Over the years it has become increasingly evident that our Parks have a group of passionate supporters -- people who love nature and our Parks and want to do something to help. Some are champions of one or maybe two parks while others are passionate about an aspect of the environment like, fishing, gardening, bicycling, etc. So in the early nineties Parks Director Ken LePine, Commissioner Bud Morton and I, as Parks Chair, started the volunteer program called the Adult Conservation Team. Soon it was so successful that a full-time position was allocated to support our volunteers.
As the program grew it became obvious to the Parks Commission that there was not enough money to fund the many worthwhile projects that Friends and volunteers wanted to do with their parks--support from
government was just not going to do it. Also I felt that we needed independent financial support for our Parks and not always have to rely on the money from the County Board and Executive which can change very quickly.
So the Dane County Parks Commission developed a program to create an endowment which was approved by the County Board and Executive and endorsed by both major Madison newspapers. In order to raise funds, I formed a committee which came to be known as The Friends of Dane County Parks. The endowment's purpose is augmenting and supporting volunteerism, providing education and interpretation and helping build volunteer capacity. The Endowment which cannot supplant other parks allocations is held in and managed by the Madison Community Foundation.
One of the important questions is how will this affect the existing Friends groups. This endowment is not intended to be a competitor to the fund raising of the Friends groups. Quite the contrary it is to be a significant supporter of the Friends groups and not a competitor.
What do I mean? Dane county has a wealth of public and personal support for our Parks. Many people will give money to their park while others are willing to give to the parks generally and others will give to both. We view this as a partnership with the Friends groups. So far we have raised just under our first benchmark of $500,000 in around four years. We anticipate beginning to allocate a small part of the interest back to individual Friends groups with the active advice of the Friends groups within the next year as we anticipate continuing to grow the corpus.
Also we have found that in order to get funds from larger funders and family foundations, we needed to be incorporated and have an IRS 501c3 designation. So we formalized the Friends of Dane County Parks, Inc. to raise money sponsor individual Park Friend groups. Once that designation is received, we can be a fiscal agent for new groups just starting out and wanting to support the parks. Also it allowed us to have a formal relationship with Dane County Parks.
Friends groups come in all sizes and with varying needs. We want to hear about those needs both large and small before any disbursements are made.
As we evolve we anticipate a vibrant and respectful partnership with our many Friends groups and volunteers. The beauty of this endowment is that we can begin spending the interest and that corpus amount will be there in perpetuity to support and build the present and future generations of Friends groups and volunteers. Thus providing a growing source of funds to support our beautiful county parks.
As the program grew it became obvious to the Parks Commission that there was not enough money to fund the many worthwhile projects that Friends and volunteers wanted to do with their parks--support from
government was just not going to do it. Also I felt that we needed independent financial support for our Parks and not always have to rely on the money from the County Board and Executive which can change very quickly.
So the Dane County Parks Commission developed a program to create an endowment which was approved by the County Board and Executive and endorsed by both major Madison newspapers. In order to raise funds, I formed a committee which came to be known as The Friends of Dane County Parks. The endowment's purpose is augmenting and supporting volunteerism, providing education and interpretation and helping build volunteer capacity. The Endowment which cannot supplant other parks allocations is held in and managed by the Madison Community Foundation.
One of the important questions is how will this affect the existing Friends groups. This endowment is not intended to be a competitor to the fund raising of the Friends groups. Quite the contrary it is to be a significant supporter of the Friends groups and not a competitor.
What do I mean? Dane county has a wealth of public and personal support for our Parks. Many people will give money to their park while others are willing to give to the parks generally and others will give to both. We view this as a partnership with the Friends groups. So far we have raised just under our first benchmark of $500,000 in around four years. We anticipate beginning to allocate a small part of the interest back to individual Friends groups with the active advice of the Friends groups within the next year as we anticipate continuing to grow the corpus.
Also we have found that in order to get funds from larger funders and family foundations, we needed to be incorporated and have an IRS 501c3 designation. So we formalized the Friends of Dane County Parks, Inc. to raise money sponsor individual Park Friend groups. Once that designation is received, we can be a fiscal agent for new groups just starting out and wanting to support the parks. Also it allowed us to have a formal relationship with Dane County Parks.
Friends groups come in all sizes and with varying needs. We want to hear about those needs both large and small before any disbursements are made.
As we evolve we anticipate a vibrant and respectful partnership with our many Friends groups and volunteers. The beauty of this endowment is that we can begin spending the interest and that corpus amount will be there in perpetuity to support and build the present and future generations of Friends groups and volunteers. Thus providing a growing source of funds to support our beautiful county parks.
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