The Skatepark Project
Enriching the lives of youth through skateboarding.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Today, over 5-million youth in America ride skateboards. But few have a safe, sanctioned place to practice this activity they love so much and do every day. Most communities do not have a public skatepark, which forces these kids to recreate in places they aren't wanted, or in the street where they compete for space with pedestrians and automobiles. The Tony Hawk Foundation guides communities through the process of planning and developing public skateparks, putting the needs of youth first, and ensuring their participation in the effort to get the skatepark approved and built. This ensures that the skatepark includes the features they want to ride, and that every day they're reminded of the work they put into the space. The skateparks are amazingly vibrant social spaces, where kids come together, develop a healthy and active lifestyle, share their sport, and interact with old friends or meet new ones.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Grant Program
The Skatepark Project Board Of Directors reviews grant applications twice a year and issues grants based on merit and available funds. We give preference to grassroots projects in disadvantaged communities where children have limited recreational opportunities or access to existing skateparks. We also favor projects that demonstrate strong skater involvement.
The Skatepark Project grants typically range from $5,000 to $25,000. Since 2001, TSP has awarded over $9-million to 611 communities.
Advocacy Training
The Skatepark Project staff fields an average of 400 e-mails and phone calls each month. TSP staff provide local advocates and community leaders with guidance and training on developing a public skatepark, with an emphasis on including local youth. The following are some typical issues we address:
• Getting a skatepark project started
• Lobbying local government
• Liability insurance
• Raising community awareness
• Creating a nonprofit organization
• Fundraising
• Applying for a grant
• Choosing a skatepark designer and/or contractor
TSP provides this service free of charge, and assists local advocates at every step of their skatepark process.
International Programs
TSP provides tactical and financial assistance to NGOs internationally whose work utilizes skateboarding to enrich the lives of youth in challenged regions throughout the world.
Where we work
Awards
Steve Patterson Award For Excellence In Sports Philanthropy 2013
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Sports Award 2015
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Photos
Videos
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?
The Tony Hawk Foundation seeks to foster lasting improvements in society through the development of free, quality public skateparks in low-income communities throughout the US. We also support programming that uses skateboarding to reach and enrich the lives of youth in challenged regions throughout the world.
Domestically, it's not simply the creation of a skatepark that THF seeks. It's engaging youth in the process of developing the park. It's the skaters themselves who are typically the catalyst who articulate the need for a safe, sanctioned place to ride--off the street and away from pedestrians and traffic. And through the skatepark-development model outlined by THF staff, the skaters themselves are involved in and carry out much of the planning, community outreach, presentations to local leaders, fundraising, and design work. Once the skatepark is open and their dream of a place to ride safely and call their own becomes a reality, these youth are personally invested in the outcome, and are better stewards of the space from that day forward.
Today, most of the more than 5-million youth who ride skateboards have nowhere safe to skate and practice the sport they love. So they find their own spaces, which often results in confrontations with property owners or law enforcement. The repetition of this process conditions these youth to avoid adults and seek more remote areas to ride.
Skateboarders are athletes who deserve to be recognized for their passion and abilities, and their desire to pursue an active, healthy lifestyle should be encouraged. The THF process of developing a proper public skatepark helps strengthen the relationships between these youth and their communities, and the resulting skatepark provides them a common space to build their own community. It's also a public space where non-skating individuals can come and see the amazingly athletic and artistic things these kids can do on their skateboards, BMX bikes, and scooters. A skatepark is a place for the entire community to come together.
Likewise, skateboarding has proven to attract youth from every culture, every country, and every socio-economic strata. Programs like Skateistan (www.skateistan.org) have used the allure of skateboarding to provide education and other important services to youth on every continent. THF is proud to support the work of Skateistan in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and South Africa, and we look forward to assisting other effective programs in challenged regions throughout the world.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The primary focus of the Tony Hawk Foundation is to help facilitate the development of free, high-quality public skateparks in low-income areas by providing information and guidance on the skatepark-development process, and through financial grants. While not all skatepark projects meet our grant criteria, the Tony Hawk Foundation strives to help communities in other ways to achieve the best possible skateparks—parks that will satisfy the needs of local skaters, provide them a safe, enjoyable place to ride, and promote healthy, active lifestyles.
THF's Advocacy Training Program is our most effective tool to assist communities in their pursuit of free, quality public skateparks. Having worked with hundreds of successful advocacy groups, THF staff have developed (and continue to evolve) a roadmap to creating a successful community skatepark that's designed to maximize the resources local advocates have, and help them locate the resources they need. THF staff field an average of 400 e-mails and phone calls each month. The following are some typical issues we address:
- Getting a skatepark project started
- Lobbying local government
- Liability insurance
- Raising community awareness
- Creating a nonprofit organization
- Fundraising
- Applying for a grant
- Choosing a skatepark designer and/or contractor
The THF Skatepark Grant Program provides funding to help build free public skateparks. The foundation's Board Of Directors reviews grant applications twice a year and issues grants based on merit and available funds. Preference is given to grassroots projects in disadvantaged communities where children have limited recreational opportunities or access to existing skateparks. They also favor projects that demonstrate strong skater involvement. Grants typically range from $5,000 – $25,000. Since 2002, and THF has awarded over 600 grants in all 50 States worth more than $9-million.
The Public Skatepark Development Guide is a 128-page book and interactive Web site (www.skatepark.org) that covers the process of planning and creating a public skatepark. This collaboration between the Tony Hawk Foundation, the nonprofit Skaters For Public Skateparks, and International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC) is the definitive guide for skatepark advocates and city or parks officials pursuing a new public skatepark. Written by THF Programs Director Peter Whitley, the PSDG draws from the collective wisdom of dozens of veteran skatepark advocates. It's full of in-depth information and illustrations that cover topics ranging from the skatepark vision, advocacy, fundraising, design, and management.
Through strategic partnerships with NGO's in challenged regions of the world, THF is able to provide tactical assistance and funding to programs internationally that enrich the lives of youth through skateboarding. THF is proud to support the work of Skateistan (www.skateistan.org) in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and South Africa.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The Tony Hawk Foundation operates with a staff of seven, guided by a twenty-member all-volunteeer Board Of Directors. THF's Board is comprised of dedicated individuals who contribute their unique talents and tactical or financial resources to fulfill the foundation's mission.
With about 50 of the more than 600 projects THF has helped to fund still incomplete at any given time, Staff monitor and assist each group as needed in order to help them complete their skateparks.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
The Tony Hawk Foundation has been assisting communities to develop free, public skateparks across the U.S. since 2002. In that time, hundreds of International projects also received technical assistance from THF staff to help create public skateparks on every continent. In 2014, THF expanded its International work to include financial and tactical support for programs that utilize skateboarding to enrich the lives of youth. The first recipient of this assistance is the Skateistan (www.skateistan.org) organization, which provides educational and counseling services to youth in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and South Africa.
Currently, there are about 3,500 skateparks across the U.S., but approximately 8,000 more are needed just to accommodate all current domestic skateboarders. THF has provided both technical and financial assistance to about 16% of all existing U.S. skateparks, but our work is far from over. Through development and distribution of educational materials online and in print, THF's small staff are better able to meet the growing demand for technical assistance.
THF's growth into formal International programming is having a dramatic effect on the ability of our international Partner, Skateistan, to find additional support and deliver critical educational and counseling services to youth in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and South Africa. THF's support for Skateistan's work, and other potential International Partners, will continue to grow alongside the domestic skatepark programs.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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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
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
The Skatepark Project
Board of directorsas of 05/06/2024
Tony Hawk
Founder, The Skatepark Project
Term: 2001 -
Tony Hawk
Founder, THF
Pat Hawk
COO, Tony Hawk, Inc.
Steve Hawk
Editorial Operations Manager, Stanford Graduate School Of Business
Lenore Hawk Dale
Founding Member
Sandy Dusablon
CFO, Tony Hawk, Inc.
David Proctor
Jane Street
Jim Thiebaud
Deluxe Distribution
Tony Conrad
about.me & Sphere
Sara Morishige Williams
Co-Founder, Sara And Evan Williams Foundation
Brandee Barker
Founding Partner, Pramana Collective
Anthony Bucci
Founder, RevZilla.com
Allen Gibson
CIO, Centaurus Capital
Mimi Knoop
Co-Founder, Womens Skateboarding Alliance
Oliver Percovich
Founder, Skateistan
Brent Eyestone
Founder, Dark Operative
Jon Gray
CEO, Ghetto Gastro
Steve Larosiliere
President, STOKED
Stephanie Murdoch
Founder, Skatepark of Baltimore
Joe O'Hara
President, LifeLine Financial Group
Doug Palladini
Global Brand President, Vans
Mike Render
Musician and activist
Neftalie Williams
USC Provost’s Post-Doctoral Scholar
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
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
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
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Sexual orientation
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Disability
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