Stewarding Our Parks

Since 1967, the National Park Foundation and National Park Service have worked side by side to protect and strengthen America’s national parks for all to discover and explore, now and in the future.

Our Mission

As the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service, the National Park Foundation generates private support and builds strategic partnerships to protect and enhance America’s national parks for present and future generations.

Our Vision

Inspiring all people to connect with and protect America’s national parks.

The National Park Foundation (NPF) and a growing community of park partners and supporters are accomplishing more for America’s national parks than ever before in the Foundation’s history.

NPF capped a landmark year, surpassing $184 million in total revenue and $115 million in impact for parks and park programs across the National Park System. Strong strategic alignment with the National Park Service (NPS) and active engagement across the donor and park partner communities continue to position national parks as a philanthropic priority and the Foundation as a trusted leader. The tremendous generosity and commitment of the Board and the exceptional work of NPF staff have increased the scope and scale of the Foundation’s impact, underscoring the essential role philanthropy and partnerships play in the stewardship of our national parks.

Last year, the Foundation helped to protect wildlife, funding research to track the movement of black bears in and around Great Smoky Mountains National Park and great white sharks in the waters off Cape Cod National Seashore. Continued investments in conservation science helped to preserve natural habitats in parks across the country, and at Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in Florida, NPF funded a project to restore coastline with new oyster reefs.

NPF delivered innovation and impact through its popular Inclusive Storytelling program, awarding more than $4 million to support 57 projects in parks across the country to document, preserve, and share more diverse stories that helped shape our nation’s history. NPF’s partnership with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is uncovering untold stories across America’s national parks through the expanded National Park Service Mellon Humanities Fellows program. Collectively, these initiatives will contribute to telling a more comprehensive story of America across the National Park System.

The impact NPF delivers to national parks with the support of donors and partners truly matters. Together, we are bringing more expertise, resources, and innovation to the table to do more for America’s national parks than otherwise would be possible.

– Will Shafroth, NPF President & CEO

Last year, NPF and its generous donors also played a pivotal role to ensure the success of high-priority projects across the National Park System, including contributing more than $45.5 million to transform the undercroft of the Lincoln Memorial into an immersive museum that will bring history to life. The new facility will greatly improve visitor experience and help to ensure the iconic Lincoln Memorial remains an enduring platform for free speech, the site of civil protests that still shape society, and the scene of national celebrations.

Similarly, the Foundation played an instrumental role in the establishment of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument. Thanks to the partnership and support of the Andrew W. Mellon and Fund II foundations, the new national monument will preserve a seminal moment in our nation’s civil rights era history and make it accessible to all.

The Foundation and its supporters are inspiring the next generation of park stewards through the Open OutDoors for Kids (OOK) program. NPF has steadily expanded and adapted the program to meet the increasing demand for innovative educational experiences in national parks – arguably America’s largest classroom. The Foundation awarded over $4 million in funding to more than 100 groups that work with local school districts to provide students transportation to parks. In 2023, the Foundation’s OOK program connected more than 400,000 kids to in-person and virtual park experiences, marking a milestone achievement in connecting more than 2 million students to parks since the program’s inception in 2011.

The park partner community is increasing its collective impact in national parks across the country. To support these dedicated and sophisticated partner organizations, the Friends Alliance incorporated as an independent nonprofit in 2023 to advance peer-to-peer learning, professional development, and networking opportunities. With the Foundation’s ongoing commitment and support, the park partner community is positioned to keep growing and expanding its capacity to support national parks.

The impact NPF delivers to national parks with the support of donors and partners truly matters. Together, we are bringing more expertise, resources, and innovation to the table to do more for America’s national parks than otherwise would be possible.

Together, we are blazing a new trail that will demonstrate the essential role philanthropy and partnerships can play to ensure America’s national parks are forever and for everyone.

Together, we are just getting started.

Stewardship of America’s national parks is a shared responsibility that requires strong partnerships, collaboration, and thoughtful commitment to protecting our Nation’s natural and cultural resources. The work of the Interior Department and National Park Service (NPS) would not be a success without the National Park Foundation (Foundation), which plays a vital role in ensuring our national parks are accessible and welcoming to all.

In 2023, the Foundation continued its key philanthropic support for NPS and close collaboration with our team. Investments made possible by the Foundation and our expanding partner community contribute to improving park programs and visitor experiences, and protecting resources for the benefit of current and future generations.

The Foundation’s partnership is playing a prominent role in building resilience to the growing impacts of the climate crisis—from extreme drought and wildland fire to historic flooding and record-breaking heat. This essential conservation and restoration work is taking shape at iconic destinations each of us know and love, like Yosemite National Park in California, Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts, and Everglades National Park in Florida.

The Foundation is also helping to advance our shared priority to strengthen connections between Tribal Nations and their ancestral homelands. Tribes are the original stewards of lands that we now enjoy as national parks, and we are working across the Interior Department and with the Foundation to ensure that we honor that sacred relationship, including through incorporating Indigenous Knowledge and pursuing co-stewardship agreements. In November, we announced that the Foundation is supporting NPS in their work to develop a new theme study that will broaden how we interpret and understand the consequential Indian Reorganization Period. The theme study will grow our Nation’s understanding of this important chapter in our shared history that helped usher in Federal support for Indigenous cultures, economic recovery, self-determination, and governance.

As we build on our progress to protect the lands and waters that bind us together, our commitment to serve our Nation’s next generation of stewards has never been more important. The Foundation helps the Interior Department achieve this mission through its expanded support of service corps crews. This initiative offers young outdoor leaders paid opportunities to connect with NPS staff in parks across the country to protect our shared lands, waters, and cultural resources while learning valuable job skills and receiving training. As the Interior Department expands youth programs to communities across the country, our partnerships will continue to build meaningful avenues for young people to find purpose in protecting our shared public lands.

I am deeply grateful for the Foundation’s enduring support of national parks and its commitment to building a future where each of us can thrive. I look forward to what we will continue to accomplish as we safeguard irreplaceable lands, waters, and wildlife—now and for future generations.

The tradition of philanthropic support of America’s national parks, dating back more than a century, is strong and remains essential to the health and vitality of our parks and park programs in the next century. The National Park Service (NPS) is grateful for the National Park Foundation’s (Foundation) support in helping us advance our work to protect parks and to enhance the experience of millions of people who visit these remarkable places each year.

Our close partnership with the Foundation is helping to accelerate initiatives to improve campgrounds and visitor centers, to elevate and share with park visitors a more complete story of America’s rich and diverse history, heritage, and culture, and to ensure national parks are more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

The Foundation’s strategic alignment with NPS and the support it brings to our national parks through public-private partnerships have provided unique opportunities for our organizations to collaborate in innovative ways that deliver impact across the National Park System.

Partnership and philanthropic support were instrumental in establishing the new Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument by funding the acquisition of the home from Tougaloo College.

At the Lincoln Memorial, philanthropy is supporting the construction of expanded exhibit space and a new immersive museum in time for the celebration of America’s 250th birthday in 2026.

The Foundation’s Inclusive Storytelling grants and support of Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowships are helping parks to share a more comprehensive understanding of stories that represent the full history and heritage of the places we care for and protect.

Service corps, with funding support from the Foundation, are providing training and experience for the next generation of park stewards at dozens of parks across the county, empowering a thriving and diverse workforce for the future.

Importantly, our work together is strengthening relationships with sovereign Tribes to foster collaboration in our parks, delivering support to priority needs and interests of Tribal communities and national parks, including helping to ensure the participation of Tribal communities in co-stewardship of the land.

We are thankful for a tremendous year of partnership with the National Park Foundation and look forward to expanding the work we do to protect the legacy of national parks and to invest in their future success.

October 1, 2022  to September 30, 2023