Thank you for visiting my fundraising page for the Central Park Conservancy.

Central Park is a colossus.  At 843 acres, it covers 6% of Manhattan's total landmass stretching across some 50 odd blocks uptown.  The park contains 7 water bodies (totaling 150 acres), 26000 trees, over 9000 benches, 36 bridges and arches, 52 fountains, monuments, and sculptures, 21 playgrounds, a zoo along with numerous other specialty spaces and is host to 25 million people, not to mention 275 different species of migratory birds, annually. 

As one might expect, maintaining such a beast is a massive undertaking.  The park's annual operating budget is 27 million dollars of which the Central Park Conservancy provides 85%.  This money pays for not only the basic care of the park, but also covers cultural series, sports and recreation activities, and educational programs.  Given the amount of attention required to meet the vast range of demands of the park, it isn't surprising that park provides employment for scores of people directly and even more indirectly, whether you are talking about the horse drawn carriage drivers who offer rides to passersby or the 49 dedicated gardeners who are each accountable for a distinct zone within the park.

What is perhaps easy for those of us born after the formation of the Central Park Conservancy in 1980 to fail to grasp (especially given the current gorgeous state of the park) is that the park's 150 year history is marred by several multiple-decade-long periods of neglect and decline.  It has in fact been under the supervision of the Conservancy that the park has been able to sustain its longest period of fulfilled potential to date.  The Central Park Conservancy's expertise has not only bolstered Central Park itself but also provided other parks within the city and around the world many case studies that they have been able to learn from.  I'm proud to be a member of their NYC ING 2008 Marathon Team, and I hope you're interested in supporting their cause.

Donating through this website is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts.

Other options for donating include (1.) providing credit card information over the phone or (2.) mailing a check.

1.  Contact Alan Karpman - Central Park Conservancy's Manager of Business Development at (212) 310-6643.  Please have ready your credit card information, the amount of the contribution you'd like to make, and don't forget to mention my name.

2.  Checks should be made payable to the Central Park Conservancy.  Include my name and the name of the event on the memo line - Robert Crafton, ING NYC Marathon. 

Mail checks to:

ATTN: Alan Karpman                                                                                                               14 East 60th Street                                                                                                                    New York, NY 10022

Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!