The Endowment will assist with funding for natural resources, historic infrastructure, and regional park and trail care and maintenance within the MPRB system.
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) and the Minneapolis Parks Foundation (MPF) are partnering to create a new and forward-looking endowment. Once funded, the endowment will provide ongoing support for natural resources, historic infrastructure, and regional park and trail care and maintenance within the Minneapolis park system.
“We are excited to announce the establishment of the MPRB Endowment affiliation agreement with the Minneapolis Parks Foundation,” said MPRB Superintendent Al Bangoura. “Identifying new funding sources is a priority for our Board of Commissioners, and this new fund is an opportunity to create a structure for community members across the globe to contribute towards the legacy of the park system.”
The Minneapolis Parks Foundation, a philanthropic partner of the MPRB for more than 20 years, will help raise funds for the endowment and manage fund investments and distributions.
“In philanthropy, we must respond to current needs while thinking ahead to the needs of our community in the future,” noted MPF Executive Director Anne Hoyt Taff. “Today, the Foundation is focused on raising funds for transformational projects like North Commons Park and ongoing, critical programming – seeking grants for Spark’d Studios, for example. Establishing an endowment complements this work and creates a path for the community to help ensure sufficient funding will preserve the park experiences and environment we enjoy today for the generations of park users that will come after us.”
Establishing an endowment is a long-term effort with lasting impacts. It will take years, or even decades, before the fund is large enough to support the work needed in the areas of natural resources, historic infrastructure, and Regional Park trail care and maintenance. These three areas were identified as components that are essential for the MPRB to deliver on its mission, but which lack sustainable sources of public funding.
“The endowment funds will not supplant existing or future public funds,” said MPRB Board President Cathy Abene. “This agreement anticipates that the first distribution from the endowment would not happen until the balance reaches $10 million, or 10 years, whichever occurs first. This is true legacy work.”
Through its mission, the MPRB, “permanently preserves, protects, maintains, improves, and enhances its natural resources, parkland, and recreational opportunities for current and future generations of our region including people, plants, and wildlife. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board dismantles historic inequities in the provision of park and recreation opportunities for all people to gather, celebrate, contemplate, and engage in activities that promote health, wellbeing, community, and the environment.”
The Minneapolis Parks Foundation’s mission is to transform human lives through parks and public spaces by aligning philanthropic investment and community vision. Since 2003, the MPF has been an independent, donor-supported nonprofit dedicated to supporting the park system.
“This agreement will create a legacy approach to how we fund the parks,” said Jasmine Russell, MPF Board Chair. “The addition of an endowment will give community members more agency in their giving, providing a way for them to support future park initiatives. This fund allows individuals to feel more connected to the incredible work being done in our parks today and builds a sense of security that this work will continue for generations to come.”
The community is invited to contribute to the endowment fund to assist with future funding for natural resources, historic infrastructure, and regional park and trail care and maintenance within the MPRB system.
To contribute to the endowment fund or to learn more about supporting Minneapolis parks contact Jennifer Downham, Chief Development Officer at jdownham@mplsparksfoundation.org or visit mplsparksfoundation.org.