Parks, Trails, and Green Design Program Evaluation
Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation
Economic Strategy
The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation is a sunset foundation that will spend-down all funds by 2035. In 2018 the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation announced a $200 Million commitment to support the development of parks, trails, and greenways in Western New York and Southeastern Michigan through grantmaking and relationship-building. Today, nearly $1 Billion has been invested or leveraged across both regions, which have required different approaches given their context and capacity levels.zThe Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation is a sunset foundation that will spend down all funds by 2035. In 2018, the Foundation announced a $200 Million commitment to support park, trail, and greenway development in Western New York and Southeastern Michigan through grantmaking and relationship-building. Today, nearly $1 Billion has been invested or leveraged across both regions, which have required different approaches given their context and capacity levels.
The Foundation sought to conduct an independent assessment to highlight the processes that built the relationships and coalitions developing funding to leverage its initial investment. The goal is not just building parks and trails but establishing sustainable financing structures to manage and maintain these assets for the future. Fourth Economy partnered with Gehl to conduct a retrospective evaluation of initiative development and regional collaborations, as well as a prospective evaluation plan to track progress and future impacts.
Our Approach
The project is an evaluative learning piece, which the Gehl and Fourth Economy team will undertake in two parts. First, a retrospective evaluation focusing on understanding process impacts—namely, how the program set a new bar for effective collaboration across departments and sectors to shape flagship public spaces. Second, a prospective evaluation focusing on developing a framework to evaluate future project impacts—namely, how the built spaces will impact resident quality of life, well-being, and economic development.
Using targeted interview questions and a hand-picked list of interviewees in both regions, we are exploring how the Foundation’s financial and relational capital helped meet community needs, who was impacted, what capacity was built for organizations, what partnerships and collaborations were key to success, and what the legacy of these investments might be.
Location
Southeast Michigan, Western New York