April 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 53

" It's going to be a dramatically
rough summer for us. It's the first
real cut that truly resulted in
cutbacks in customer service. "
Joe Turner

sponsors exactly what they are buying
a stake in. And that is where Neuert and
the Zoological Society come in. For example, when the zoo decided to offer patrons a professionally produced zoo map,
it was Neuert who approached Southwest franchises like Sonic and Howdy's to fund the $10,000 printing cost.
" I told them, 'We bring in 350,000
visits a year from families with children. This is your market. And [in exchange for your sponsorship], we'll give
you the back of the map,' " Neuert says.
Like Johnson, Neuert often begins by
going to the local civic organizations to
" start the buzz " for some new sponsorship opportunity. She then moves up the
ladder, targeting local businesses first-
and only later appealing to national corporations and their associated foundations.
And she and Marshall stress cooperation. " Steve is such a passionate zoo director, " Neuert says. " I take him with me each
time I make an appeal or a presentation. "
" And it is my job, " Marshall adds, " to
make sure we're good enough that people
will want to associate with our good will. "
So, while Neuert cultivates relationships with
businesses, Marshall makes sure the zoo is
the kind of clean, well-run facility partners
and sponsors would want their name linked
with. " There are two approaches I've seen
in appealing to donors, " he says. " The first
is, 'Hey, we're in crisis mode.' The second is
simply to be a winner. Show you're doing
well. And when it comes to sponsorships,
Marshall insists, " You're not going to attract
any corporate support if you're mediocre. "

-Maureen Hannan

Vehicle of Success

Park Foundations prove their worth

lot of agencies are
taking the foundation vehicle and retooling it, " says Bill
Koegler, development director at the
Oglebay Institute and expert on alternative revenue sources for park agencies.
Koegler reels off a list of foundations
that are, as he puts it, " getting more assertive " about asking their communities
to support local parks. Koegler likens the
refashioned, park-chartered foundation
to the private fundraising organizations
created by state colleges and universities-and he urges parks to embrace that
model. " When aggressive parks and recreation program directors get involved
[in foundation-based development],
they see successes, " he says. Two successes Koegler points to are the Legacy
Parks Foundation of Knox County, Tennessee, and the Cincinnati Recreation
Foundation in Ohio. Yet, despite the
common use of the foundation " passthrough " vehicle, these two successes are as different as can be. While the
Legacy Parks Foundation has taken the
lead in acquiring new park land for the
Knoxville area, the Cincinnati nonprofit
was charged with the task of preserving
existing infrastructure.
In 2005, the Knox County and city of
Knoxville park departments joined forces
to create a task force charged with launching a 501(c)(3) foundation. According to
Carol Evans, director of the resulting Legacy Parks Foundation (LPF), the fledgling organization took a year to acquaint
itself with the agency's needs and goals
and to begin reaching out to the community. Then, it then set out to enhance the
region's parks with an ambitious five-fold
focus: to preserve the ridges and views,
connect neighborhoods with communities
through greenways, maintain the health
of (and access to) the region's waterways,
create recreational opportunities for the
underserved, and exceed the national average for public parks and green space.
Evans speaks proudly of a recent LPF
project encompassing many of those
goals: a 1,000-acre " urban wilderness
corridor. " The donated land runs along
Knoxville's downtown waterfront and
connects 10 parks, nearly 20 miles of
recreational trails, and numerous recreational amenities and historical sites.
" Because of our autonomy, " she says,
" Legacy Parks Foundation has been able
www.NRPA .ORG

to raise private dollars to acquire property; leverage the donation of goods,
services and land; and convene a collaborative group of individuals and organizations around Knoxville's Urban
Wilderness concept....The foundation's
role has been to create the vision, mobilize the support, and maintain the momentum and enthusiasm. "
In Cincinnati, a foundation that was
originally established merely as a passthrough organization evolved to become a
lifeline for the Cincinnati Recreation Commission. The Cincinnati Recreation Foundation was created in 1996 with the intent
of allowing park staff to apply for grants
from organizations requiring a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit status. But nearly $7 million in
operating cuts over the last three years led
to the commission asking the foundation
to become an active fundraising partner
in three primary areas: saving swimming
pools that were cut from the 2011 budget,
providing free memberships to youth and
teens whose families are unable to afford
the cost, and aiding the therapeutic recreation division as it works with individuals
with disabilities.
And the success of the foundation in
rapidly addressing these needs exceeded
anything the agency had envisioned. According to Brenda LeMaster, the foundation's president, " In 2010, the foundation
worked with corporate leaders to raise
$217,000 to open four additional pools
and extend the season an additional
two weeks at 26 pools during a very hot
summer. "
The Cincinnati foundation is now
working to transition from a short-term
to a long-term outlook. Its newest challenge? To create an endowment or trust
fund to support those three priority
initiatives.
Whether a park agency's vision is to
expand despite economic challenges or
to continue providing important facilities and programs, the foundation vehicle is nimble and robust enough to
partner with any park agency to address its unique needs. And, while the
successes demonstrate that it is an especially useful tool in times of budget cuts
and shrinking services, the lesson these
agencies have learned is that retooled,
expertly run foundations can actually
help parks plan for the future.
-Maureen Hannan
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Parks & Recreation

April 2011 - Parks & Recreation

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