Park Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Park Foundation’s areas of grantmaking include higher education, democracy and civic engagement, racial justice, marine conservation, clean energy reform, journalism, film and the local communities of Tompkins County, New York.
IP TAKE: Initially a higher education funder, the Park Foundation now supports a broad range of social justice, civic engagement, media and environmental initiatives. Its largest area of grantmaking appears to be its media program, through which it supports investigative journalism, public media, documentary film and policy development for a free and independent media in the U.S. The Park Foundation also runs a robust funding program for Tompkins County, New York, where it is located.
This is an accessible foundation; it accepts grant applications for most of its programs and runs four grant cycles each year.
PROFILE: Established in 1966 and based in Ithaca, New York, the Park Foundation was created by Roy H. Park, Sr., who founded, chaired and served as chief executive officer of Park Communications, Inc., a company that published newspapers and owned television and radio stations in the 1970s and 1980s. Roy Park is also credited with creating the Duncan Hines food brand. The Park Foundation’s early grantmaking emphasized higher education, but it has since broadened its scope to include civic engagement and democracy, racial justice, marine conservation, clean energy reform, animal welfare, journalism and film. The foundation also maintains initiatives for sustainability, community needs and school food and nutrition for Tompkins County, New York.
Grants for Higher Education
The Park Foundation’s higher education funding supports North Carolina State University, where Roy Park earned his journalism degree, and Ithaca College, where he served on the board of trustees. The foundation’s education grants prioritize the founder’s affiliations. Over the past decade, the foundation has given $50 million to North Carolina State’s endowment, with the stipulation that the gift be “invested in a socially responsible fashion.”
The foundation also supports a scholarship fund for the university that supports more than 30 scholarships each year. The foundation made a recent gift of $30 million to Ithaca College, where it has also funded the Roy H. Park School of Communications and a Park Scholars program.
Grants Civic Engagement and Democracy
Through its Democracy and Civil Society funding area, the Park Foundation supports “efforts that promote a just, inclusive, sustainable society.” Recent areas of priority have included voting rights for minority and underserved communities and “removing dark money from politics.” Past grantees include the American Civil Liberties Union Fund of Michigan, the Arizona Center for Empowerment, the Hip Hop Caucus Education Fund, the Native American Rights Fund, Rock the Vote and Voices for Racial Justice.
Grants for Racial Justice and Equity
In 2020, in the wake of the murder George Floyd, the Park Foundation reaffirmed its commitment to racial justice in the U.S. and its support for “peaceful demonstration and the work that must be done for meaningful and measurable change to end systemic racism.” Recent grants have gone to “front line” organizations in the fight for racial justice including the Movement for Black Lives, PushBlack, Color of Change, Ultimate Re-Entry Opportunity and Alternatives Federal Credit Union.
Grants for Marine and Freshwater Conservation
The Park Foundation’s environmental funding initiative names drinking water as a main area of priority and makes grants to support the development of clean water policies, publicly-owned and managed water infrastructure and the empowerment of communities to protect water sources and decrease dependency on bottled water. Past grantees include the Clean Drinking Water Project of the New York Public Interest Research Group, the Environmental Advocates of New York, the Environmental Working Group and the Mountain Watershed Association of Melcroft, Pennsylvania.
Grants for Climate Change and Clean Energy
Park’s clean energy grantmaking is mainly limited to organizations in the state of New York and focuses on decreasing the state’s dependence on fossil fuels, limiting the expansion of New York’s natural gas infrastructure and the development of reliable clean energy alternatives. Grantees involved in New York’s anti-fracking movement include Frack Action, Grassroots Environmental Education, Inc. and the Catskill Mountainkeeper, Inc. Other clean energy grantees include All Our Energy, As You Sow, the 50/50 Climate Project and the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investing.
Grants for Animals and Wildlife
The Park Foundation supports initiatives for humane treatment of domestic animals and for the protection of at-risk wildlife. Domestic animal funding focuses on “reducing the number of homeless companion animals” through public education and low-cost spay/neuter services. Another area of interest is the elimination of domestic animal “fighting practices.” Wildlife funding prioritizes policy and advocacy for the protection of endangered species and the care for primates who are rescued from “laboratories, entertainment and/or the pet trade.” One recent grantee, Chimp Haven, Inc., supports retired chimpanzees at a shelter in Louisiana. Another grantee, the Peace River Refuge and Ranch of Silver Springs, Florida, rescues and rehabilitates orphaned or injured animals with the intention of returning them to the wild when possible. Other grantees include the Jane Goodall Institute, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, North Carolina’s Adoption First Animal Rescue, the Humane Society of the United States and the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group.
Grants for Journalism
The Park Foundation’s media initiative is one of its largest areas of funding. Grantmaking aims to support “public interest media that raises awareness of critical environmental, political and social issues to promote a better-informed citizenry in the U.S.” The foundation supports investigative journalism, the development of fair and open media and internet policy and public radio and television broadcasting. Journalism grantees include the Fund for Investigative Journalism, California’s Center for Investigative Reporting and an investigative reporting workshop at American University. Policy grantees include the Center for Media and Democracy, ProPublica and the Institute for Public Accuracy. Public media outlets to receive funding include Minnesota Public Radio and Boston’s WGBH Educational Foundation.
Grants for Film
A small portion of the Park Foundation’s media funding goes to documentary film projects that address democracy, the environment or animal welfare and that have the potential for wide distribution and community engagement. The foundation has supported the Eschaton Foundation’s production of “The Boys Who Said No,” a documentary about draft resistance during the Vietnam War. Other grantees include the Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival, Brave New Films, the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital and American Documentaries, Inc.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
The Park Foundation maintains three initiatives that serve the local communities of Tompkins County, New York. Sustainable Ithaca supports conservation, clean energy initiatives, environmental education and sustainable zoning, transportation and planning initiatives. Collaborative projects and those that empower low-income and minority communities are emphasized. A second initiative, Community Needs, strives to establish equity and create opportunity to low-income residents of Tompkins County. Recent areas of focus include youth services, advocacy and community organizing. The foundation also maintains an initiative for School Food and Nutrition, which aims to ensure “that every student in Tompkins County has access to and is choosing to eat nutritious and appealing food in school. Grantees of the Tompkins County programs include Ithaca’s Drop-In Children’s Center, Tompkins Cortland Community College, Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES and the Southside Community Center of Ithaca.
Important Grant Details:
The Park Foundation gives away about $26 million a year, with grants ranging from $5,000 to $600,000. The foundation’s average grant size is about $25,000. This funder supports a range of large national nonprofits and small grassroots organizations in its areas of interest. The foundation provides information about past grants on its grants awarded page.
With the exceptions of its Democracy and Civil Society, Animal Welfare and Higher Education funding programs, the Park Foundation accepts applications for funding for its four annual funding cycles. Due dates are in January, March, July and September. Guidelines and application forms are provided on the foundation’s application page. General inquiries may be addressed to the foundation’s staff via email or telephone at (607) 272-9124.
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