About Us

Northwest Parks Foundation is setting new standards of excellence in park support. By working with local parks departments and community groups to help build and sustain parks, playfields, trails, pools and other recreation facilities in the region, we contribute to active, healthy lifestyles.

We believe that healthy parks equal healthy people. We support a balance between refreshing trails in undeveloped open space and park amenities that encourage exercise or provide opportunities for active recreation.

Mission

Facilitating healthy lives through active recreation parks.

Objectives

Work to support the parks, pools, trails, playfields, and other active recreation facilities in the region that help contribute to active, healthy lifestyles.
Identify park system needs and address them by providing direct financial support. We also work to bring local business leaders, user groups, funding organizations, and community members together to finance programs and facilities that you and your family can use every day.
Serve as a voice for the community, offering practical recommendations and relevant information about park and recreation issues to elected officials to ensure that the public parks you visit best serve your needs.

What We Do

Research & Implement ~ We research the impacts of park facilities on the natural environment and the economy and put them into practice (see SPARK under Projects/Endowments).
Facilitate ~ We help bring local business leaders, user groups, funding organizations and community members together to finance programs or facilities.
Advocacy ~ We offer assistance to private citizens advocating for park improvements and financial support (see Parks Safety Net).
Capital Campaigns / Grant Writing ~ We provide professional adminstration of capital campaigns to leverage public/private partnerships and fund a variety of municipal park projects. We assist agencies in developing and submitting grant applications.
Park Planning ~ We offer practical recommendations and relevant information about park and recreation issues to elected officials and decision makers to ensure that the public parks you visit best serve your needs.

Bonafide Non-profit Charity Organization

Those of us here at Northwest Parks Foundation understand that you, the potential donor, want to be sure that your money is really going to a good cause. Below you will find links to both our Washington non-profit corporation certification and our IRS charity listing.

Click Here to see our Washington State non-profit corporation certification.

Click Here to see our lRS charity listing.

IRS 501(c)(3) Public Charity Status Letter.pdf

Company history

Northwest Parks Foundation was founded in 2002 to address the severe lack of funding for parks and recreation facilities. It was first called Friends of King County Parks and focused on funding shortages in King County alone. It soon became apparent that the paucity in governmental parks budgets was not unique to King County, but was equally as significant of a problem, if not more significant, in other areas. Thus Friends of King County Parks became Northwest Parks Foundation and expanded its scope to include all of the Pacific Northwest. Since its establishment, Northwest Parks has become involved in many different projects and areas of support including projects of our own, managing endowments, spearheading capital campaigns, as well as support of local parks efforts through the Parks Safety Net. Please see our Parks Safety Net page for a list of our municipal partners or our Projects/Endowments and Capital Campaigns pages for our other endeavors.

Quotations

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."

- Winston Churchill

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

"An active mind cannot live in an inactive body."

- General George S. Patton

"The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service"

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow