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National Park Foundation: Better Communication of Roles and Responsibilities Is Needed to Strengthen Partnership with the National Park Service

GAO-04-541 Published: May 17, 2004. Publicly Released: May 25, 2004.
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Highlights

In 1967, the Congress created the National Park Foundation (Foundation)--a nonprofit organization with the sole purpose of providing private support to the National Park Service (Park Service). However, some Park Service officials have raised concerns that the Foundation's support is not meeting parks' priority needs. In this context, congressional requesters asked GAO to review the activities of the Foundation by determining the (1) Foundation's roles and responsibilities for raising funds to support the Park Service, (2) amount and kinds of donations the Foundation has raised between fiscal years 1999 and 2003, and (3) extent to which the contributions obtained by the Foundation assisted the Park Service in addressing park priorities.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior To reduce the confusion and misunderstanding and improve communication between the National Park Foundation and the Park Service, the Secretary of the Interior should require the Director of the National Park Service to work collaboratively with the Foundation to develop an overall written agreement that, among other things, articulates the Foundation's fundraising strategy and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the Foundation and the Park Service in their partnering relationship.
Closed – Implemented
National Park Service (NPS) signed an overall written agreement in February 2005 that sets forth the National Park Foundation's fundraising strategy and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the Foundation and NPS in their partnering relationship.
Department of the Interior To reduce the confusion and misunderstanding and improve communication between the National Park Foundation and the Park Service, the Secretary of the Interior should require the Director of the National Park Service to identify and document all current and future fund-raising agreements made with the Foundation, specifying the terms of work agreed to by each party.
Closed – Implemented
National Park Service (NPS) has developed and signed a written agreement with the National Park Foundation, which specifies that the fundraising agreements will be established pursuant to NPS Director's Order 21. The Foundation has entered into one fundraising agreement since our report concerning the Junior Ranger Program. This agreement, which was signed in June 2004, specifies the terms of work. It also has been entered into NPS agreements database.
Department of the Interior To reduce the confusion and misunderstanding and improve communication between the National Park Foundation and the Park Service, the Secretary of the Interior should require the Director of the National Park Service to provide a list of individual park project priorities, including those potentially fundable by nonprofits, and communicate them to the Foundation for consideration in fund-raising.
Closed – Implemented
National Park Service National Leadership Council approved, in April 2004, five programmatic priorities used by the National Park Foundation to raise funds. These priorities were jointly developed in a collaborative process between NPS and the Foundation. These priorities were included in the overall written agreement between NPS and the Foundation signed in February 2005, which will greatly enhance communication of the NPS fundraising priorities.
Department of the Interior To reduce the confusion and misunderstanding and improve communication between the National Park Foundation and the Park Service, the Secretary of the Interior should require the Director of the National Park Service to develop and implement internal controls such that fund-raising agreements are documented in writing and subsequent performance is tracked against the agreement.
Closed – Implemented
NPS has a database for the Partnership Construction Process, which is a project tracking system used by the Denver Center to track all construction projects, systemwide. Information on new partnership construction projects (project description, memo of intent,fundraising plan, feasibility study, Development Advisory Board approvals, design specifications, etc.) are forwarded by the Washington Office to technicians in NPS' Denver Service Center. Currently, there are approximately 25 construction projects in the Partnership Construction Process database. These projects are initially tracked by approval milestones, and once construction begins, by construction milestones. NPS has worked with the database technicians to develop fundraising milestones for non-construction fundraising agreements. Frequently, these milestones are identified in the fundraising agreement or the associated fundraising plan. Having these agreements in the database will provide NPS with information needed to track project goals and milestones.
Department of the Interior To reduce the confusion and misunderstanding and improve communication between the National Park Foundation and the Park Service, the Secretary of the Interior should require the Director of the National Park Service to clarify whether the exclusivity terms in Foundation agreements with Proud Partners apply to park-based cause-related marketing arrangements and communicate this information to all of the Park Service's fund-raising partners.
Closed – Implemented
The National Park Service (NPS)revised Director's Order 21, effective May 1, 2006, that clarifies and defines the exclusivity terms associated with the Proud Partner's program and included this language in the overall corporate campaign agreement between the Park Service and the Foundation. In addition, between October 2005 and April 2006, the Park Service communicated its proposed language revisions to its regions, its Partnership Council and Advisory Board, and numerous friends groups, including the Foundation. Furthermore, the Park Service has developed training opportunities for program managers, supervisors, and others responsible for fundraising activities, which includes providing its friends group partners opportunities to review the training via satellite broadcasting.
National Park Foundation To improve its communication with the Park Service and improve management controls, the National Park Foundation should enter into an overall written agreement with the Park Service that includes its fund-raising strategy and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the Foundation and the Park Service in their partnering relationship.
Closed – Implemented
The National Park Foundation entered into an overall written agreement with the National Park Service, signed on February 28, 2005, which discussed the Foundation's fundraising strategy and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the Foundation and NPS.
National Park Foundation To improve its communication with the Park Service and improve management controls, the National Park Foundation should identify and document all current and future fund-raising agreements made with the Park Service, specifying the terms of work agreed to by each party.
Closed – Implemented
National Park Foundation (NPF) has developed and signed a written agreement with the National Park Service, which specifies that the fundraising agreements will be established pursuant to NPS Director's Order 21. The Foundation has entered into one fundraising agreement since our report concerning the Junior Ranger Program. This agreement, which was signed in June 2004, specifies the terms of work. It also has been entered into NPS agreements database.
National Park Foundation To improve its communication with the Park Service and improve management controls, the National Park Foundation should develop a process, either through training or briefings, to help ensure complete and consistent understanding of its fund-raising strategy and roles and responsibilities with the Park Service headquarters, regional, and local park officials.
Closed – Implemented
In May 2004, the National Park Foundation, working with the leadership of the National Park Service (NPS), developed a strategic plan to guide its fundraising program. Subsequently, in February 2005, NPS signed an overall agreement that set forth the Foundation's fundraising strategy and clarified the roles and responsibilities of the Foundation and NPS in their partnership relationship.
National Park Foundation To improve its communication with the Park Service and improve management controls, the National Park Foundation should, in developing its fund-raising approach, consider the list of individual park priorities compiled and provided by the Park Service--this list could be used for identifying patterns of park needs for systemwide projects as well as for identifying specific needs that may be of interest to potential donors.
Closed – Implemented
National Park Service National Leadership Council approved, in April 2004, five programmatic priorities used by the National Park Foundation to raise funds. These priorities were jointly developed in a collaborative process between NPS and the Foundation. These priorities were included in the overall written agreement between NPS and the Foundation signed in February 2005, which will greatly enhance communication of the NPS fundraising priorities. Both NPS and the Foundation used the list of priorities when approached by Unilever as a potential donor. As a result, Unilever subsequently entered into a Proud Partner agreement with the Foundation. Furthermore, NPS and the Foundation have jointly developed a Request for Proposals Standard Operating Procedure to establish a clear process for parks to apply for grants and for grants to be awarded and tracked.

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CorporationsFunds managementNational parksNonprofit organizationsAgency missionsGifts or gratuitiesInteragency relationsFundraisingRecreation areasDonations