Park & Trail Partnership Grants: Professional Development Grants

The Park & Trail Partnership Grants program supports the hiring of permanent staff to enhance the professionalism and sustainability of organizations dedicated to New York's parks and trails. Grants, up to $100,000 over two years, require a 20% cash match and aim to improve staffing capacity for better community outreach and operational stability, ultimately fostering increased volunteer engagement and fundraising efforts.

The program is administered jointly by Parks & Trails New York and the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) and is designed to:

• Enhance the preservation, stewardship, interpretation, maintenance and promotion of New York State parks, trails, state historic sites and public lands.

Increase the sustainability, effectiveness, productivity, and volunteer and fundraising capabilities of not-for-profit organizations that promote, maintain, and support New York State parks, trails, state historic sites and public lands.
Promote the tourism and economic development benefits of outdoor recreation through the growth and expansion of a connected statewide network of parks, trails, greenways and public lands.
Professional Development Grants support the hiring of permanent staff in order to advance Friends organizations to a higher and sustainable level of professionalism, fiscal and administrative stability, and community outreach that in the future they will be able to sustain on their own. Professional Development Grants may be used to support:

• First Staff Hire: hiring the organization’s first permanent employee, full- or part-time.

Additional Staff: hiring an additional full- or part-time permanent staff member to fill a critical administrative, outreach or development need, or other key function.
Upgrade to Full-time Staff: increasing a part-time executive director, or other key staff position to full time.
Shared Staff: hiring a staff person to be shared by two or more eligible organizations.
Professional Development Grants are meant to support permanent increases in staffing capacity. If an organization is interested in hiring temporary contractors or staff to support the organization’s work, this request would fall under a Capacity and Organizational Effectiveness Grant or a Stewardship and Public Access grant.
Grants up to $100,000 encompassing a period of two years; a 20 percent cash match is required. Fifty percent of award is disbursed at contract signing; remainder disbursed after submission of satisfactory one-year progress report.

Eligibility

The NYS Park and Trail Partnership Grant Program is open to organizations whose mission includes the preservation, stewardship, interpretation, environmental education, maintenance, and/or promotion of a New York State park, trail, historic site or public land under the jurisdiction of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP), or Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). These organizations are typically referred to as “Friends groups”.
An applicant must be registered as a charity with the New York State Attorney General’s office and submit their CHAR500/410 Annual Financial Report.
An applicant must be classified by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization or have a Memorandum of Understanding with a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt fiscal agent.
An applicant must have a current formal Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with OPRHP or current formal Use and Occupancy, Volunteer and Stewardship Agreement (VSA) or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with DEC at the time the grant is issued.

Ineligibility

NYS Park and Trail Partnership Program grant funds may not be used to cover:

• Project costs incurred before date of signed grant contract
• General operating support
• Purchasing interest in lands or buildings
• Endowment funds
• Travel or lodging
• Lobbying or political activities