National Park Foundation
The official charity of America’s national parks.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Over a century ago, private citizens proved that individuals could make a difference by providing philanthropic dollars to support the national parks. Today, the National Park Foundation champions a legacy of private philanthropy, directly supporting the work of the National Park Service (NPS) and its key partners. This is in direct response to some critical needs. The NPS is faced with budget constraints at all levels, including at the programmatic level and in the physical assets it owns. It has one of the largest portfolios of assets in the federal government which require constant upkeep. In addition, as the population continues to grow more diverse, many Americans have not had an opportunity to experience these national treasures. The Foundation seeks to not only protect these national treasures for current and future generations, but also to engage all Americans by creating opportunities that foster life-long connections to parks.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Protect National Parks
As the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service (NPS), the National Park Foundation (NPF) supports projects and programs across the system. Through our work, we protect our natural, cultural, and historical heritage and connect people to all that the parks have to offer. Through our Protect pillar, we support work to enhance, preserve, and restore the natural and historical resources stewarded by NPS and enhance the visitor experience for the over 300 million annual visitors to national parks. Our investments include acquiring private inholdings in national parks, restoring trails and historic structure, conserving wildlife and habitats, making parks more sustainable in their use of natural resources, and ensuring parks are more inviting reliant for current and future visitor use.
Connect People to Parks
As the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service (NPS), the National Park Foundation (NPF) supports projects and programs across the system. Through our work, we protect our natural, cultural, and historical heritage and connect people to all that the parks have to offer. Through our Connect pillar, NPF is dedicated to creating meaningful opportunities for people to visit and connect with our national parks and the programs they offer. Our investments include reaching underrepresented audiences, increasing diversity and inclusion, creating digital experiences, connecting audiences to introductory experiences, fostering lifelong connections, and building strong partnerships. Some of our programs include the Find Your Park/Encuentra Tu Parque public engagement movement, our Open Outdoors for Kids initiative, Service Corps, and Strong Parks, Strong Communities.
Where we work
Awards
Best Charities in America 2017
Independant Charities of America
Anniversary 2017
PR News Platinum PR Awards
Public Service-Multi-Format Campaign 2016
Obie Awards
Affiliations & memberships
Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance - Organization 2017
National Trust For Historic Preservation 2017
Society for Human Resource Management 2017
American Association for State and Local History 2011
Association of Donor Relations Professionals 2017
American Rivers 2013
Association of Prospect Researchers for Advancement - Member 2017
Boys and Girls Clubs of America 2017
Combined Federal Campaign 2017
Major League Baseball 2011
Land Trust Alliance 2017
Blue Ridge Parkway Association 2017
Horizon Interactive Award 2017
American Advertising -ADDY 2017
Webby Awards, Honoree for Best Use of Photography 2017
AIGA 50 Award 2018
W3 Silver Award 2017
MarCom Awards, Honorable Mention 2017
Engage for Good Golden Halo Award 2019
Silver Halo Award 2020
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of overall donors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total revenue earned to support advocacy efforts
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total number of grants awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of organizational partners
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total dollars received in contributions
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Includes Government Grants.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
As the second century of the National Park Service begins, parks face new challenges including increased congestion, a growing maintenance backlog, a myriad of resource management needs, and the need to engage existing and new audiences via innovative tools and technologies. Critical needs are centered around the Foundation’s four core areas of focus:
1. Enhance the visitor experience: Increased visitation at some of the busier national parks coupled with a growing backlog of infrastructure needs require modern infrastructure, creative solutions and innovative new strategies to address congestion, interpretation, and recreation.
2. Conserve and preserve natural and cultural resources: More than a thousand plants and animals in national parks are considered rare or endangered, and for many species these parks provide their sole remaining refuges. As the climate changes and rising seas reshape parks, the Foundation strives to protect these creatures and their landscapes. Similarly, as historic sites come under increased pressure from development, the Foundation aims to protect and preserve these important pieces of American history.
3. Connect people to parks: National park visitation does not reflect the diversity of America. To remain relevant to future audiences, parks need to reach all audiences, remove barriers to access, and encourage all people to visit a national park. Engagement with the outdoors is a good example. The time spent in unstructured outdoor play for children has declined 50 percent over 20 years. In other words, over the span of a generation, American children have begun spending half as much time outdoors. The Foundation seeks to reverse this trend and create a culture of environmental stewardship in America’s youth.
4. Connect partners to parks: There are 400+ organizations across America working to support and supply the national parks with volunteers, educational resources, or financial resources. The Foundation possesses unique leverage as the national partner of NPS to strengthen park partners and maximize collective impact on national parks.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
To address the challenges identified above, the Foundation has aligned its four core strategies to guide fundraising and programmatic efforts. These efforts are designed to:
1) Enhance the visitor experience (e.g., build resilient infrastructure, improve the digital experience, etc.)
2) Conserve and preserve the natural, cultural and historic resources for current and future generations (e.g., research, protect, restore, and interpret park wildlife, habitat and history)
3) Connect people to parks to foster a diverse ecosystem of park lovers and champions (e.g., inspire all Americans to experience parks, connect and engage all audiences through a continuum of engagement which focuses on programs designed for every stage of life)
4) Connect partners to parks to enrich the national park support network (e.g., develop and nurture lifelong connections between partners and parks, partner with key stakeholders to build networks to accomplish shared goals and multiply the impact of philanthropy, volunteerism, and other support)
Through these efforts, the National Park Foundation has committed to (a) look for projects that make an immediate and/or long-lasting benefit to the parks, (b) consider traditional and unconventional approaches to complex projects, and (c) evaluate decisions and measure results of completed projects.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The Foundation’s national scope and reach, its unique access to the National Park Service (NPS), and its well-resourced donor community (including a highly effective Board), allow for the development, fundraising and implementation of projects that have significant reach and impact across the parks.
The Foundation invested in a highly collaborative strategic planning process with the NPS to identify priorities and how the Foundation plans to deliver against its mission. This has provided a process of alignment with the Department of Interior, the NPS, the Board, donors, and partner communities to ensure that the Foundation’s priority areas meet critical needs and have adequate executive and donor support.
This work is supported by dedicated staff who work to support the national parks and to implement the strategic plan. Finally, the Foundation maintains excellent fiduciary standing as evidenced by clean annual audits and robust policies and procedures for financial management.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
The Foundation’s Centennial fundraising campaign, in effect from October 2013 through September 2018 to commemorate the National Park Service’s (NPS’s) 100th anniversary, raised more than $550 million from more than 1 million individual donors. These funds are being used to help NPF carry out its core mission to connect people with their national parks and to protect those parks for generations to come. Accomplishments include:
•Natural Resources and Lands: The Centennial Campaign added more than 94,000 acres of new land to the national park system. In addition, funding has been deployed into the field to protect and restore natural habitats across NPS. Some examples of this include (i) removing more than 300,000 invasive Lake Trout from Yellowstone Lake and its contributing rivers, (ii) researching and restoring more than 400,000 acres across the NPS system, (iii) removing debris from hundreds of miles of coastal parks, and (iv) researching, studying and protecting wildlife throughout the NPS system.
•Cultural and Historic Places: Funds from the Centennial Campaign were used to restore, rehabilitate and give new life to some of the NPS’s most iconic structures in Washington, DC. (Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington House, Belmont-Paul). The Foundation has also helped seed fund two new national monuments (Pullman National Monument, Stonewall National Monument), marking significant moments in both African American history and the history of the LGBTQ community, respectively. Additional funding is advancing preservation projects and dynamic digital storytelling in the field of African American history and culture.
•Connecting People to Parks: Find Your Park/ Encuentra Tu Parque, the joint public awareness campaign of NPF and NPS, has played a significant role in increasing overall park visitation from 274 million annual visits in 2013 to more than 318 million annual visits in 2018. In addition, Centennial Campaign funds helped expand educational opportunities for visitors of all ages.
•Connecting Partners to Parks: A priority of NPF has been to strengthen the capabilities of local philanthropic partners (i.e. Friends Groups) and build a robust community of national park champions. Centennial Campaign dollars were used to grow the management and philanthropic capacity of these partners and to convene several meetings of the Friends Alliance, a gathering of more 200 Friends Groups, to share ideas, find solutions, identify common priorities, and strategize with NPS, NPF, and local partners all at the same table.
The momentum continues as NPF aspires to sustain the level of activity and awareness built by the Centennial Campaign. Alignment with the NPS and park partners remains a priority as NPF recognizes the need to work collaboratively in support of common priorities. This alignment will help achieve a margin of excellence designed to protect America’s treasures and engage the next generation of park stewards & supporters.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
National Park Foundation
Board of directorsas of 03/22/2023
Mr. Rick James
Al Baldwin
Chairman, Baldwin & Sons
John L Nau
President & CEO, Silver Eagle Distributors, LP
Tom Goss
Chairman, Goss LLC
Rhoda Altom
President, Milestone Properties
Thomas Brown
Karen Swett Conway
Randi Fisher
Co-Founder, Pisces Foundation
Andrea J. Grant
President, Enviromental Communications Associates
Melinda Stearns
Co-Founder, The Stearns Family Charitable Foundation
Cynthia Fisher
Founder and Managing Director, WaterRev, LLC
William O Hiltz
Senior Managing Director, Evercore
Rick L. James
Chairman, Metal Technologies, Inc.
Patricia Arvielo
President, New American Funding
Steven A. Denning
Chairman, General Atlantic
John DeStefano
Principal, Utility Strategic Advisors
Lisa Eccles
President and COO George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation
Melani Walton
Co-Founder Rob & Melani Walton Foundation
The Honorable Deb Haaland
Secretary, U.S Department of the Interior
Barbara Neal
William Pickard
Chairman & Founder Global Automotive Alliance
Brenda Potterfield
Co-Founder MidwayUSA
William Grayson
Managing Director RBC Wealth Management
Joseph Landy
Managing Director Warburg Pincus
Sean Maloney
Stephen Chazen
CEO & President Magnolia Oil
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 10/04/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.