Grants for parks and playgrounds

701 parks and playgrounds received at least $19.2 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 1,243 grants made from 982 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,000. Of these 982 foundations, 86% made just a single grant to park conservancies, and 1% made grants to four or more park conservancies. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$19,201,155
Total grant dollars given to parks and playgrounds
1,243
Number of grants made annually to parks and playgrounds
982
Number of grantmakers funding parks and playgrounds
$1,000
Median grant size to parks and playgrounds

Foundations that support parks and playgrounds

Out of all grants made to parks and playgrounds, 76% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 88% of the dollar-value of grants to park conservancies. Foundations funding park conservancies also made grants to art museums, animal shelters, high schools, land conservation groups, and universities.

Foundation size

Foundation sizeNumber of grantmakers
Small
 
755
Medium
 
120
Large
 
107
Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation typeNumber of grantmakers
Community
 
30
Private
 
852
Corporate
 
52
Other
 
48

Grants made

Grants made to park conservanciesNumber of grantmakers
1
 
854
2-3
 
110
4-10
 
12
11+
 
6

Top 10 foundations supporting parks and playgrounds

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to park conservanciesNumber of grants made to park conservanciesMedian grant size
Seattle FoundationWAState0.0%25$1,000
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)TNMetro0.0%14$393
Salesforce Com FoundationCANational0.1%14$100
JP Morgan Chase FoundationNYNational0.0%12$325
Baird FoundationWINational0.1%11$250
Shell Oil Company FoundationTXNational0.0%11$250
Carmax FoundationVANational0.1%9$500
Abbvie FoundationILNational0.0%9$52
Alliant Energy FoundationWIState0.2%7$538
Community Foundation of Greater Des MoinesIAState0.0%6$2,119

Parks and playgrounds grantees

Parks and playgrounds with more than $5 million in total revenues received 63% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 34% of all park conservancies.

Grant amounts

Size of grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
1,238
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
5

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenueMedian grant size
<$100k
 
$1,000
$100k-$500k
 
$1,500
$500k-$1M
 
$1,000
$1M-$5M
 
$1,000
>$5M
 
$1,000

Grantee states

State of granteeNumber of grants
New York
 
395
California
 
124
Pennsylvania
 
62
Texas
 
49
Other
 
613

Grantee metros

Metro area of granteeNumber of grants
New York City
 
362
San Francisco
 
79
Seattle
 
40
Atlanta
 
32
Other
 
604

Top 25 grants made to parks and playgrounds

GranteeGrant sizePurposeGrantmaker
San Francisco Parks Alliance$4,500,000General SupportStanford University
Central Park Conservancy$3,750,000General UnrestrictedThomas L. Kempner Jr Foundation
The Bay Park Conservancy$3,120,966EnvironmentGulf Coast Community Foundation
Minneapolis Parks Foundation (MPF)$3,019,600General Operating SupportThe Minneapolis Foundation
Dorothea Dix Park Conservancy$2,515,058Public & Societal BenefitNorth Carolina Community Foundation (NCCF)
San Francisco Parks Alliance$5,000Party for the Parks ProgramThe Justin and Michelle Hughes Foundation
Cancer Survivors Park Alliance$5,000UnrestrictedHarper Family Foundation
Aspinwall Riverfront Park$5,000General & UnrestrictedGlenlaurel Foundation
Friends of Congress Square Park$5,000For OperationsThe Old Bug Light Charitable Foundation
Bannack Association$5,000Charitable DonationLiatis Foundation
Christmas Circle Community Park$5,000Public CharityPorter Sesnon Foundation
The Loppet Foundation$5,000General SupportDorsey & Whitney LLP
Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association (TAMBA)$5,000Community Outreach & Enrichment ProgramsGoldman Sachs Gives
Piedmont Park Conservancy$5,000Urban AffairsThe Columbus Foundation
The Battery Conservancy$5,000General Operating SupportJ M Kaplan Fund
City Parks Foundation (CPF)$5,000Ny Tree Trust GreeningJ M Kaplan Fund
Washington on the Brazos Association$5,000Charitable ContributionThe Broesche Family Foundation
Central Park Conservancy$5,000Social BenefitsThe Bunny Williams Foundation
City Parks Foundation (CPF)$5,000GeneralMichael Tuch Foundation
Houston Parks Board (HPB)$5,000Directed Grant for Unrestricted Operating SupportHouston Endowment
Houston Parks Board (HPB)$5,000Directed Grant for Unrestricted Operating SupportHouston Endowment
Houston Parks Board (HPB)$5,000Directed Grant for Unrestricted Operating SupportHouston Endowment
Friends of Payson Parks and Recreation$5,000Casa SuptRim Country Arizonans for Child
Pogo Park$5,000Program SupportChamberlin Family Foundation
Fund for Park Avenue$5,000To Aid the Donee Organization in Carrying Out Its Exempt Functions.Thompson Family Foundation
Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Parks and playgrounds" category for this page is determined by the "N32: Parks and Playgrounds" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.