News

In its fall issue, Philanthropy Magazine featured Nancy and Rich Kinder, Buffalo Bayou Park’s $30 million catalyst funders, in an article focused on park philanthropy.

In October, Buffalo Bayou was named one of the nation’s “10 Great Public Spaces” by the American Planning Association. Read about the announcement press conference with Mayor Annise Parker in the Houston Chronicle and see a photo gallery in USA Today.

Thank you to the Houston Parks and Recreation Department Director, Joe Turner, for nominating Buffalo Bayou for this prestigious honor.

Also in October, Buffalo Bayou Partnership received the 2012 Civic Vision Award from AIA Houston. This award is presented to individuals or groups who have consistently and courageously demonstrated civic leadership in improving Houston’s quality of life through architecture, architecture education, landscape architecture, or urban planning. Thank you, AIA!

As 2012 comes to a close, we celebrate the significant progress made at Buffalo Bayou Park – Shepherd to Sabine and recognize the generosity of Houston’s leading foundations and corporations.

The vision for Buffalo Bayou Park has inspired numerous record-setting gifts including the following:

• Kinder Foundation’s catalyst $30 million gift, the largest in the history of Houston’s park system
• The Wortham Foundation provided a $5 million challenge grant with a 2:1 matching requirement.  The foundation’s gift served as an early catalyst for BBP to raise additional funds and reach out to new donors, and we are happy to announce that BBP has raised more than $10 million to fulfill this challenge
• Ray C. Fish Foundation’s recent $1 million grant for Buffalo Bayou Park’s exciting Nature Playground
• Carruth Foundation’s $1 million sponsorship of the pedestrian bridge connecting Buffalo Bayou Park to the Police Memorial – the largest gift in the foundation’s history
• The Garden Club of Houston’s $250,000 contribution, the largest in the club’s 80-year history, for the park’s Lost Lake perennial gardens

Thanks to these additional Buffalo Bayou Park donors of $50,000+ (as of November 28, 2012):

• The Wortham Foundation, Inc.
• Houston Endowment Inc.
• The Brown Foundation, Inc.
• The Fondren Foundation
• The Cullen Foundation
• The Elkins Foundation
• Susan Vaughan Foundation
• Scurlock Foundation
• Brady Carruth
• Apache Corporation
• River Oaks Garden Club

We are honored that these and other gifts will allow us to develop major park features.