PORTLAND, Maine: The National Park Foundation, the official charitable partner of the National Park Service, is poised to receive a groundbreaking $100 million donation, the largest in its history.
This unprecedented donation comes from Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. and is the largest grant ever made to U.S. national parks.
The funds will support more than 400 national parks across the country and address a variety of needs, said Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation. The first round of grants for this donation is expected to be announced later this year.
While the specific projects to be funded are still being determined, restoring coral reefs in Biscayne National Park in Florida and revitalizing trout populations in western Florida’s national parks are among the priorities, reflecting the Foundation’s ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship.
In addition to ecological restoration, the grant will also fund initiatives that improve accessibility and provide young people with opportunities to visit and experience national parks.
“This grant will enable us to intensify our efforts to ensure our national parks are there for all for generations to come,” Shafroth said.
The National Park System includes hundreds of sites, from famous places like Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks to major monuments like the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, and more remote areas like Buck Island Reef National Monument in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The donation will support the National Park Foundation’s Campaign for National Parks, a $1 billion fundraising effort to strengthen the nation’s national parks. Lilly Endowment Chairman and CEO N. Clay Robbins expressed confidence that the foundation’s campaign will “enhance programs and promote the future vitality of our nation’s wonderful system of parks, monuments and historic sites.”
