Campaign Priorities

Creating Healthy Infrastructure

The Fair Play Campaign advances park infrastructure ranging from playgrounds, trails, and athletic fields to wetlands, creeks, and meadows. Together, these improvements are vital to Philadelphia’s public health, economic well-being and environmental sustainability. And, simply put, they make our parks a fun place to visit and explore.

  • Fairmount Park is one of the most recognizable and beloved landscapes in Philadelphia, and the birthplace of our city’s public parks system. West Fairmount Park boasts an incredible array of scenic natural landscapes, historic sites, and cultural significance. The Fair Play Campaign is investing in projects that will raise this park’s profile by highlighting its unique story and assets, and advance equity through improved connections between the park and its surrounding neighborhoods. In 2024, the Conservancy hosted 88 public programs with over 9,600 attendees.

    In addition to capital improvements, the Conservancy provides expert land care for the forest, trails and meadows located in this section of the park. This ongoing work to steward our park land is supported by the Fair Play Campaign.

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    Read about the Fair Play Campaign’s impact in Fairmount Park:

    Projects Completed

    Projects Underway

  • FDR Park is Philadelphia’s only Olmsted Park and the only estuary park within the Philadelphia Parks & Recreation system. The Fair Play Campaign is advancing the FDR Park Plan, which is the largest environmental restoration project underway on park land and is transforming this 348-acre park with a variety of new and restored amenities. From the Gateway Plaza at Pattison Avenue and Broad Street to the award-winning Anna C. Verna Playground to acres of newly created wetland, FDR Park is poised to be one of the most climate resilient and accessible parks in Philadelphia. Support of the Fair Play Campaign will continue to fund environmental restoration and new park amenities. In 2024, the Conservancy hosted 33 public programs in FDR Park with over 7,675 attendees.

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    Read about the Fair Play Campaign’s impact in FDR Park:

    Projects Completed

    Projects Underway

Growing Critical Programs

People are at the heart of everything we do. Through our programs, we support positive health outcomes and connection with our parks, while building engaged park advocates and volunteers. The Fair Play Campaign is helping to sustain and grow programs such as Love Your Park and our volunteer program, which allows individuals and companies to give back and experience a deeper connection with our parks.

  • In Philadelphia, we are fortunate that so many local volunteers work with the Conservancy and City to maintain and activate neighborhood parks. There are over 140 registered Park Friends Groups across the city, who provide critical maintenance and advocacy support for parks and cultivate community in their neighborhoods. The Conservancy’s stewardship and volunteer management staff work year-round to support and celebrate Park Friends through program funding, workshops, event promotion, and more.

    Read more about the Fair Play Campaign’s impact on Love Your Park.

  • We Walk PHL is so much more than a walk in the park. The program, a partnership with the City of Philadelphia’s Public Health Department, Department of Parks and Recreation and the Conservancy, is a network of free weekly walking groups, co-led by local volunteers, at public parks throughout Philadelphia. We Walk PHL seeks to promote health outcomes, increase use of Philadelphia’s parks, and create opportunities for people to pursue fitness goals while meeting their neighbors. We Walk PHL often serves as an entry point for residents to become more engaged with their local parks, and has formed a citywide community of enthusiastic walkers who share a Facebook group and will “park hop” to other neighborhoods to meet each other and go for a stroll.

    Read more about the Fair Play Campaign’s impact on We Walk PHL.

  • Volunteers allow us to have a greater impact on improving our parks as we work alongside individuals and corporate groups in maintaining key landscapes, through activities such as restoring trails, installing plantings and removing invasive species. There are a variety of ways to get involved, from open volunteer days where individuals can participate in one event or join us each month, to our Corporate Stewardship Program, which offers customizable, hands-on experiences for corporate groups, to our Volunteer Leadership program, which takes passionate and engaged park champions and gives them additional opportunities and training to become leaders and advocates for our public spaces.

    Read more about the Fair Play Campaign’s impact on volunteer programs.

Preparing for the Future

Fairmount Park Conservancy is committed to building healthy financial reserves for the future of Philadelphia’s parks, as we deliver on our near-term initiatives and continue long-term planning across capital and programmatic areas.

Fairmount Park Conservancy has been the non-profit champion for Philadelphia’s parks since 1997. We are also one of the few conservancies in the nation that works across an entire park system, allowing us to focus on different parks throughout our city where our public-private partnership with the City can result in the most investment into our parks.

In Philadelphia, 13% of our city is park land, with 95% of Philadelphians living within a 10-minute walk of a park. Unfortunately, only 1.2% of our city budget is allocated to our parks, which is equal to the city spending $112 per person on its park system. This is well below the national average of $133. This is both a significant challenge and an opportunity, as the Conservancy is working to close this gap, so that more Philadelphians can benefit from a well resourced park system.