, I would go down to the desert. Generally I left on New Year's Day to go down to the desert for a few days. I took ice chests with me, and I collected a lot of stuff that would come in at the right time. Some of these things froze beautifully and we'd freeze some of them when we got back." [5] 

The funding of the Garden continues to be a concern, as state funding has continuously lessened and thus the funding becomes more and more dependent upon the Berkeley community involvement. This worry has haunted the Garden since as early as at least the 1970s: 

• ​“One major problem is a financial one. Costs continue to rise and one very serious problem is that the heating bill for the Garden has risen to a very high level. It is probable that in the near future various greenhouses that are now heated will have to be operated unheated, which may result in the loss of some valuable collections of plants.” [6]

UC Berkeley's Botanical Garden has continued to expand into new realms of activity to continue to receive funding and further immerse itself in the Berkeley community through new means of gaining social relevance. They started creating programs like the Friends of the Botanical Garden in the 1970s that created memberships, accompanied by membership fees, that would provide special incentives for people to support and visit the Garden: 

• ​“The Friends of the Botanical Garden, University of California, Berkeley are organizing this spring… The purpose of the organization is to foster widespread interest in the Botanical Garden through a variety of Garden oriented programs and events. In addition, the Friends seek funds to improve the various living collections, displays and facilities in the Garden. At the present time, plans are to hold monthly membership meetings beginning in September, 1976 at which times speakers will present talks on various topics of botanical or horticultural interest. Also, special workshops for the Friends are planned as are special tours of the Garden.” [7]

• “One of the most notable Garden events occurred May 3, 1975, when the Docents sponsored their first Plant Sale at the Oxford Tact in Berkeley. This was an enormously successful sale, netting approximately $8,000, and provided a large number of unusually and interesting plants at nominal prices for the pubic… Proceeds from the sale go to support various Garden activities that are not supported by state funds” [8]

At its original inception on campus, the Botanical Garden served a limited role for the UC Berkeley community specifically. Now, the Garden is so much more, and its move to a bigger space and more central location in the Berkeley area was essential in prompting this shift. However, as the Garden has expanded, so has its costs. The Garden has subsequently had to change and expand the roles it served to make sure that it could garner funding to survive. The roles of the Garden have grown in conjunction with its growth in physical space, but this does not mean it has lost sight of its original purpose:

• ​“Except for research, the line between public needs and University needs is not as sharply defined as we often tend to think it is. For the most part, policies and decision making regarding the Garden do not have to be either for the University or for the public; instead, both types of needs can be considered simultaneously. While there may from time to time be conflicts between two specific uses – which must always be resolved in facor of the higher-priority University use—it seems true in a general sense that there is little if any incompatibility between the basic concepts and goals.” [1]

Overall, the Berkeley Garden has had to contend with different challenges in terms of funding, which has largely shaped its shifting roles and purposes. To stay afloat and maintain the expensive land and continuous growth of the Garden at its Strawberry Canyon location, the Garden has increasingly relied on community involvement. By creating new programs and expanding into new ways to garner social relevance, the Garden now functions in so many ways beyond education and research. It has effectively incorporated new roles while still maintaining the importance it places on its original educational purpose.