Gateway Ticketing Systems, a leading provider of admission control systems, is supporting Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware, US, to deliver a new philanthropic initiative using the Galaxy ticketing software platform.
Launching in 2013, the attraction has been committed to conserving and preserving native plants and the habitats they support, inviting guests of all ages to explore a mix of formal and naturalistic gardens, ponds, and trails.
It has been using the Galaxy platform to help deliver an expanding range of community-focused offerings since 2019. These range from continuing education programmes and plant sales to enhanced membership and philanthropic opportunities, all of which aim to foster a deeper connection between visitors and the natural world.
Its new philanthropy initiative uses Galaxy to collect donations that help fund the botanical garden’s day-to-day operations. As a scalable platform, Galaxy is suited to smaller facilities and so is an ideal partner to support the attraction's growth.
The plant collections at Mt. Cuba Center focus on native plants, which are critical for healthy ecosystems, pollinators, birds, and other wildlife.Image courtesy of Gateway Ticketing Systems
Kyle Cantarera, manager, guest experience at Mt. Cuba Center, says: "Our organization was looking for a ticketing system that could grow with us, and we found it with Galaxy.
"Its robust set of tools gave us the functionality we needed in the moment along with the ability to leverage additional features later when we were ready to take the next step."
Scalable, versatile platform
Welcoming around 30,000 visitors each year, Mt. Cuba Center is rapidly evolving, and each new programme has the potential to impact operations.
While powering admissions ticketing, continuing education programmes, plant sales, and philanthropy initiatives, Galaxy's configurability has solved many of the developing centre's logistical issues.
In fact, a key selling point of the platform was its range of functionality into which Mt. Cuba Center could grow.
"What we were looking for in 2018 was something that had the functionality that we could use when we needed to get there," says Cantarera.
"Galaxy seemed to be able to check all the boxes when we were ready to check them."
Visitors can support the work of Mt. Cuba Center through memberships, donations, and purchases.
Image courtesy of Gateway Ticketing Systems
Knowing that Galaxy can handle the continuing education pieces, he adds, was also important. This robust programme serves adults seeking to enhance their understanding of native plants, habitats, and ecosystems in the Mid-Atlantic region.
With Galaxy, staff and volunteers involved in this programme address site-specific challenges, such as tracking attendance and revenue.
Access to this data and the ability to create a series of reports has been vital to the programme's ongoing growth and refinement to better meet the needs of its students. Notably, the centre created a report that enables staff to track attendance by scanning barcodes inside the classroom.
See also: Unifying ticketing, retail and data: Gateway’s role in modern attractions
'A fruitful collaboration'
As a mission-driven organisation, since 2019, Mt. Cuba Center has been selling native plants to support pollinators and their indigenous habitat.
Over this time, the volume of plant sales has increased exponentially. What began with a range of three native plant types has expanded to include 232 varieties as of last year. As plant sales have grown, Galaxy has grown with them.
In 2025, the centre sold roughly 9,000 plants and expects to surpass this number in 2026. By using Galaxy to track daily sales and monitor which varieties are selling and when, the greenhouse can quickly and efficiently respond to consumer demand.
In addition to opening plant sales, the centre also launched its membership programme in 2019. This has been managed using Galaxy since its inception.
The membership team can collect data on who is visiting, when, and their frequency. The reporting tool also manages member events, group visits, sales, and revenue.
Furthermore, to meet the organisation's internal requirements, a portal configured within Galaxy provides access to staff and volunteer passes, as well as discounted tickets.
"Our partnership with GTS has been a fruitful collaboration, not only because of the functionality of the system, but also because of the strong commitment of Gateway team members to find solutions to our site-specific challenges," says Cantarera.
Earlier this year, Gateway announced a comprehensive, campus-wide implementation of the Galaxy platform at John Ball Zoo.
