The Problem With Urban Philanthropy

Take a stroll through iconic public spaces like New York’s High Line and Central Park or Chicago’s Millennium Park. They are stunning. They are also enormously expensive, enormously well-gifted, and seldom surrounded by lower-income neighborhoods. They are “signature” parks that the super-rich love to support. We are entering a new golden age of parks philanthropy. Tulsa just received a $350 million gift to create its own signature park—the biggest gift to a city public park in history. When Wall Street financier Paul Johnson gave $100 million to the already-well-heeled Central Park Conservancy, a media firestorm erupted. What about the city’s 1,700 other parks that get no such gifts? A state bill was soon floated that would slice off some portion of rich-park donations to go to cash-strapped parks.

The bill didn’t end up going anywhere, but it raised an important question: In this age of mega-donations, what can cities do to encourage philanthropic gifts that can be more broadly shared with communities that need them most?