How We Help
The Friends Alliance is an informal union of Friends Groups executives and park officials that evolved from a meeting convened by the National Park Foundation in 1994. The Alliance shares information among its participants, learns and helps to clarify NPS policies, advances partnership and philanthropic ideas, and discusses relationship-building strategy between Friends Groups and the National Park Service. The Friends Alliance is led by an elected steering committee and participation is open to all national park Friends Groups.
The National Park Foundation provides technical and financial support to the Friends Alliance.
Steering Committee Members
- David MacDonald, Friends of Acadia
- Deb Yandala, Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park
- Frank Dean, Yosemite Conservancy
- Doug Mitchell, Glacier National Park Conservancy
- Katie Nyberg, Mississippi Park Connection
- Elizabeth Fien, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park
- Courtney Lyons-Garcia, Big Bend Conservancy
- Susan Sherman, Shenandoah National Park Trust
- Bess Mitchell Averett, Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign
- Reggie Chapple, National Park Service Liaison
- Will Shafroth, National Park Foundation Liaison
Upcoming Meetings
Fall 2019
The Fall 2019 Friends Alliance Meeting will be hosted in Jackson Hole Wyoming, in conjunction with the Grand Teton National Park Foundation from September 23-27, 2019. More details and registration will be made available soon.
Spring 2020
The Spring 2020 Friends Alliance Meeting will be held in Washington, DC. More details will be available closer to the meeting date.
Learn More
For more information about the Friends Alliance or to sign up for the monthly Park Partners newsletter, please email [email protected].
