Access to nature is essential to our happiness, health, and well-being. Yet, in the U.S., roughly 1 in 3 people don’t have a quality park close to home. We’re changing that.
Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a member-supported nonprofit that creates parks and protects land for people where it’s needed most.
Right now, America’s public lands and outdoor spaces—the places where we find solace, inspiration, hope, and connection—are facing challenges unlike any we’ve seen in generations. Rapid federal policy shifts, threats to funding, and mass layoffs and firings are putting countless critical conservation and community projects at risk.
We’re working harder than ever to fight for the funding, resources, and policies vital to keep these places open, protected, and accessible, honoring the cultural and historical significance that binds people to the landscapes they cherish. Join us.
Who We Are
Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit organization founded over 50 years ago by Huey Johnson, Greg Archbald, and Martin Rosen, on the conviction that all people need access to nature and the outdoors, close to home, in the cities and communities where they live. We work with communities to create parks and protect public land where it’s needed most as a matter of health, equity, and justice.
“What has been missing in environmental policy is the link between environmental restoration and economic growth. With restoration, over time will come the economic growth to eliminate poverty and build societies that value human rights.”
– Huey Johnson, Cofounder & President (1972-1978)
Our mission: We create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come.
How We Work
Expanding national and local parks, building greener schoolyards, creating trail systems, and protecting community forests and cultural sites—these are just a few of the ways we’re furthering our mission across the country. Our work spans four initiatives:
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Transforming Schoolyards. Almost 20 million people without close-to-home park access, including kids and their families, live within a 10-minute walk of a public school. That’s why we’ve been partnering with communities and school administrators to open schoolyards to the public after school hours and transform them from blacktops into vibrant play spaces, connecting students and neighbors alike to the benefits of the outdoors.
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Loving our Lands. By 2050, we could lose 23 million acres of forest to development, logging, and fires—enough to cover the entire state of Indiana. And there’s much at stake if we lose our outdoor spaces—protected lands help promote clean air and water, bolster job creation and outdoor economies, safeguard our future from climate change, and so much more. That’s why we’ve protected more than 4 million acres of land, and we’re still going.
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Blazing Trails. Trails are where communities come together. In an ever more disconnected world, trails are where joggers and cyclists share routes with dog walkers and hiking families, where plants and wildlife flourish, and where we all feel a little more at ease as we breathe the fresh air. We’re connecting over 3 million people to 1,000 miles of trails across the country, bringing them closer to nature and each other.
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Creating Parks. One in three Americans doesn’t have access to a park within a 10-minute walk of home. But parks are essential to public health, and studies show that time spent outside reduces stress, depression, and anxiety while promoting better sleep. Parks can also strengthen communities, boost local economies, promote climate resiliency, and improve air quality.
What We Care About
Quality parks and green spaces are fundamental to sustaining equitable, resilient communities. Access to nature and the outdoors—close to home, in the cities and communities where people live—is a matter of health, equity, and justice. That’s why we work alongside communities across the country to create, protect, and steward the nature-rich places vital to human well-being.
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Equity: Park access isn’t equal. The disparities fall along racial and economic lines, but we can close the gap.
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Health: By building close-to-home parks, we can improve social, physical, mental, and environmental health.
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Community: Communities are stronger, more connected, and healthier when they have access to parks and open space.
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Climate: Green spaces make communities more resilient against flooding, drought, heat, and other effects of climate change.
How is TPL Funded?
Trust for Public Land is one of the most cost-effective and efficient environmental organizations in the country. Building on over five decades of experience, we’ve protected more than 4 million acres of land, bringing close to 10 million people closer to the outdoors.
TPL is funded by a variety of private and public funders to support our work in communities across the country. Drawing on deep knowledge of government programs, we leverage private donations into public capital for conservation, securing $2,000 for every $1 donated. We also help sustain and generate public funding by advocating for legislation and ballot measures. Altogether, we have helped generate over $100 billion in voter-approved public funding for parks and open space across the country, winning more than 80 percent of the time.
Are My Donations Tax-Deductible?
Yes. TPL is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Your gift is tax-deductible to the full extent provided by law. You will receive a receipt by email if you give online. All other gifts will receive a receipt by mail.
Give with Confidence
At Trust for Public Land, we maximize every dollar donated. Thanks to our cost-efficient methods and long history of productive partnerships, we’re one of the most effective and trusted nonprofits in the country.
