The national park system is comprised of 387 parks, including a diverse array of national parks, military parks, national monuments, national historic sites, recreation areas, and other designations. The Park Service manages the park system and is charged with preserving and protecting these public lands for future generations. To manage this diverse system, parks are arranged under seven regional offices. These offices offer administrative or specialized support that is not always available at the local park level. Within these regions, a superintendent manages each park and has considerable decision-making authority over local park operations. Federal appropriations to the Park Service have increased from about $2 billion to about $2.5 billion over the past 5 years, but these funds still fall short of addressing system needs. For example, the park system has a maintenance backlog estimated to be about $5 billion. In addition to federal appropriations, the Park Service relies on support from various sources. For example, the Park Service receives additional support through (1) admission and user fees collected at park sites; (2) franchise fees paid by over 600 park concessionaires; and (3) donations from various individuals and groups, such as nonprofit organizations, which provide, among other things, technical, volunteer, and financial assistance to parks. The Park Service is actively increasing its partnerships with nonprofit organizations as an additional source of support. In 1967, the Congress chartered the Foundation as the official national, nonprofit fund-raising partner of the Park Service. The Foundation’s primary purpose is to encourage private contributions that benefit park programs, activities, or services. The Foundation’s charter was expanded in 1998 to assist and promote fund-raising at individual national parks. The Foundation is governed by a board of directors. The Secretary of the Interior is the board’s chairperson and appoints all board members, who serve without pay or other compensation. With the exception of appointment powers, most of the chairperson’s responsibilities for overseeing Foundation operations are delegated to the board’s vice chairman, who is the private citizen leader of the board. The Foundation has a staff of about 40 employees, including a chief executive officer/president who is responsible for managing the Foundation’s day-to- day operations. Although congressionally chartered, the Foundation does not receive federal appropriations. Its expenses are paid from the revenues that it collects. The Foundation’s revenues and expenses have dramatically increased in recent years. Foundation revenues more than doubled from about $24 million in fiscal year 1999 to about $52 million in fiscal year 2003. Similarly, the Foundation’s expenses, which are mostly contributions to the parks, have increased from $16.5 million to over $48 million during this period. Figure 1 show the trends in the Foundation’s revenues and expenses for fiscal years 1999 through 2003. The total Foundation revenues for fiscal years 1999 through 2003 amounted to about $200 million. Of these, contributions (cash and in-kind) were the largest category of revenues, accounting for about $160 million, or 80 percent. Other revenue sources included income from investments, payments from federal agencies, litigation settlements, and fees imposed for services provided to other nonprofit organizations. On the other hand, the Foundation’s total expenses were about $176 million during this time. The majority of these expenses were for direct program support and grants, amounting to $160 million, or 91 percent, of all expenses. Other expenses were for general and administrative costs and fund-raising costs. These costs included rent payments, purchases of equipment and supplies, and salaries for administrative personnel. Figure 2 shows the Foundation’s total revenues and expenses for fiscal years 1999 through 2003, by category. The Foundation has considerable discretion in raising and distributing private contributions to the Park Service. The Foundation’s chartering legislation does not prescribe a specific process to be used by the Foundation in raising donations for the Park Service. The Foundation has determined that systemwide projects that are unlikely to receive federal funding have the greatest potential for fund-raising success. The 1967 legislative charter provides the Foundation with broad discretion in determining its fund-raising approach. Under the legislation, the Foundation is authorized to “accept, receive, solicit, hold, administer, and use any gifts, devises, or bequests, either absolutely or in trust of real or personal property or any income therefrom or other interest therein for the benefit of or in connection with, the National Park Service, its activities, or its services.” In 1998, the Congress amended the Foundation’s charter and also required it to “design and implement a comprehensive program to assist and promote philanthropic programs of support at the individual national park unit level.” In general, the Foundation attempts to secure private support for systemwide projects that are not federally funded. Foundation officials refer to this selection approach as its “Bright Line Theory.” This theory is based on the view that donors will typically not make a contribution if they believe their donations will simply be used to supplant government funds or if their donations do not provide additional value. The Foundation considers projects that are systemwide and nonfederally funded to be above the bright line and to have the greatest possibility of attracting private support. The Foundation usually identifies these projects in consultation with Park Service headquarters officials. Such projects include the Park Service’s Junior Rangers Program, which seeks to provide school children with knowledge about the benefits of national parks, and the Parks as Classrooms Program, whereby teachers are encouraged to supplement learning about nature by visiting local parks. Because the Foundation focuses on systemwide, nonfederally funded projects, it does not typically attempt to secure private donations for certain individual park priorities, which, Foundation officials believe, fall below the bright line and would potentially be viewed by donors as a federal responsibility. For fiscal years 1999 through 2003, private contributions more than doubled, from approximately $18 million in 1999 to just over $41 million in 2003. Cumulative private contributions during this period were about $160 million, with the majority of these contributions coming from corporations. Most corporate donations are targeted for a specific use (restricted). The Foundation is in the process of revising its current fund-raising approach in an effort to increase its pool of discretionary donations. The Foundation hopes to satisfy more individual park needs with these discretionary donations. The Foundation has made a concerted effort to direct its fund-raising efforts primarily at corporations. Of the approximately $160 million that the Foundation raised in private donations for fiscal years 1999 through 2003, $120 million, or 75 percent, came from corporations. Individuals and foundations accounted for the remaining $40 million, or 25 percent. Figure 3 shows the percentage of donations, by source, for fiscal years 1999 through 2003. In-kind contributions comprised about 52 percent of the corporate contributions during this time. As shown in figure 4, in-kind contributions have increased, whereas cash contributions have decreased in fiscal years 2002 and 2003, due largely in part to the implementation of the Foundation’s Proud Partners Program. The Foundation’s fund-raising and grant-making processes consist of several phases. Fund-raising efforts typically begin with the Foundation’s board members identifying corporate donors that could potentially provide donations in support of the Park Service. After identifying these corporate donors, the Foundation researches their philanthropic interests, such as demonstrated support for educational programs. Next, the Foundation contacts potential donors to explore the donors’ philanthropic interests and to ascertain their willingness to make donations in support of the Park Service. If the donors are willing to contribute, the Foundation then contacts Park Service headquarters officials with relevant subject matter expertise to help identify potential systemwide projects that correspond with the donors’ interests. The Foundation then presents these projects to the donors for their consideration. The donors then may decide to make a cash or in-kind contribution through the Foundation to support (1) one or more of the proposed systemwide projects, (2) projects in a specific park, or (3) general Park Service activities. In instances where the donors decide to support systemwide projects, the Foundation requests that all interested parties submit grant proposals, indicating how they would use these donations. The Foundation, in consultation with Park Service officials, reviews the submitted proposals and selects recipients for the awards. In instances where the donors decide to support projects in a specific park, the Foundation makes a grant to the selected park. The Foundation may use various means to distribute general donations to support park activities. Figure 5 illustrates the steps involved in the Foundation’s fund- raising and grant-making processes. Appendix II provides additional details on the grant-making process. To better align its fund-raising with Park Service programs, the Foundation is currently expanding its fund-raising approach and reviewing, with the Park Service, the priority uses of the funds raised. Under its expanded approach, the Foundation and the Park Service have identified five program areas—Volunteerism, Visitor Experience, Education, Community Engagement, and Programs of National Significance—for which to target donations. Within each of these five program areas, the Foundation and the Park Service have identified systemwide programs that donors can support. Moreover, these programs will be used as a basis for identifying potential donors that have a history of supporting similar type programs. Corporate donors support the Foundation’s Proud Partners of America Program, which was initiated in November 2000. The Foundation names as Proud Partners those corporations that have committed to multiyear support to help raise awareness about national parks, promote interest and support through sales of the National Park Pass, and encourage and provide meaningful experiences for park visitors. Currently, there are five Proud Partners: American Airlines; Discovery Communications, Inc.; Ford Motor Company; Eastman Kodak Company; and TIME magazine. Each Proud Partner is expected to pledge a minimum of $12 million over a 3-year or longer period, and, according to Foundation officials, the Proud Partners have committed an estimated $88 million to the parks. The program was limited to five corporations to allow close management of the program and to minimize potential conflicts with donations tied to advertising at individual parks.