Kentucky · Nonprofit
21ST CENTURY PARKS INC
21ST CENTURY PARKS INC (Kentucky) receives grants from 96 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,442,582 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LOUISVILLE INC ($5,741,724). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.7M
- Funders on record
- 96
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $93M
What 21st Century Parks Inc does
Mission
21st century parks serves as a steward entrusted to preserve and sustain unexcelled parklands that reflect the needs and values of our whole community. The goal of the parklands of floyds fork is to operate a world-class, systemic addition to louisville's park system; if done right, the outcome is the creation of the finest urban edge in the country.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Recreation:21st Century Parks Inc. Develops, funds and operates the parklands of floyds fork. This over 4,000-acre public park is complete, making it the largest urban park system built in the nation in at least the last 20 years. Even more unique, this park charges no admission fee and operates without receiving annual public tax dollars for operations. In 2025, the parklands hosted nearly 4 million visitors from across the region. These visitors hiked and biked the 46 miles of multi-use trails, paddled 22 miles of floyds fork and played games on 20 multi-use sports fields. In collaboration with partners, 21st century parks stocked more than 10,000 fish in the parklands lakes and streams for the angling community, provided 81 plots for community gardens and registered almost 400 dog owners at the barklands dog park. Area individuals and businesses contributed 1,500 volunteer hours in the parklands.
$5,540,497 spent78% of program spendingConservation: 21st century parks, inc. Is dedicated to the conservation and enrichment of the land for which it is responsible. The organization employs a full-time gardening and natural areas team that removed invasive plant species on more than 145 acres; maintained over 400 acres of native meadows; and treated & cared for the thousands of trees and shrubs planted in the parklands. We participated in the environmental quality incentives program: the parklands performed restoration work on more than 50 acres which included establishment of riparian corridors, brush and weed management. 21st Century Parks Inc. Also maintains two groves of endangered american chestnut trees. In 2025, 21st century parks, inc. Harvested over 600 chestnuts for planting within the parklands.
$811,204 spent11% of program spendingEducation:21st century parks, inc. Provides dynamic, life-changing experiences for louisville-area youth that connect them with the outdoors and our natural kentucky landscape. These experiences are designed to incite curiosity about our natural world while focusing on stem education curriculum through our outdoor classroom programming. In 2025, our education team delivered over 26,600 educational experiences, including more than 14,000 scholarships to title 1 students for in-park field trips and in-classroom outreach.
$724,027 spent$287,608 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,075,728.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $93M to $98M (+5%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 1% · 2018 0% · 2020 10% · 2021 9% · 2022 9% · 2023 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (13% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 8 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Dr Daniel H Jones
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 27 funders to 37 funders, grant income rose $1.1M → $3.0M.
17 of 96 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 58% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $13M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest 21st Century Parks Endowment Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC raised.
From the IRS filings of 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 96 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
21ST CENTURY PARKS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
77% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 84% · 2019 53% · 2020 32% · 2021 25% · 2022 28% · 2023 67% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
48% of 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
58% of 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $6.5M that is directly attributable, 89% of it comes from Kentucky funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $9.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
21ST CENTURY PARKS INC's revenue grew 23% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,623 recreation & sports nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Kentucky
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- 21st Century Parks Endowment Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC?
- 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC (Kentucky) receives grants from 96 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,442,582 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LOUISVILLE INC ($5,741,724). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC have?
- IRS filings report 96 organizations giving $15,442,582 in grants to 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC, 57 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LOUISVILLE INC is the largest funder on record, with $5,741,724 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like 21ST CENTURY PARKS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Kentucky. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 96 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing