Development and Fundraising Resources

Members are critical to the success of your Friends group; they sustain and help carry out your mission as well as provide volunteers and financial support. An active membership is a vital way of developing commitment amongst your supporters.

Even with an active membership, obtaining funding for your Friends group to tackle projects can be a challenging endeavor. PTNY has many resources available for Friends to help you grow your membership and assist you with your fundraising efforts. These resources can help you build your membership base, engage and retain active members, set fundraising goals, understand legal requirements, thank donors, crowdfund, use donor management software, and find funding sources. We even provide funds to Friends groups directly through our Park and Trail Partnership grants.

For full access to all resources, become a member today.

Friends-to-Friends Workshop: Fundraising & Membership

In this Friends-to-Friends workshop, panelists from the Friends of Knox Farm, Friends of Mills at Staatsburgh, and Friends of Rogers Environmental Education Center share their unique and creative to solutions to fundraising during a pandemic. Our Development Director, Linden Horvath, engages panelists in a curated discussion about their fundraising efforts and explores how other Friends groups can adopt these practices as their own.

Friends-in-Focus: Best Practices in Membership Development

Working towards developing a comprehensive and standardized process for regularly communicating with members and donors will help your organization retain members and provide a more consistent base of support. This guide provides suggestions for membership development that are based on widely accepted best practices for non-profits for membership communications and retention. Access the best practices guide here.

Park and Trail Partnership Grants: Resources for Applicants

These grants, jointly administered by Parks & Trails New York and the NY Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, provide up to $900,000 to Friends groups annually. These resources are designed to help you with your grant application through every step of the process. Find template project budgets for each grant category, sample income and balance sheets, a match calculator tool, and more in our toolbox for applicants.

Development and Fundraising Resources for Members