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City Parks Foundation Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

City Parks Foundation Inc

City parks foundation is dedicated to invigorating and transforming parks into dynamic, vibrant centers of urban life through sports, arts, community building and education programs for all new yorkers.

$2.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
81
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$77k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Environment$5.5MRecreation & Sports$2.8MArts & Culture$1.6MCommunity Improvement$1.1MYouth Development$417kEducation$324kEmployment$265kFood & Nutrition$152kOther$0
02FY2024 · 81 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 81 grants below total $1,938,893, the rows itemized in this filing. The $2,099,042 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $160,149 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k15 grants · $112k
  • $10k–50k59 grants · $1.4M
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $442k
$20,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$47M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GOWANUS CANAL CONSERVANCY$77,000
NEW YORKERS FOR PARKS$75,000
DESIGN TRUST FOR PUBLIC SPACE$60,000
RIVERSIDE PARK CONSERVANCY INC$60,000
URBAN DESIGN FORUM$60,000
MOTT HAVEN - PORT MORRIS COMMUNITY LAND STEWARDS$60,000
CENTER FOR AN URBAN FUTURE$50,000
OPEN SPACE ALLIANCE FOR NORTH BROOKLYN INC$45,000
FORT GREENE PARK CONSERVANCY$40,000
BROOKLYN GREENWAY INITIATIVE$40,000
BRONX RIVER ALLIANCE$40,000
VAN CORTLANDT PARK ALLIANCE$40,000
WATERFRONT ALLIANCE INC$40,000
CONCRETE SAFARIS INC$40,000
GREEN GUERILLAS$40,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY20–23, $425k) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HUNGER: $45k → 20%THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HUNGER: $25k → 20%THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HUNGER INC: $25k → 20%KINGSBRIDGE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $20k → 28%KINGSBRIDGE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $20k → 28%SOUTHERN QUEENS PARK ASSOCIATION (SQPA): $80k → 13%SOUTHERN QUEENS PARK ASSOCIATION: $50k → 13%FUTURES IGNITE INC: $40k → 17%HARLEM ONE STOP INC: $10k → 17%UNITED COMMUNITY CENTERS INC: $50k → 20%UNITED COMMUNITY CENTERS: $40k → 20%UNITED COMMUNITY CENTERS INC: $20k → 20%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$9.9M · 86 repeat orgs$2.6M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +45% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.

86 repeat relationships: 55 still active in FY2024, 31 since wound down; 26 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

86
47

Total granted

$9.9M
$2.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+45%
+21%

Still filing today

94%
74%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $460k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementRecreation & SportsEducationHuman ServicesOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • NY
    NEW YORKERS FOR PARKS
    5× · 2020–2024 · $415k · revenue +4%
  • FG
    FORT GREENE PARK CONSERVANCY INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $290k · revenue +140%
  • BR
    BRONX RIVER ALLIANCE INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $285k · revenue +171%

Funded once

  • TQ
    THE QUEENS LIBRARY FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $996k · revenue +68% · 30% of their budget
  • THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LANDgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $200k · revenue +109%
  • GM
    Greenpoint Monitor Museum
    one grant, 2019 · $113k · revenue -83% · 69% of their budget
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Battery Park City Parks Conservancy Corporation

The battery park city parks conservancy's mission is to manage, maintain, operate, repair, preserve and program activities to a world class standard for the residential parks, open space, and other public structures located on the 92 acre…

Recreation & Sports
2
Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation

Brooklyn bridge park corporation's mission, d/b/a brooklyn bridge park ("bbp") mission is to provide an exceptional public space that connects people, nature, and the waterfront, through inclusive, innovative, and sustainable management…

Recreation & Sports
3
New York Botanical Garden

The new york botanical garden is a museum of plants and a scientific research center devoted to the study of plants and their uses. it is the garden's mission to improve public understanding of the natural world, horticulture, and the…

Environment
4
Madison Square Park Conservancy Inc

Madison square park conservancy is the nonprofit entrusted by the city of new york to operate madison square park, a 6.2-acre public space in the heart of manhattan. our mission is to conserve, maintain, and program this ever-evolving…

Environment
5
A Better Way Brooklyn Inc

A better way brooklyn, inc. is a new york not-for-profit corporation formed for the purposes of educating the public about transportation issues throughout new york city by promoting community awareness and concerns on construction and…

Public Benefit
6
The Neue Galerie New York
Arts & Culture
7
Elizabeth Street Garden Inc

To protect and preserve the magic of Elizabeth Street Garden as a public community green space and to determine how nyc parks & recreation together with the community can protect the garden for generations to enjoy

Environment
8
Friends of Downtown Parks Nyc Inc

To improve parks, playgrounds, and open space in downtown manhattan below 14th street

Environment
9
Brooklyn Inst of Arts & Sciences Trust
Philanthropy
10
Earth Matter Ny Inc

The organization is based on governor's island whose mission is to reduce the organic waste misdirected into new york city's landfills by encouraging neighbor participation and leadership in composting.

Environment
11
Arts Gowanus Inc

Arts Gowanus is a not-for-profit organization working to support, promote, and advocate for local artists and a sustainable arts community in Brooklyn

Arts & Culture
12
Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts Ny Inc

NOCD-NY is a citywide alliance of cultural networks and community leaders that have joined together to revitalize New York City from the neighborhood up. NOCD-NY came together in 2010 in response to the vision, sustained needs, and…

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Queens Botanical Garden Society Inc; the most unlike its peers is Connectemonos. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

138 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 138 of the 159 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

16
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
50
Early backer (in before they grew)
136/138
Grantees still filing
97/138
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BROOKLYN GREENWAY INITIATIVE: $495,540 · EnvironmentBROOKLYN GREENWAY INITIATIVEGOWANUS CANAL CONSERVANCY INC: $489,000 · EnvironmentGOWANUS CANAL CONSERVANCY INCNATURAL AREAS CONSERVANCY INC: $333,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL AREAS CONSERVANCY INCBRONX RIVER ALLIANCE INC: $285,000 · EnvironmentBRONX RIVER ALLIANCE INCOPEN SPACE ALLIANCE FOR NORTH BROOKLYN INC: $236,900 · EnvironmentOPEN SPACE ALLIANCE FOR NORTH BROOKLY…RIVERSIDE PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $225,000 · EnvironmentRIVERSIDE PARK CONSERVANCY INCTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $200,000 · EnvironmentTHE BRONX IS BLOOMING: $180,000 · EnvironmentTHE FOREST PARK TRUST INC: $169,619 · EnvironmentQUEENS BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY INC: $150,000 · EnvironmentNEW YORK RESTORATION PROJECT: $140,000 · Environment+22 more: $1,223,530 · Environment+22 moreTHE QUEENS LIBRARY FOUNDATION INC: $995,993 · OtherTHE QUEENS LIBRARY FOUNDATION INCNEW YORKERS FOR PARKS: $415,000 · OtherNEW YORKERS FOR PARKSTHE WYCKOFF HOUSE & ASSOCIATION INC: $165,000 · OtherRANDALL'S ISLAND PARK ALLIANCE INC: $155,000 · OtherCONCRETE SAFARIS INC: $170,000 · OtherCATROCK VENTURES INC: $139,600 · OtherGREEN GUERILLAS INC: $210,000 · OtherNEW YORK CITY H2O INC: $170,000 · OtherROCKAWAY DEVELOPMENT AND REVITALIZATION CORPORATION: $169,750 · Other+48 more: $1,513,318 · Other+48 moreFORT GREENE PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $290,000 · Arts & CultureFORT GREENE…FRIENDS OF THE HIGH LINE INC: $120,000 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF …Greenpoint Monitor Museum: $113,160 · Arts & CultureGreenpoint …FRIENDS OF ALICE AUSTEN HOUSE INC: $85,000 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF …DYCKMAN FARMHOUSE MUSEUM ALLIANCE: $75,000 · Arts & CultureDYCKMAN FAR…Parent Child Relationship Association Inc: $70,000 · Arts & CultureParent Chil…Municipal Art Society of New York: $70,000 · Arts & CultureMunicipal A…FRACTURED ATLAS INC: $54,500 · Arts & CultureMORRIS JUMEL MANSION INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureHISTORIC HOUSE TRUST OF NEW YORK CITY INC: $45,000 · Arts & Culture+16 more: $278,119 · Arts & Culture+16 moreVAN CORTLANDT PARK ALLIANCE: $240,000 · Recreation & SportsVAN CORTLA…PROSPECT PARK ALLIANCE INC: $135,000 · Recreation & SportsPROSPECT P…GOVERNORS ISLAND ALLIANCE: $130,000 · Recreation & SportsGOVERNORS …FRIENDS OF MORNINGSIDE PARK INC: $125,799 · Recreation & SportsFRIENDS OF…FRESHKILLSPARK ALLIANCE INC: $120,000 · Recreation & SportsFRESHKILLS…South Bronx United Inc: $100,000 · Recreation & SportsSouth Bron…FRIENDS OF HUDSON RIVER PARK INC: $100,000 · Recreation & SportsFRIENDS OF…WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $93,000 · Recreation & SportsWASHINGTON…HUDSON RIVER COMMUNITY SAILING INC: $50,000 · Recreation & Sports+4 more: $73,000 · Recreation & Sports+4 moreWATERFRONT ALLIANCE INC: $215,000 · Community ImprovementWE STAY-NOS QUEDAMOS INC: $165,000 · Community ImprovementSOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK INC: $110,000 · Community ImprovementQUEENS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $90,000 · Community ImprovementSTATEN ISLAND URBAN CENTER INC: $63,900 · Community ImprovementCAPITOL DISTRICT MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION INC: $51,000 · Community ImprovementSUNNYSIDE DISTRICT MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATIO: $47,000 · Community ImprovementARTS & DEMOCRACY INC: $42,622 · Community Improvement+8 more: $108,275 · Community ImprovementBrooklyn Queens Land Trust: $140,500 · EducationTHE FORUM FOR URBAN DESIGN: $100,000 · EducationIN OUR BACKYARDS INC: $85,474 · EducationMarine Park Alliance Corp: $72,300 · EducationFRIENDS OF GANTRY PLAZA STATE PARK INC: $65,000 · EducationEL GRITO INC: $23,450 · Education+2 more: $23,340 · EducationSOUTHERN QUEENS PARK ASSOCIATION INC: $130,000 · Human ServicesUNITED COMMUNITY CENTERS INC: $110,000 · Human ServicesTHE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HUNGER INC: $95,000 · Human ServicesFUTURES IGNITE INC: $40,000 · Human ServicesKINGSBRIDGE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $40,000 · Human Services+1 more: $10,000 · Human Services
Environment$4,127,589Other$4,103,661Arts & Culture$1,250,779Recreation & Sports$1,166,799Community Improvement$892,797Education$510,064Human Services$425,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE QUEENS LIBRARY FOUNDATION INC: $995,993 over 1y, 30% of budgetBROOKLYN GREENWAY INITIATIVE: $495,540 over 5y, 28% of budgetGOWANUS CANAL CONSERVANCY INC: $489,000 over 5y, 25% of budgetNEW YORKERS FOR PARKS: $415,000 over 5y, 11% of budgetNATURAL AREAS CONSERVANCY INC: $333,000 over 3y, 7.6% of budgetFORT GREENE PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $290,000 over 5y, 24% of budgetBRONX RIVER ALLIANCE INC: $285,000 over 5y, 11% of budgetVAN CORTLANDT PARK ALLIANCE: $240,000 over 5y, 9.0% of budgetOPEN SPACE ALLIANCE FOR NORTH BROOKLYN INC: $236,900 over 4y, 13% of budgetRIVERSIDE PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $225,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetWATERFRONT ALLIANCE INC: $215,000 over 3y, 5.7% of budgetGREEN GUERILLAS INC: $210,000 over 5y, 14% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $200,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BRONX IS BLOOMING: $180,000 over 5y, 13% of budgetNEW YORK CITY H2O INC: $170,000 over 5y, 7.6% of budgetCONCRETE SAFARIS INC: $170,000 over 4y, 8.4% of budgetROCKAWAY DEVELOPMENT AND REVITALIZATION CORPORATION: $169,750 over 4y, 7.0% of budgetTHE FOREST PARK TRUST INC: $169,619 over 5y, 34% of budgetTHE WYCKOFF HOUSE & ASSOCIATION INC: $165,000 over 5y, 9.1% of budgetWE STAY-NOS QUEDAMOS INC: $165,000 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetRANDALL'S ISLAND PARK ALLIANCE INC: $155,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetQUEENS BOTANICAL GARDEN SOCIETY INC: $150,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetBrooklyn Queens Land Trust: $140,500 over 4y, 29% of budgetNEW YORK RESTORATION PROJECT: $140,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetCATROCK VENTURES INC: $139,600 over 5y, 6.3% of budgetPROSPECT PARK ALLIANCE INC: $135,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetSOUTHERN QUEENS PARK ASSOCIATION INC: $130,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetSNUG HARBOR CULTURAL CENTER AND BOTANICAL GARDEN INC: $130,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetGOVERNORS ISLAND ALLIANCE: $130,000 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetFRIENDS OF MORNINGSIDE PARK INC: $125,799 over 2y, 50% of budgetGUARDIANS OF FLUSHING BAY INC: $125,000 over 5y, 46% of budgetFRESHKILLSPARK ALLIANCE INC: $120,000 over 4y, 23% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE HIGH LINE INC: $120,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetGreenpoint Monitor Museum: $113,160 over 1y, 69% of budgetUNITED COMMUNITY CENTERS INC: $110,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetSOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK INC: $110,000 over 3y, 5.0% of budgetTHE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK: $105,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetSouth Bronx United Inc: $100,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetFRIENDS OF HUDSON RIVER PARK INC: $100,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetALLIANCE FOR FLUSHING MEADOWS CORONA PARK CORPORATION: $100,000 over 3y, 5.7% of budgetCITY FUTURES INC: $100,000 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetTHE FORUM FOR URBAN DESIGN: $100,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetTHE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HUNGER INC: $95,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetWASHINGTON SQUARE PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $93,000 over 4y, 4.9% of budgetQUEENS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $90,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetIN OUR BACKYARDS INC: $85,474 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetHARLEM GROWN INC: $85,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF ALICE AUSTEN HOUSE INC: $85,000 over 5y, 5.5% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Lily Auchincloss Foun…The Hyde and Watson F…Pinkerton FoundationIn Our Backyards IncThe New York Communit…The Achelis & Bodman …Brooklyn Community Fo…The Staten Island Fou…Altman FoundationThe Jm Kaplan Fund IncLevitt Foundation IncThe New York and Pres…
Lily Auchincloss Foundation IncNY99.9× affinity49 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Lily Auchincloss Foundation Inc · The Hyde and Watson Foundation · Pinkerton Foundation · In Our Backyards Inc · The New York Community Trust · The Achelis & Bodman Foundation Co Manice & Budd LLP · Brooklyn Community Foundation · The Staten Island Foundation · Altman Foundation · The Jm Kaplan Fund Inc · Levitt Foundation Inc · The New York and Presbyterian Hospital

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization City Parks Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from City Parks Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    62report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 159 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on City Parks’ filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home