Green-wood Historic Fund Inc
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
In this one of the most complex, diverse, and dense cities in the world, we New Yorkers need ways to value our shared humanity. When we do, we are better human beings, citizens, and neighbors. As a historic burial ground, which was established in 1838, Green-Wood offers a rare opportunity for us to connect with nature, to experience natural beauty, and to contemplate what’s truly important. It is a sanctuary. The landscape covers 478 acres. It is our responsibility and honor to share it with generations of New Yorkers today and for years to come.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Arts & Cultural Programs
Each year, Green-Wood offers over 270 historic tours, concerts, art exhibits, and celebrations, covering its core themes of art, history, and nature, and that are open to the public. Partnerships have been forged with acclaimed arts and programming organizations from around New York City, such as the Bard Graduate Center Gallery, Rooftop Films, The Moth, Creative Time, and Pioneer Works, with the goal to create and share works that respond to the unique themes that a Cemetery presents. Green-Wood's free Memorial Day concert welcomes over 4,500 attendees every year.
Nature & Environmental Programs
Green-Wood is partnering with Cornell University’s School of Integrative Plant Science to launch a first-of-its-kind research initiative to find practical solutions so that urban landscapes can become more resilient when faced with global warming. With its collection of over 800 trees, Green-Wood has been recognized with advancement to Level III Arboretum accreditation by ArbNet. Green-Wood's expansive grounds are home to a vast variety of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and insects. The public is welcome to take part in tours, programs , and birding explorations that feature Green-Wood's flora and fauna .
Educational Programs
Since 2006, education tours have been offered to area schools and in 2018 over 4,000 students experienced American History through the lives of our more than 570,000 permanent residents. This thematic, standards-based educational programming reaches Pre-K through 12-grade students from New York City public and private schools.
Preservation & Restoration Programs
Green-Wood's commitment to conserving its historic monuments continues, with a dedicated team of restoration specialists on staff to preserve mausoleums, headstones, and other structures. In addition, through the Bridge to Craft Careers program, presented in partnership with World Monuments Fund, Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, and the International Masonry Institute, young adults are trained in the basics of stone restoration. This program, whereby students and crew have restored several monuments, also opens up the possibility of union construction work to a traditionally underserved population. Green-Wood is also one of the host sites of the Careers in Technical Education Externship program offered by the New York City Department of Education, where high school students , trained at Green-Wood, are then sent to a cemetery in need to help in restoration projects.
Archives & Collections
The Archives and Collections web portal, collections.green-wood.com, has made available portions of Green-Wood's holdings to hundreds of virtual visitors. This portal provides access to finding aids for architectural drawings, as well as over 2,500 items from Green-Wood's Fine Art and Historical Collections. College and graduate school interns and volunteers have helped organize the cemetery's Archival records. In addition, Green-Wood's fee-based research service, Greenealogy, assists genealogists and those with family buried in the cemetery in discovering what our archives, dating back to 1838, can teach about family history.
Where we work
External reviews
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Green-Wood seeks to bring people closer to the world as it is and was, by memorializing the dead and bringing to life the art, history, and natural beauty of New York City.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
As a nationally-recognized arboretum, a de facto botanic garden, an outdoor museum of art and architecture, a public pleasure ground, a producer of major arts events, an educational institution for students engaged in both formal and informal learning, Green-Wood has become a cultural destination for visitors from the neighborhood, the borough, the city and the world. Extensive public programming in arts and culture brings visitors to Green-Wood; school programs for Pre-K though High School embrace NYS curriculum standards and the themes of art, history and nature; workforce development in historic preservation offers training for young people in masonry restoration; access to and research in Green-Wood’s archives extends our understanding of 19th- and 20th-century life and death in New York City. Our Urban Grasslands Institute in partnership with Cornell University finds way to reduce our carbon footprint and fight climate change, both here and throughout New York City. And, yes, we are also an apiary producing our own brand of honey: The Sweet Hereafter.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
People, landscape, art, architecture, nature, and history. Our staff includes a public programming department of three, an education director with a team of part-time educators, a historian, archivist, communications manager, development manager and a VP of development and programming. We have 478 acres of land that are protected by state law. In 2019, we completed a strategic plan with our board of trustees that confirms our commitment to serving our community and utilizing Green-Wood’s assets to their best advantage. We raise private funds and utilize available cemetery operating as well as some limited endowment funds to achieve our vision.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Green-Wood is now recognized as a National Historic Landmark and an accredited arboretum at Level III (the second highest in the world). We welcomed over 330,000 visitors in 2019 and held over 250 public programs. We have substantially expanded our capacity to serve schools and students, through a catalog of tours and course on the themes of art, history and nature. In the arts, we have launched an artist in residency program which received just over 900 applications. The successful resident artist will begin in January 2021. We have bold goals to:
1. Steward Green-Wood’s physical assets to ensure the long-term health of its monuments, landscape, flora and fauna
2. Ensure Green-Wood’s long-term financial security.
3. Leverage Green-Wood’s cultural, historical and natural assets to expand and deepen our engagement with audiences and enhance our social and environmental impact.
4. Strengthen Green-Wood’s physical and institutional infrastructure to support a thriving organization that embodies both an active cemetery and a leading cultural institution.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Green-wood Historic Fund Inc
Board of directorsas of 07/18/2022
Peter Davidson
Otis Pratt Pearsall
C. Payson Coleman
Michael C. Brooks
Earl D. Weiner
Peter W. Davidson
Malcolm MacKay
Lark-Marie Antón Menchini
Bevin Cline
Kathy Kermian-Leicht
Jim Rossman
Carla P. Shen
Sam Sifton
Alexandra O. Sweeney
Samuel G. White
Rudolph Wynter
Lauren Cramer
Regina Myer
Michael Haddad
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
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Gender identity
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Transgender Identity
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Disability
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