Austin Parks Foundation 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.
For 31 years, Austin Parks Foundation has worked tirelessly to pursue our mission. With more people choosing to become residents of Austin, our parks are more loved than ever before. The generous support of our community ensures our parks are preserved and well-maintained. Our donors help us make sure safe and vibrant parks are accessible to every Austinite.
Below, we dive into HOW we pursue our mission at APF.
Our work with the Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD)
Working hand-in-hand with Austin Parks and Recreation Department to identify priorities, APF recruits and mobilizes volunteers and funding partners to accomplish expansive goals which would not be possible with the City’s current park budget and resources.
Click on the image above to learn about renovations at these parks.
Volunteer with APF
In 2022 alone, APF coordinated over 9,000 volunteers in parks all over the city.
In the Park Series
APF offers a variety of In the Park series events including Movies and Playdates!
We’ll be releasing our 2023 schedule soon and hope you’ll join us at one—or all—of these FREE events.
Party for the Parks
This is our biggest fundraiser each year! As much as this is a party, the heart of this event is to give back to our city’s parks. In collaboration with people, organizations, leaders, communities, businesses, neighborhoods and more, we are able to ensure equitable access to green spaces.
The event takes place during the week between ACL Weekends 1 & 2 – we hope you’ll join us this year to keep the party going! Keep an eye out for updates coming this fall!
Adopt-A-Park Program
The success of our parks system depends on the support, assistance, advocacy and enthusiasm of the public as stewards of their neighborhood parks. The Adopt-A-Park Program helps citizens like you become those stewards through a collaborative partnership between the Austin Parks & Recreation Department and APF. The goal of this program is to build community pride and ownership around every neighborhood park in Austin.
It’s My Park Day
IMPD is our biannual, city-wide volunteer event that takes place on the first Saturday in March and November. In 2022 we completed 190 projects with the help of 6,358 volunteers! This translates to $559,020 in value with 10,389 volunteer hours logged.
Volunteer registration for It’s My Park Day – Spring opens February 6th!
ACL Funding and Grants
As a partner and beneficiary of Austin City Limits, we’re able to give back to parks through our ACL Music Festival Grants Program! This program has invested more than $48 Million in Austin’s parks, trails, and green spaces!
In 2019, Friends of Gus Garcia Park applied for an ACL Music Festival Grant to help build a basketball court. The court was a long-held dream by the neighbors of the park. In Fall 2020, APF awarded Friends of Gus Garcia Park $50,000 toward this project. The project came to fruition in May 2022 as seen below!
Parks Database
Our Parks Database allows you to search for your perfect park! Find parks based on activities, amenities, location…and, of course, whether or not your 
fur friends can join you!
Newsletter
Want to stay up to date on what’s happening at Austin Parks Foundation? Enter your name and email below to receive e-news, and info about upcoming events and volunteer opportunities.
Advocacy
APF is one of the only parks organizations that has a full time, dedicated Advocacy Manager. We focus on supporting Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) and advocating for community needs in the park system. Our Advocacy Manager attends Parks Board Meetings, City Council Meetings, Legislature Hearings, and stakeholder events. We work collaboratively with other organizations to support Austin’s Parkland Dedication, funding for PARD, and championing issues for change amongst other things. To keep in the loop with our ongoing advocacy subscribe to the Advocacy newsletter.
