FAQs: Protecting America’s Legacy Campaign

What is the Protecting America’s Legacy campaign?

The Protecting America’s Legacy campaign is a $300 million fundraising effort by NPCA to safeguard the places we love. NPCA has three goals with this campaign: help ensure our national parks thrive for the next 100 years, tell the stories of all Americans, and have the most inclusive, engaged advocates in our history.

The campaign launched publicly April 10 during our annual Salute to the Parks event in Washington, D.C., with 84% of the $300 million already raised. We’re currently 86% toward our goal, and NPCA is mobilizing park enthusiasts across the country to raise the remainder by the end of 2024 so we can protect parks for another 100 years.

A hundred years ago, NPCA’s visionaries saw the need to preserve national parks for future generations. They knew America’s iconic landscapes and defining history would be lost forever without a group, independent from the government, that was dedicated to their preservation. They didn’t stand idle then, and NPCA isn’t standing idle now. The Protecting America’s Legacy campaign helps ensure national parks remain protected for our grandchildren, and their grandchildren, to enjoy.

Why invest in NPCA now?

Record visitation, climate change impacts, encroaching development and reduced park staffing are a few of the threats our parks face each day. National parks need support — and when people give to NPCA, they join a century-long movement to protect and preserve these treasured places now and for future generations.

When much of our country seems divided, national parks have the power to bring people together and create unity. Parks represent something we all cherish, as evidenced by a recent survey by Ipsos that found “American national parks” to be among the country’s most unifying terms, regardless of political affiliation.

Do gifts to NPCA make a difference?

Absolutely! As the independent voice for national parks, NPCA has made a century of impact. Together with our members and supporters we defend wildlife, protect landscapes and waterways, bring people and parks together, tell the story of the United States, and more — and our successes could not be possible without financial contributions from people like you.

Just this year, NPCA and park supporters across the country defeated the proposed Ambler industrial mining road in Alaska that threatened the Alaska caribou, Native communities that depend on the herd and other wildlife, and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Other successes NPCA helped make possible include:

• Protected Gettysburg National Military Park from the harmful effects of a proposed casino within cannon range of hallowed ground — three times.
• Fought for restoration plans that maximize freshwater flow to Florida Bay in Everglades National Park.
• Restored migration routes for Yellowstone’s pronghorn by working with private landowners and public land managers to modify fences.

• Successfully advocated for the Emmett and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument to honor the tremendous impact the Till family had on the Civil Rights Movement.
• Successfully advocated for the creation of Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument to commemorate the history of women’s suffrage.
  
• Successfully lobbied Congress to pass the Great American Outdoors Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, providing much-needed funding for park repairs and climate change mitigation.

Where do contributions to the Protecting America’s Legacy campaign go?

Donations fund NPCA’s program work, including our four cornerstone initiatives:

1. Conserving critical landscapes

While national parks account for just over 3% of protected lands, they serve as anchors for much larger landscapes and ecosystems. Through our science-based Landscape Conservation initiative, we’re working to connect 20 landscapes for the long-term health of lands, waters and wildlife — and the people and communities who depend on them.

2. Creating and launching parks

Park sites such as Pullman National Historical Park, Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, and Stonewall National Monument didn’t exist 10 years ago, but they convey important accounts of our nation’s history. NPCA works to create, expand and support new national park sites that help tell a fuller and richer American story. NPCA also works to ensure new parks receive the funding and resources needed to be welcoming, informative and accessible to all visitors.

3. Securing park funding

NPCA is protecting the experiences of more than 300 million park visitors by ensuring parks receive the resources they need — for staffing, infrastructure repairs and preparation for floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters. Parks have long been understaffed and underfunded, and when severe weather events occur, the National Park Service must divert funding from other critical repair projects to recover and stay open.

4. Preserving our history

NPCA published a Cultural Resource Challenge Report in April, highlighting the serious need to address a long-overdue funding issue for cultural resources and history programs. NPCA is working with Congress, the administration and community partners to safeguard our nation’s most important cultural and historic places and assets, and the stories they tell, so they are preserved for generations of park visitors to learn from and enjoy.

How can park enthusiasts support the campaign?

There are several ways. First, you can make a gift. You can also create your own fundraiser and invite friends and family to join you in supporting NPCA. It’s also important to learn about challenges and opportunities facing national parks and then take action to advocate for them.

You can also take part in events and service projects around the country to benefit parks, and even tell us why parks matter to you by sharing your favorite memories in parks.

Learn more

Visit the Protecting America’s Legacy campaign webpage for further details — and share it with others who love national parks.