New York · Nonprofit
CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC
CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 281 organizations whose IRS filings report $41,442,563 to it, the largest being FREEDOM TOGETHER FOUNDATION ($4,750,000). 154 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $27M
- Funders on record
- 281
- Grants received
- $41M
- Net assets
- $43M
What City Parks Foundation Inc does
Mission
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. Cpf's programs located in more than 400 parks, recreation centers and public schools across new york city reach 300,000 people each year. Cpf's ethos is simple: thriving parks mean thriving communities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Arts & culture:cityparks shows plays a central role in activating the organization's mission to create vibrant and healthy urban communities through dynamic programming in parks for all new yorkers. Cityparks shows brings hundreds of live music, dance and theater performances to communities throughout new york city's five boroughs. The summerstage festival typically presents over 200 artists presenting free performances and benefit concerts each year in 15-18 parks throughout the city, ranging from indie, reggae, afrobeat, soul, modern dance, latin and much more. Summerstage anywhere provides access to these performances to people across the globe. The swedish cottage marionette theatre, home to one of the last public marionette companies in the u.s., presents modern takes on classic fairy tales, and the traveling puppetmobile presents family-friendly puppet shows and workshops outdoors around the city, free of charge.
$8,755,240 spent$5,619,285 earned by the program43% of program spendingFiscal sponsorships: as fiscal sponsor for a number of new york city park groups and department of parks & recreation (dpr) programs, cpf helps improve the appearance and use of parks through direct physical enhancements, encouragement of neighborhood volunteers, and innovations in dpr operations.
$3,455,333 spentof which $496 as grants$520,853 earned by the program17% of program spendingNyc green fund:in collaboration with a consortium of leading philanthropic organizations, cpf is the administrator of the new york city green fund. This funding is designated to respond to the most urgent needs facing the grassroots and non-profit stewardship organizations that maintain, program and activate new york city open spaces.
$3,001,811 spentof which $2,098,546 as grants15% of program spendingPartnerships for parks:partnerships for parks (pfp), a joint program with the nyc department of parks and recreation, promotes community involvement in parks by building, linking and strengthening a citywide constituency of parks supporters. Each year, pfp supports and empowers a growing network of 600 community groups and volunteers dedicated to promoting their local parks and improving the surrounding communities. Through direct engagement, intensive training and technical assistance, and practical toolkits, cpf enables citizens to play an active and effective role in decisions regarding their local green spaces.education programs:cityparks learn plays a central role in activating cpfs mission to create vibrant and healthy urban communities through dynamic outdoor programming for all new yorkers. Cpfs environmental education programs help students experience the fun of science, while learning about their relationship to the natural world and the ways in which they can protect our natural environment. Cpf provides environmental science programs for elementary, middle and high school students throughout new york city.sports:cityparks play has a central role in activating cpfs…
$5,209,068 spent$200,394 earned by the program26% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $20,421,452.
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 2021 to 2022, from $46M to $38M (−18%).
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 14% · 2018 14% · 2019 20% · 2020 8% · 2021 20% · 2022 18% · 2023 10% · 2024 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (11% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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.
Chief executive
Heather Lubov
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 55 funders to 119 funders, grant income rose $1.7M → $6.4M.
24 of 281 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 281 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
CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
34% 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 CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 15% · 2018 45% · 2019 20% · 2020 21% · 2021 18% · 2022 18% · 2023 18% — 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
38% of CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
83% of CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 303 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 303 recreation & sports nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.8M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$5.2M
- National Endowment for the Arts$505k
- Environmental Protection Agency$100k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like CITY PARKS FOUNDATION 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CITY PARKS FOUNDATION 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 CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC?
- CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 281 organizations whose IRS filings report $41,442,563 to it, the largest being FREEDOM TOGETHER FOUNDATION ($4,750,000). 154 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 281 organizations giving $41,442,563 in grants to CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC, 154 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC?
- FREEDOM TOGETHER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,750,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 281 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