Courtesy Save the Greensward Facebook
South Dakota was the only state that did not yield a donor to the Overton Park Conservancy’s (OPC) fundraiser for a project that will eventually end parking on the park’s Greensward.
A Memphis City Council agreement last year started the process for the project to re-configure and expand the Memphis Zoo’s parking lot, a move that would give the zoo hundreds of new spaces. The new parking lot is supposed to end the zoo’s use of the 12-acre Greensward for overflow parking, which the zoo has done for years.
But the project hit a snag. Earlier this year, zoo officials claimed OPC did not have the money to build the project and threatened to walk away from the entire process. Council members then gave OPC two months to raise $1 million for its portion of the project.
OPC reached its goal Sunday and recently released details of the fundraising campaign.
• More than 90 percent of donations came from Memphis, with 28 ZIP codes represented
• The top five ZIP codes that gave to the campaign were:
1. 38104 (Midtown)
2. 38112 (Evergreen/Hein Park)
3. 38111 (High Point, Joffre, Chickasaw)
4. 38107 (Vollintine Evergreen)
5. 38117 (East Memphis)
• 10 percent came from donors in every state (except South Dakota)
• The most popular gift was $100
• 82 percent of donations were $250 or less
• More than half of donations came from those who’d never given to OPC before.
OPC said The Hyde Family Foundation, Bob Richards, and several anonymous donors offered matching grants to the fundraising campaign. Also, several community organizations like Park Friends, the Vollintine Evergreen Community Association, the Evergreen Historic District Association hosted fundraising events. Also, Mempops donated $1 to the campaign from every pop sold in the park over the last two months.
OPC officials expect to return to the city council on June 20 and they expect the council to accept the funds for the project. This move will allow city official to contract with Powers Hill Design to design the project.
The fundraising campaign isn’t over, though.
“We won't know the full project costs until after the design phase has been completed,” the OPC said in a recent blog post. “But because we anticipate having to raise more money for construction, we’ll continue to accept donations.”
Also, the OPC said it is about $100,000 behind where it was at this time last year for funds to fuel the basic maintenance and operations of the park and “cleanup costs from the recent storm are running into the tens of thousands.”
