130,500 causes · $320M raised · 4.7 since 2009
Funding improvements
Approval first, maintenance second, and the money last.
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The order most friends groups use is: decide what the park needs, raise the money, then approach the agency. That is backwards, and it produces the characteristic outcome of a group holding a cheque for something it turns out cannot be installed.
Approval comes first
Take the idea to the agency before publishing a goal, and get the answers in writing:
- Will the agency accept this improvement at all
- What specification is required — materials, dimensions, accessibility, safety standards, design guidelines
- Who buys it, who installs it, and whether the agency's procurement rules apply
- Whether the agency has a preferred or required supplier
- What permits, surveys or reviews are needed, and how long they take
- Who owns it afterwards, who insures it and who maintains it
- What the annual maintenance cost is, and whether it is budgeted
- How long the agency expects it to last, and what happens then
Most of these are routine for the agency and unknown to the group, and asking them all at once takes one meeting. The playground that must meet a safety standard, the bench that has to match a design guide, the tree that cannot go where the utility line runs — these are all discovered cheaply in that meeting and expensively afterwards.
The maintenance question is the one that gets skipped
A friends group raising for capital and ignoring upkeep has funded something with an expiry date. The agency inherits a mowing obstacle, a repair obligation, an insurance line and an eventual replacement cost, out of a budget that did not increase.
- Ask for the annual cost and whether it is budgeted, in writing
- Offer to fund a maintenance contribution or an endowment alongside the capital
- Prefer improvements that reduce maintenance — native planting over bedding, durable materials over cheap ones
- Be willing to fund a smaller thing that will be kept rather than a larger one that will not
Ask the displacement question in writing
If the friends group buys the picnic tables this year, does the park's budget include picnic tables next year?
Put it to whoever holds the budget, ask for confirmation that gifts supplement rather than supplant the appropriation, and watch the line across cycles. A friends group has no visibility into a budget it does not control, so this has to be a standing board question rather than a one-off.
A group that becomes the reason a park is underfunded has achieved the opposite of its purpose, and usually without anybody deciding to.
Projects that work well
- Benches, tables, bins and bike racks — small, standard, easy to approve
- Trees and native planting, which reduce maintenance rather than adding it
- Trail surfacing, boardwalk, steps and drainage
- Playground equipment, which is the highest-demand and highest-specification item
- Signage, interpretation and wayfinding
- Water fountains, including dog fountains, which are popular and have plumbing implications
- Tools, materials and equipment for volunteer work days
- Accessibility improvements — path grading, handrails, accessible tables
Accessibility improvements are worth leading with. They are unarguable, they are frequently unfunded, and they open the park to people who currently cannot use it — which is a stronger ask than an amenity for people who already can.
Projects to be careful with
- Anything with running costs — water features, lighting, irrigation, anything powered
- Structures, which bring permits, inspections and long-term liability
- Memorial planting in numbers, which agencies limit for good reasons and which creates obligations nobody can meet
- Anything the agency has not asked for, however obviously needed
Fund what the agency says it needs
The most productive question a friends group can ask is not "what should we buy?" but "what is on your list that the budget will not reach this year?"
Agencies keep such lists. Funding from it means the project is already approved, already specified, already maintainable and already wanted — and it makes the group a partner rather than a source of unsolicited gifts.
Report it, and photograph it
The installed improvement is the whole report, and it is standing in public where thousands of people walk past it. Photograph it, publish the cost, thank the donors on a sign if the agency permits, and use it as the opening argument for the next project.
General information, not legal advice for your group. Gift acceptance, procurement, naming and volunteer rules for a public agency differ by jurisdiction — the agency and its counsel decide how any of this applies.
Frequently asked questions
What order should this happen in?
Approval, then maintenance, then money. Most groups do it backwards and end up holding a cheque for something that cannot be installed.
What should we ask the agency?
Whether they will accept it, the required specification, who buys and installs it, whether procurement rules apply, what permits are needed, who owns and insures it, what annual maintenance costs and whether it is budgeted. One meeting covers all of it.
What is the most productive question?
Not "what should we buy?" but "what is on your list that the budget will not reach this year?" Agencies keep such lists, and funding from one means the project is already approved, specified, maintainable and wanted.
Which projects should we lead with?
Accessibility improvements. Unarguable, frequently unfunded, and they open the park to people who currently cannot use it — a stronger ask than an amenity for people who already can.
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