R.I. Foundation planning $10M campaign to fund building improvements, programming at Roger Williams Park

RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION President & CEO Neil D. Steinberg said the foundation plans to initiate a $10 million campaign to fund building improvements and programming at Roger Williams Park, as well as an endowment to benefit a new nonprofit conservancy organization. / COURTESY STEW MILNE
RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION President & CEO Neil D. Steinberg said the foundation plans to initiate a $10 million campaign to fund building improvements and programming at Roger Williams Park, as well as an endowment to benefit a new nonprofit conservancy organization. / COURTESY STEW MILNE

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Foundation plans to initiate a $10 million campaign to fund building improvements and programming at Roger Williams Park, as well as an endowment to benefit a new nonprofit conservancy organization.
The campaign, expected to be announced in early December, would allow the Rhode Island Foundation to collect funds on behalf of the newly formed Roger Williams Park Conservancy, according to Neil D. Steinberg, the foundation’s president and CEO.
The campaign would not affect Roger Williams Park Zoo, which is independently operated.
About $5 million would be needed for improving buildings, pathways and landscaping at the 435-acre park, Steinberg said, based on an engineering study commissioned by the foundation. Another $5 million would form an endowment to be held in trust by the foundation for the nonprofit conservancy organization.
Steinberg described the details of the campaign in a meeting with Providence City Council members Wednesday. The idea, he said, is not to replace city services but to supplement city activities to maintain the park.
“The conservancy is not taking the place of the city. The conservancy is designed to do additional programming,” Steinberg said.
Two meetings have been held with residents on both the Cranston and Providence sides of the park, he said, and the residents who attended all expressed support for the creation of a conservancy.
The park, he said, is a beautiful amenity in Providence that, like many urban parks, has not had resources to maintain its buildings, which include the Museum of Natural History.
The foundation, he said, would act as an intermediary by collecting the funds on behalf of the park conservancy, assuring that donations are directed to the intended use.
“Donors will give us the money. They are reluctant to give it to the city,” he said.
As for programming, initial thoughts, he said, would include bringing back ice skating and sledding at the park.

No posts to display