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Ohio · Nonprofit

CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION

CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION (Ohio) receives grants from 119 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,891,413 to it, the largest being THE GREATER CINCINNATI FOUNDATION ($1,542,366). 77 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$4.5M
Funders on record
119
Grants received
$8.9M
Net assets
$23M
77/119 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 41%
01What it does

What Cincinnati Parks Foundation does

Mission

To build broad based private/public partnerships supporting the conservation and enhancement of our city's parks and greenspaces.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Cincinnati Parks Foundation is the primary philanthropic partner to cincinnati parks. We raise private support to keep our parks clean, green, beautiful and welcoming to everyone. In 2025, we continued investing in our city's 200-year-old park system, planting new acorns for a healthier, more connected future. For 30 years, Cincinnati Parks Foundation has invested more than $110 million in clean, green, beautiful and welcoming parks across our city. 12.81 tons of litter removed at oblitterators cleanups. Advanced capital projects at owl's nest park and glenway park. Over 1,500 trees planted through our conservation funds.1,749 volunteers contributed 13,744 hours. Efforts were made in 2025 in 4 key areas: create we made meaningful progress on priority park improvements, including: completing fundraising for the $4.1 million owl's nest park renovation to restore the historic pavilion and improve accessibility, lighting, landscaping and park entrances. Supporting programming at the sawyer point riverfront rink and preparing for a 2026 campaign to reimagine the rink and rebuild the playground lost to fire. Continuing work on the next phase of the smale riverfront park expansion in…

    $5,745,719 spentof which $4,676,689 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,745,719.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($2.9M) Expenses 100 ($1.3M) Net assets 100 ($14M)2018 Revenue 94 ($2.7M) Expenses 222 ($2.9M) Net assets 86 ($12M)2019 Revenue 120 ($3.4M) Expenses 125 ($1.6M) Net assets 110 ($15M)2020 Revenue 70 ($2.0M) Expenses 168 ($2.2M) Net assets 115 ($16M)2021 Revenue 203 ($5.8M) Expenses 170 ($2.2M) Net assets 151 ($21M)2022 Revenue 154 ($4.4M) Expenses 279 ($3.6M) Net assets 139 ($19M)2023 Revenue 112 ($3.2M) Expenses 175 ($2.3M) Net assets 153 ($21M)2024 Revenue 110 ($3.2M) Expenses 196 ($2.6M) Net assets 162 ($22M)2025 Revenue 158 ($4.5M) Expenses 487 ($6.3M) Net assets 165 ($23M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (158)Expenses (487)Net assets (165)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $16M to $21M (+30%).

$14M
$12M
$15M
$16M
$21M
$19M
$21M
$22M
$23M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

91% of CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (13% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,898 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$1.6M
’17
−$215k
’18
$1.8M
’19
−$173k
’20
$3.6M
’21
$782k
’22
$920k
’23
$607k
’24
−$1.8M
’25
5.4
months of
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.

Chief executive

Jennifer Spieser

President and CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed323135394239404041
Joined·+7+7+10+5+5+9+11+9
No longer listed·836288118
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 51 funders, grant income rose $873k → $1.1M.

15 of 119 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 119 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

CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left

33% 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 CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION.

17%
largest funder
34%
top three
~15
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 52% · 2019 22% · 2020 33% · 2021 24% · 2022 23% · 2023 17% — diversifying over time.

“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

49% of CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

84% of CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Ohio funders.

WA
MN
IL
NY
MA
OH
PA
CT
NE
MO
KY
DE
NC
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Ohio out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION is better cushioned than half of the 1,767 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−40% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve5.4mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)6% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,767 recreation & sports nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION

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 Ohio

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

91% of spending goes to programs.

Program 91%Management 4%Fundraising 5%

Governance

40
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

72%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 2 states

OH
KY

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION: 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.

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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 CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION?
CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION (Ohio) receives grants from 119 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,891,413 to it, the largest being THE GREATER CINCINNATI FOUNDATION ($1,542,366). 77 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 119 organizations giving $8,891,413 in grants to CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION, 77 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION?
THE GREATER CINCINNATI FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,542,366 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 119 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing