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Park Foundation Bylaws
Bylaws: Breathing Life into the Organizational Culture of Park Foundations
By Dr. Nathan A. Schaumleffel, CPRP, CNP, CFRM, CVA, CYSA, Proprietor & Senior Consultant, Driven Strategic LLC
In Illinois Parks & Recreation magazine, I shared “friends groups and park foundations are where public park and recreation administration and the nonprofit world of philanthropy, fundraising, and volunteer management collide!” (2016, p 12). I continued, “an optimally-functioning park foundation can counteract public budgeting trends by invoking the power of philanthropy and volunteerism to replace unfunded budgetary items” (2016, p.13). For this article, I will loosely use the term park foundation to include any nonprofit that supports a public park, recreation, conservation, or open space preservation service provider. Other names for park foundations include friends groups, public lands partners, conservancies, associations, among others. Whatever we call these organizations, all must have articles of incorporation and bylaws, also known as governing documents.
Governing Documents
The articles are the primary document, while the bylaws are secondary. However, bylaws have more detail and take more forethought regarding how the nonprofit will operate daily, which ultimately shapes the organizational culture (Schaumleffel, 2019b). Bylaws are the self-imposed regulations that establish and control the behavioral norms of its stakeholders. If the cornerstone of a park foundation is the board of directors and the keystone is the fundraising function (Schaumleffel, 2016), then governing documents are the breath of life for establishing the organizational culture of a park foundation (Schaumleffel, 2020b, 2019a, 2021; Schaumleffel & Ortale, 2016). Understanding the function of and following bylaws will help a park foundation board create a culture of transparency, accountability, good governance, financial control, and stewardship; as well as meet their fiduciary duties (AFP, 2014, 2015; BoardSource, 2021a, 2021b; Carter, 2010, 2019; Independent Sector, 2021; Price, 2018; Schaumleffel, 2021).
Writing Bylaws to Establish Organizational Culture
An early step to building an optimally-functioning park foundation is to have deep conversations about the desired organizational culture and then systemically creating it by writing detailed bylaws. Dennison Consulting (2016) characterized organizational culture as “the way we do things around here” and as the “unwritten rules that drive workplace behavior.” Szumal and Cooke (2019) shared case studies that identified behavioral norms that lead to defensive or constructive organizational cultures. With much forethought,
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