County Votes to Set Up Parks Foundation to Seek Gifts

The way county officials figure it, people simply don’t give money to the government voluntarily, even for the purchase of new playground equipment at a public park.

But lots of people write checks and donate items to nonprofit, tax-exempt foundations in support of noble-sounding causes.

That’s why the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to establish the Orange County Parks and Recreation Foundation.

Approved 5 to 0 without discussion or debate on the supervisors’ consent calendar, the foundation will begin operating in a few months after supervisors nominate and approve directors to run it. The foundation board is legally required to act independently of county government in its funding decisions.

Modeled after similar foundations in Anaheim and Los Angeles County, the new organization will solicit funds, goods and services so that people can contribute in several ways. County officials even envision an “adopt-a-facility” program, donations of cultural exhibits for county facilities, and park entry identification markers or sculptures.

“We’ve seen the need for some time,” said county Parks and Recreation Director Harold J. Krizan. “The intent or the purpose is to lend support to projects that are supportive of our main mission but which are not the highest priority if we were to rely on present funding sources.

“For example, a sculpture garden has been suggested for one of our regional parks (William R. Mason Park in Irvine). It seems like a very good project, but if we were to try to compare a sculpture garden with some of the other needs we have, it would not enjoy a very high priority. But the foundation, if it chose to, could go out and seek funds for that.”

Krizan said the same tax write-offs are available to people who donate directly to county government, but “experience has shown that foundations are more successful in drawing donations.”

Golf courses, restrooms and other key elements of recreational facilities are not expected to be financed by foundation money, county officials said.

In Anaheim, foundation money is used for basic necessities, Krizan pointed out.

The proposed five-year county parks and recreation plan gives projects such as the planned trail system in Carbon Canyon and the continued restoration of the Old County Courthouse in Santa Ana a high priority. In several recent budgets, the county’s financial squeeze forced elimination of all projects except those to which the county was contractually bound or projects that had already undergone some development.