The purchase and donation of Antelope Flats, a 640-acre parcel of land located within Grand Teton National Park, to the National Park Service was made possible by a public-private partnership/NPS

The National Park Service today updated its guidelines for donations and philanthropic partnerships, clarifying how and where donors can be acknowledged – naming rights in parks still will not be permitted – and expanding the range of partner opportunities – including with individuals and start-ups, but also corporations that produce or distribute alcohol.

Director’s Order 21, last revised in 2008, was signed by Director Jonathan Jarvis after three years of work, including input from a committee of philanthropists and review by the public and employees. It simplifies the agreement process with partners; recognizes the importance of all types of philanthropy, including in-kind donations and volunteerism; and broadens the scope of giving through electronic donations, mobile giving, and individual and planned giving.

“These updates bring the long history of philanthropic support for America’s national parks into the 21st century,” Director Jarvis said in a statement.

Historically, the agency has relied on organizations formed solely for the purpose of working with the Park Service, such as the National Park Foundation at a national level and well-established “friends groups” locally.

“Now, we have a range of partnerships where that may not be an organization’s sole focus. They may be a really impactful community development corporation or some other type of organization that wants to enter into a philanthropic partnership with us. In the past, that hasn’t been very clear. This new document gives us guidance on how to do that,” Jeff Reinbold, the bureau’s assistant director for partnerships and civic engagement, told the Traveler. “I think that’s really exciting because it opens up opportunities for lots of people to work with the Park Service and get involved in protecting these places.”

After the draft was released earlier this year, the Park Service received 350 comments, with some headlines and stories suggesting that corporations would be able to obtain naming rights to park features or parks themselves and that park superintendents would be forced to raise private funds. More than 200,000 people signed a petition against corporate advertising in national parks.

“While there will continue to be opportunities for limited donor recognition in parks, no one is going to commercialize national parks, and park superintendents still won’t be allowed to solicit donations,” Director Jarvis said. “We have federal law to back us up on that.”

The policy and public law prohibit any donor recognition that could be used to state or imply “naming rights to any unit of the National Park System or a National Park System facility, historic structure, trail, or feature, including a visitor center.” Advertising and marketing slogans are also prohibited. The policy does include provisions similar to those of universities, museums, and hospitals across the country, under which rooms or galleries inside facilities may be temporarily named to recognize a donor for support of the renovations to that facility. In addition, the final order removes a revision that would have allowed small logos of philanthropic partners to be placed on exhibits and waysides.

“We wanted to go an extra step,” Reginald Chapple, division chief of the Park Service’s Office of Partnerships and Philanthropic Stewardship, told the Traveler.

The final order was praised Wednesday by the Public Lands Alliance, which serves a diverse community of nonprofit stakeholders who are dedicated to the nation’s natural and cultural heritage. 

“The Public Lands Alliance commends the new policy’s emphasis on increasing donor stewardship through collaborative planning and mutual trust between the NPS and its philanthropic partners. New opportunities to thank and recognize donors within park boundaries are tasteful and provide partners with contemporary practices used by prestigious universities and museums. Importantly, the new policy should streamline some of the bureaucratic red tape that hinders current nonprofit park partners and encourage longer lasting, mutually beneficial and effective partnerships," said the group's executive director, Dan Puskar.

“We strongly support the continued prohibition on NPS employees soliciting donors. The Alliance looks forward to working with the NPS on the forthcoming reference manual to avoid the appearance of such actions."

The move to allow partnerships with alcoholic beverage companies comes after Director Jarvis signed a waiver in January 2015 to allow the National Park Foundation to accept, for $2.5 million, Anheuser-Busch as a "premier partner" for the National Park Service centennial campaign. The move drew rebuke from groups such as Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The partnership, Park Service officials hoped, would give the agency a valuable partner in reaching younger generations, such as millennials. Mr. Chapple noted that the affiliation was a way to “test” co-branding with an alcohol company and that the bureau is taking learnings from that campaign and “refining the way in which we engage with alcoholic corporations.”

“We hear loud and clear that folks are really concerned about the idea of affiliating the national park brand with alcohol,” he added.

Any agreement with an alcoholic beverage company will require approval from the director of the Park Service. In addition, the new order retains the prohibition against “tobacco and any type of illegal product.”

Park officials hope the new policy will lead to more partnerships like one reached in September with Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, the first predominantly African-American fraternal organization to be founded at a historically black university. The agreement calls for future national partnership and fundraising activities to benefit the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument and Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site.

Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Ohio is dedicated to preserving Col. Young’s legacy as a diplomat, civil rights leader, soldier, and the first African-American national park superintendent. It’s not in a major urban center but is near Wilburforce University, a historic black college and university.

“That university has a black fraternity that’s actually associated with the legacy of Col. Charles Young,” Mr. Chapple said. “In the past, we wouldn’t use them as a friends group or philanthropic partner. But under this agreement, they can come in as a philanthropic partner. They are an established nonprofit with over 100 years of experience in fundraising, they’ve got a large membership, they’re already engaged with the park. They can step right in as a friends group and begin to have an official capacity behind what they’re already doing in terms of supporting programs and supporting the superintendent. So it’s a way for us to grow.”

Beyond fundraising, the directive places value on time and effort spent toward helping national parks. In fact, the word "fundraising" was removed from the name of the order and replaced with "philanthropic partnerships."

“For many of our smaller parks, in particular, and even our larger ones, people’s ability to come out and volunteer is really important. It builds a constituency for us, it builds a connection between them and the parks, and that’s not something they have to do. That is a philanthropic donation of their time, and we haven’t always looked at it that way,” Mr. Reinbold said. “So one of our hopes with this is that by drawing greater attention to that, we can reinforce this idea that support of your parks is not just cash but it is the many ways that people can get involved.

“I think it positions us very nicely for the next century to be able to create that next generation of steward and supporters for parks.”