Oregon · Nonprofit
PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION
PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION (Oregon) receives grants from 52 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,171,679 to it, the largest being WALKER FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,121,530). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $801k
- Funders on record
- 52
- Grants received
- $3.2M
- Net assets
- $2.1M
What Portland Parks Foundation does
Mission
The Portland Parks Foundation mobilizes support to improve portland's system of parks, natural areas, and public spaces. We believe in the power of these places to strengthen communities, address historic inequities, and create a sense of belonging for everyone in portland. We seek transformational change by listening to communities and rally resources and opportunities to help realize their vision. We collaborate with individuals, community groups, organizations, and institutions to develop long-term, sustainable improvements to the livability and beauty of our city. We work to create the broadest possible access to recreation, creativity, education, and play in our parks and open spaces. We help people help parks.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Mobilizing parks groups and volunteers - Portland Parks Foundation (ppf) mobilizes parks groups and volunteers through a variety of programs aimed at building capacity of organizations and new, strategic ways of operating through grantmaking, awards, workshops and special events.in 2024, ppf's small grants program supported 25 local friend groups and partner organizations promoting equitable access to parks, natural areas, community gardens and community centers ($52,000 total awarded). Continued on schedule o.ppf also celebrated volunteerism through our parks champion awards and recognized emerging leaders through our leadership award, the joey pope award for parks leadership. Both awards offer grants to the honorees organizations of choice. Grants and awards are selected by community-led review committee members who have an option to receive a stipend for the participation or direct a grant to an organization of their choice in alignment with ppf's mission. The joey pope award for parks leadership will eventually be funded through an endowment. Also in 2024, ppf continued to offer free workshops through the friends & allies summits, a twice yearly program developed to support…
$310,351 spentof which $77,650 as grants$9,058 earned by the program67% of program spendingCapital parks projects - in 2024, ppf developed the fundraising campaign to renovate three new playgrounds including george park, raymond park, and portland heights park. Ppf also completed the design documents needed to restore the thompson elk fountain for the city.
$102,433 spent22% of program spendingParks programming and maintenance - in 2024, ppf provided fiscal sponsorship for three different organizations hosting cultural events and youth programming in parks.
$47,249 spentof which $1,189 as grants10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $460,033.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2020 to 2021, from $1.1M to $1.7M (+49%).
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: 2019 72% · 2020 16% · 2021 14% · 2022 7% · 2023 22% · 2024 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (18% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 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
Jessica Green
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $402k → $497k.
13 of 52 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 52 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
PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 35% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
37% 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 PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 41% · 2019 39% · 2020 31% · 2021 56% · 2022 54% · 2023 30% — 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
38% of PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
76% of PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Oregon funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $965k 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.
Against its field
PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 15,537 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 15,537 recreation & sports nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like PORTLAND 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 Oregon
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 PORTLAND 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.
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 PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION?
- PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION (Oregon) receives grants from 52 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,171,679 to it, the largest being WALKER FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,121,530). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 52 organizations giving $3,171,679 in grants to PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION, 29 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION?
- WALKER FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,121,530 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PORTLAND PARKS FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. 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 2019–2024), and the filings of 52 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