Austin Parks Foundation (APF) partners with our community to enhance peoples’ lives by making our public parks, trails and green spaces better through volunteerism, innovative programming, advocacy and financial support.
If you’re here, you may have noticed a recent project at your local park – welcome! APF offers an array of volunteer opportunities, from It’s My Park Day to Community Volunteer Events and Corporate Volunteer projects – WE’VE GOT THEM ALL! On average we host ~15,000 volunteers a year🤯 (Want to be part of that?)
Wondering what volunteering with APF is like? Let’s dig into it!
Community Volunteer Events
If you’re looking to volunteer regularly, our Community Volunteer Events may be the option for you. Each month we host public volunteer projects to improve a park, trail or green space. These projects take place at various parks throughout the year and go a long way for the local community. Projects range from mulching to trash pickup to tree planting and more (we’ll dive into this later). These projects are led by APF staff members from our Programs team and allow volunteers insight into all we’re able to provide to our parks!
Corporate Volunteer Events
Come two, come all for a custom corporate volunteer project for up to 200 participants! For a small donation of $50 per person, your team can enjoy a day outside as an APF staff member leads a project that supports access to safe and beautiful parks. The scope of corporate projects are similar to Community Volunteer Event projects.
Donations for corporate projects cover the cost of our team’s time, plus materials provided by APF like tools, mulch, gloves, etc. For more information on how your company can get involved – contact Stephanie Artman, Director of Corporate & Foundation Giving at stephanie.artman@austinparks.org.
Civic Volunteer Events
Are you involved with a local service group, civic organization or scout troop? Our Civic Volunteer Events may be for you! We host approximately 10 of these events per year and organize various volunteer projects to help with beautifying our parks. Please reach out to the APF Volunteer Team at volunteer@austinparks.org to learn more.
It’s My Park Day
Our bi-annual, city-wide volunteer event that takes place on the first Saturday of March and November. We have 3,000+ volunteers that tackle 85-100 projects across the city. These projects range from mulching and planting trees to trail clearance and park activations. It’s My Park Day strives to get friends, neighbors and Austinites into the parks to make a difference and create relationships that grow. Last year we completed 181 projects with the help of 6,836 volunteers! This translates to $672,351 in labor value.
Not only do you get to make a difference in the parks – you’ll receive a coveted It’s My Park Day t-shirt, discounts and freebies from local giveback partners, and a great opportunity to bond with your community.
ACL Greening Program
For the past 20+ years, ACL Music Festival and Austin Parks Foundation have worked together to improve Austin’s nearly 400 parks, trails and green spaces. APF helps make the festival greener by managing ACL Fest’s Signature Greening Programs and volunteer opportunities throughout the festival:
♻️Rock & Recycle
🚮Divert It!
💦Water Refill Stations
😎Austin Kiddie Limits
🤝Greeters
☎️Media Team
🌳Volunteer HQ
💚Backup Teams
Want to be the first to know about opportunities like this? Join our newsletter and select “interested in volunteering” to get notified of upcoming volunteer events and follow us on social media @austinparksfdn to stay up to date on registration opening.
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- Courtesy: Katrina Barber
Breakdown of potential projects and how they help
Litter cleanup
Collect trash and debris in parks and waterways to help beautify our green spaces, preserve our native habitats, and mitigate the effects of pollution.
Tree mulching
One of the simplest, most effective ways to help trees and plants survive in tough Austin conditions.. Adding mulch provides a range of benefits such as:
- Preventing erosion: Mulch slows down rainfall so it doesn’t carry soil off into storm sewers.
- Suppressing weeds: Mulch blocks sunlight so weed seeds are not as likely to sprout.
- Reducing compaction: Air pockets in soil are important for roots to collect the resources they need. Mulch slowly breaks apart hard, dense soil and loosens it so roots can thrive.
- Moderating soil temperature: When sun hits bare soil in summer, temperatures can rise to well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Mulch blocks the sun and keeps soil cooler. In winter, mulch blankets soil to help prevent freezing.
- Water conservation: Reduced temperatures and sunlight mean less evaporation from the soil. Mulched plants need less irrigation during hot weather.
- Adding nutrients: Any mulch will decay over time, increasing nutrients and introducing microorganisms to the soil.
Tree planting
Planting trees has a significant impact on our city by providing critical habitat, mitigating climate change, promoting soil health, improving air and water quality, and beautifying our parks and green spaces!
Community Garden Care
These neighborhood spaces are for shared education, teamwork and creating a close connection to nature. They help alleviate food insecurity and increase access to healthy, nutritious produce.
Park Amenity Care
Maintaining park infrastructure such as removing graffiti or giving picnic tables a fresh coat of paint increases their life-span and promotes healthy parks usage.
Ecological Restoration
Improving the ecological health, biodiversity and resiliency of our parks is important in an urban environment. Planting native grasses and flowers, building out new wildlife habitat, and caring for our riparian areas as well as restoring degraded ecological habitat is a critical part of park maintenance.
Invasive species removal
Removing non-native invasive species improves the overall ecosystem health, which is vital for plant and animal interactions, supporting biodiversity, allowing native species to return and flourish, and improving ecosystem resilience to climate change and human impact.
Trail maintenance
Trails are a critical component of park infrastructure and recreation opportunities. Maintaining trails by addressing erosion concerns, clearing obstacles, and managing plant and animal communities increases safety for hikers, bikers, and elevates the user experience for all park users.
Learn more about volunteering with APF – we’ll see you at our next event!