|
Friends, volunteers and cooperating associations: what's the difference? Volunteers are individuals or groups of people who give their time, free of charge, to help the park either one time or on a regular schedule. Cooperating associations have a business relationship with the park or provide a specific service to the park. Some of them are not-for-profit groups which lease excess government buildings where they may run their own offices. Friends organizations (see below) donate money and time to a national park or group of parks. Parks are forbidden by federal law to raise money or donations on their own, so friends organizations do this for us. 
JBRPC Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy
Established in 2013, JBRPC’s mission is to expand public access to parks; increase recreational and educational opportunities for park-goers; foster citizen stewardship and volunteerism; preserve and restore natural areas; enhance cultural resources; and ensure the long-term sustainability of Jamaica Bay parklands. 
NPS photo The Sandy Hook Foundation is the official friends group of the National Park Service (NPS) at the Sandy Hook Unit, Gateway National Recreation Area.
The National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy The Harbor Conservancy was founded in 2005 as the official 501(c)(3) nonprofit partner of the National Park Service and its 24 sites on New York Harbor. They are charged with improving access to these special places, enhancing the visitor experience with transformational programs and developing earned revenue initiatives toward their sustainability. 
NPS photo For more than 100 years, private philanthropy has been helping to improve, preserve and protect America's National Parks. For over forty years, and without federal appropriations, the National Park Foundation, chartered by Congress as the only national charitable partner of America's National Parks, has sustained this legacy of private philanthropy. |
 |
|
Last updated: May 17, 2023