I am an employee of a county parks department. We have a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Friends organization that supports us. I recently learned that another group is planning to form another 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation to benefit one of our parks. Can someone do that without our permission? I know it may sound odd to question someone wanting to raise money for us, but we desire some level of involvement with the organization and they have not contacted us.
Unlike some of the social media where a friend has to be accepted, I don’t know of any law or rule that would prevent a group from independently creating a “friends” group for a specific park within the system. There is every reason why some people would want to support a specific park rather than the entire system.
They have to talk with you eventually, however, because they can’t improve the property, provide new equipment or do much else in the park without your approval. I can understand your concern, but if they haven’t contacted you, I would suggest that you reach out to them to see how you can work together so that everyone benefits.
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It depends on what the state charitable solicitations law in that jurisdiction says. Many require anyone seeking to raise money in another's name have permission from the recipient. See, for an example, Washington's RCW 19.09.230. --P.B. via email.
Good Heaven Don, last time I checked, this was still a free country. Of course they can form a "friends of" organization without a government agency's permission. I was involved with just such a group when the park we all loved was being seriously mismanaged. We were "against" the management, but "for" (or "friends of") the park itself. There was another "friends of" group as well, ...a bunch of Greenies who were interested in environmental issues, and our group who were against closing roads, trails and other public access. When the public loses the right to use or have access to a park, it is no longer a public park, There are dozens of groups forming all over the country right now over the National Park Service's use restrictions, their killing of supposedly non-native fish and animals (a very debatable issue), and destroying back-country trails and shelters.
The largest number of new non-profit groups now forming is on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, where The Olympic National Park is in the process of acquiring thousands more acres, which will immediately be declared "wilderness" and all human access will forever be denied. (There are at least five new groups who have formed solely to fight the lockups.) You can rest assured the Park Service would never sanction such organizations because they don't want their plans thwarted.
Another issue that has caused several new groups to form is the reintroduction of wolves into the backcountry of Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Montana, etc. The "Pro-wolf" people are the government and radical environmentalists. The "anti-wolfers" are ranchers, farmers, hikers, outdoor recreationalists, fishermen, and just plain rural folks who must worry about children palying in their own backyards or getting attacked while waiting at a school bus stop. Wolves are killers, and they were hunted into extinction for good reason. We have already had several cases of people being prosecuted for killing a wolf that was trying to kill them.
I would hate to think of what this country would be like if only government bureaucrats made decisions involving public parks. You would soon see what we have here, big parks with most trails and roads removed, and nobody allowed into the backcountry except park rangers. Without "unauthorized" organizations fighting the good fight for public access, future generations will only know what "their" public parks look like by looking at picture books.
The more organizations keeping an eye on government, the better, in my book. --via email, name withheld upon request.
I certainly agree that the public should watch and get involved in the management of public parks, but P.B.'s comment above is right on. Many charitable solicitation registration statutes prohibit a person from raising money on behalf of another without a written authorization. I should have remembered that and amended my answer to take it into account. --Don Kramer
The park must insist on seeing all literature that the charity plans to use for the park's benefit. We had a problem where an organization ran a food drive for us, calling us a "food bank" in their hand-outs when we are actually a "food pantry". We had to do a lot of explaining and apologizing to the food bank of which we are a member. We won't let it happen again! --R.S. via email.
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