About
Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit that creates parks and protects land for people, working to ensure healthy, livable communities for generations to come. Founded in 1972 on the conviction that all people need access to nature and the outdoors close to home, TPL works with communities across the United States to create parks and protect public land where they are needed most, as a matter of health, equity, and justice.
Mission
TPL believes everyone should have access to the outdoors. The organization describes access to high-quality green space as a fundamental human need, and centers its work around communities to deliver measurable outcomes in four areas: health and wellness, climate resilience, history and culture, and community and belonging.
What they do
- Land protection: partnering with landowners, public agencies, policymakers, Native Tribes, and Indigenous communities to protect high-quality land and culturally significant places.
- Parks, trails, and schoolyards: building and transforming green spaces in communities that lack them, including green schoolyard initiatives and long-distance trail projects.
- Policy, advocacy, and conservation finance: working on systems change through policy and legislation, data analysis, technical assistance, and knowledge sharing with local governments and community organizations.
- Research and data tools: the ParkScore Index ranks park systems in the 100 largest U.S. cities, and the ParkServe database maintains an inventory of about 145,000 parks covering more than 15,000 cities and towns, calculating how many people live within a 10-minute walk of a park.
History
Trust for Public Land was founded in 1972. Over more than 50 years it has completed projects across the country, from local parks and greenways to additions along the Appalachian Trail.
Scale and impact
According to the organization, TPL has protected 4 million acres of land and connected 9.7 million people to the outdoors. Its ParkServe database covers urban areas representing about 75 percent of the U.S. population.
Financials
Per its Form 990 data on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer for the fiscal year ending June 2025, Trust for Public Land reported total revenue of $301.2 million (81.5 percent from contributions), total expenses of $282.5 million, and net assets of $263.4 million. TPL is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, EIN 23-7222333.
Governance
Carrie Hauser serves as President (per the FY2025 filing on ProPublica). The organization is governed by a board of directors and publishes its financials and annual reports on its website.