Foundation to raise money for Naperville parks

Naperville Park District officials are celebrating the creation of a not-for-profit foundation that will raise money for park projects.

The idea to create the Naperville Parks Foundation has been batted around for years and picked up steam early in 2010 during discussions about improving Veteran's Park.

Park board President Mike Reilly says the fledgling group is now on its feet.

“The parks foundation is a reality. The founding members have signed on so it is now up and functioning,” Reilly said. “It's something that's been talked about for quite a while and I think it's going to be a very useful instrument for the district going forward.”

The foundation's first president is Jim Healy, who also serves on the DuPage County Board. He said Naperville is the largest city in the state not to have a parks foundation.

“A 501(c)3 foundation is a direct conduit for people to make tax-deductible donations to park projects and for larger groups giving grant money,” Healy said Thursday. “The district is always seeking grant money but its status as a governing body prevents it from being eligible for some of those dollars. The foundation will help open some of those doors.”

Healy said the 11 founding members will meet in the coming weeks to discuss the reach of the foundation, but he expects the first project they set their sights on will be improvements to Veteran's Park. He also hopes to establish a list of projects for the next several years.

Reilly warned that the foundation will not be a quick fix to funding issues but will eventually become a steady asset.

“It's not something that is going to change things dramatically in the short term but it is something that is long overdue,” Reilly said.

During initial conversations, some commissioners feared the foundation may compete for dollars with the Carillon and Riverwalk foundations. Healy said Thursday those fears were put to rest during a series of conversations with members from each group.

“We spoke to the Riverwalk Foundation and Carillon Foundation boards and several other not-for-profit groups and not only did they not think we would overreach, they thought it was complementary to them,” Healy said. “They thought it was a good idea and encouraged us to go forward.”