Using innovations and resources developed and adapted for parks and recreation, this session explores valuable planning tools. We'll explore Financial Sustainability, The Pyramid Methodology, Public Sector Service Assessment, and more!

1. Agency Effectiveness -
Essential Guidelines and Planning
Teresa L. Penbrooke, PhD, MAOM, CPRE

2. Today’s
Conditions
Innovations and
resources
Planning Tools

4. Organizational
Balance
Financial/
Economic
Social/
Recreation
Environ-
mental
Conservation/Passive Mixed Use Active

5. Today’s Conditions
 Increased competition for
the “leisure dollar”
 Increased operating
expenses
 Disinterest in service
reductions or increased
fees and charges – Tax
Revolt
 Continuing demand for
services with no/limited
additional funding

6. Public parks and recreation agencies are
shifting to more business-like models to
sustain community systems
Q: “How much subsidy
should be directed to
a service if an individual
derives a greater benefit
than the community as a
whole?”
However – We are a governmental business!

7. 1. Be aware and sensitive of
historical, political, social, and
economic factors influencing
the community
2. Identify values and vision
3. Determine which “services we
should be in the business of
providing”
4. Develop a Financial Resource
Allocation Philosophy
Practices Leading to
Financial Sustainability

8. Core Service Identification
& Provision Strategies
Financing Goals &
Objectives
Financing Sustainability – Refining the Process
Organizational Values
Vision
Financial Resource
Allocation Philosophy
Organizational Mission

9.  What are the organization’s
values, vision and mission?
 Why do you exist?
 What business are you in?
 Who are you serving?
Values, Vision and Mission

10. Community
Consensus Building
Stakeholder Participation

11. Services Assessment
Is this function a
core service??

12. Service Assessment – How it Works
 Review of organizational services
 Determination of level of
responsibility and market
position
 “Core Services Identification”
 Operational strategies such as
collaboration, aggressive
marketing, divestment and
others
 Guided by the Service Assessment Matrix (evolved from
the MacMillan Matrix)

13. Service Assessment - Premise
 Duplication of services can fragment limited resources
available, affecting quality and cost-effectiveness

14. Services Assessment
Straightforward assessment using four criteria or filters
 Fit (with values and vision)
 Financial Capacity
 Alternative Coverage
 Market Position

16. Pyramid Methodology
What’s our cost
recovery and
subsidy allocation
philosophy?
For resource
allocation, cost
recovery, and pricing

17. Pyramid Methodology
 Management tool utilized by agencies
across the country
 Articulates the level of benefit that
services provide
 Aligns with the issue of core services
 Allows for logical determination of:
resource allocation
subsidy/cost recovery goals
future fees and charges
 Justifies decisions

18. Distinctions
$ Policy
$ Philosophy
$ Pricing
We must speak a common language!

19. Overall Agency
Cost Recovery Philosophy & Pricing Policy
Funding Sources
General Fund
Revenue Bonds
Impact Fees
Fees & Sales
Various Other
Taxing Methods
Traditional Funding Alternative Funding
Philanthropic Grants Partnerships
Donor Programs &
Capital Campaigns
Volunteers /
In-kind Service
Single Agency
Multi-Party
Marketing Partnerships
& Sponsorships

20. 80% 20%
40%60%
100%
Cost Recovery and Subsidy
+20%
= 100%
= 100%
Excess revenues over direct costs can
help fund other programs!
National average overall – 34% (Crompton, et. al)

21. Pyramid Methodology – 10 steps
1. Build on Organizational Values, Vision and Mission
2. Understanding the Pyramid – the Benefits Filter and
Secondary Filters
3. Develop the Organization’s Categories of Service
4. Sort Categories of Services
5. Determine (or confirm) Current Subsidy/Cost Recovery Levels
6. Define Direct and Indirect Costs
7. Establish Subsidy/Cost Recovery Goals
8. Understand and Prepare for Influential Factors and
Considerations
9. Implement
10. Evaluate

22. The Pyramid Methodology
 Grounded in a
primary
“benefit” filter
and secondary
filters
 Helps answer
the question,
“Where should
subsidy be
used?

23. Mostly Community Benefit
(All taxpayers)
The Foundational Level
of the Pyramid
Benefits the community as a whole
May increase property values and public safety,
address social needs, and enhance basic quality
of life of all residents.

24. The Benefits Filter
in Action
CONSIDERABLE INDIVIDUAL -
swim team
INDIVIDUAL/COMMUNITY -
swim lessons
CONSIDERABLE COMMUNITY -
pool
MOSTLY COMMUNITY - spray
ground, non- monitored lake
MOSTLY INDIVIDUAL - elite swimming or diving team

25. PASS Software to track

26. Subsidy Allocation/Cost Recovery Goals - Example

27. Summary Steps to Financial Success
 Get everyone involved – create “buy-in”
 Values, Vision, & Mission
 Determine which services the agency
should be in the “business of providing”
 Develop Resource Allocation and Cost
Recovery Philosophies and Policies
 Implement and evaluate

28. Component-Based
Inventory and
Level of Service
Methodology &
Analysis
If you live in the darkest red area,
you can walk to:
• 8 Parks
• 4 Trailheads
• 8 Trail Access Points
• 2 Open Space Parcels
• 37 Total Components
Golden, Colorado
Tools and Methods

29. Preventive
Community
Health
Local P&R
Agencies
Medical Care
Transportation
& Access to
Nature
Schools /
Education
Academic
Research &
Methods
Partners,
Planners &
Providers
Physical
Activity &
Nutrition
Social
Engagement
Public
Safety &
Perception
of Safety
Modifiable
Factors
Spaces,
Programs, and
Policies
Actors
Facilitating
Partnerships
and outcomes
in the
Community
Modifying
Preventive PH
through Systems
Thinking for P&R
Actions on all levels
(Penbrooke, 2017)
www.gpred.org/resources/dissertations

30. Community-Specific P&R Health Assessment
Surveillance and Management Toolkit
1. Convene staff, key stakeholders, and the public – FRAME & PARTNER
2. Collect community-specific information using valid methods (e.g. HIAs & GIS)
• Inventory and analysis of assets and programs available / participation / awareness
• Analysis of current policies, practices, financial, and allocation of resources
• Demographics, regional trends, alignment with national initiatives
• Document partnerships, current providers, and social networks
3. Determine Gaps – Culture? Programs? Assets? Social? Policies? Staff? $$?
4. Create an Action Plan / Logic Model for priorities – MESSAGING & ACTION
• Communications, Staffing, Capital Improvements, Park Rx, Programs, Education
5. Report, communicate, and garner resources
6. Evaluate and repeat
Tools
Customized
community alignment

31. Floyd et al., 2015
Layton, 2016
Penbrooke et al., 2017
Analysis of
physical activity
energy
expenditures
per component

32. Human Response to Nature Dosing
 Studies indicate that human well-being
responds to the presence of nature, and the
scale of response can vary with duration of
exposure.
 Rapid improvement in psychological well-being
is possible in response to very low durations of
nature dose, after which rate of response may
either plateau or decline.
 Primary moderating factors appear to be:
socio-economic, cultural, personal preferences,
knowledge, perception of safety, demographic, and
physiological
Growing body of
evidence showing
urban nature may
provide a cost-
effective tool to
reduce health
risks, as there are
links to improved
physical,
psychological,
and social well-
being.
(Brown et al., 2016; Shanahan, Fuller, Bush, Lin, & Gaston, 2015; Shanahan et al., 2016)

33. Community-Specific
Measurements
Longmont, CO
Open Space Master Plan
Qualitative and Quantitative Measures
Self Report Survey
Proximity and Components Analysis
Tools &
Methods

34. Park Prescriptions – Park Rx
ParkRx.org
NPS Healthy Parks, Healthy
People
ParkRxAmerica.org

35. Summary of Key Themes for
Agency Effectiveness
 To be sustainable, an agency needs to have sound
planning practices in place
 Include community engagement, collaboration, and
equitable access
 Systematic community assessment and implementation
 Services Assessments, Pyramid Methodology, and
component-based geo-spatial assessment tools
 Focus on modifiable preventive health factors
 Include benefits and access to nature, physical activity,
nutrition, and social engagement

36. Thanks for attending!
Questions?
Teresa Penbrooke, PhD, MAOM, CPRE
www.gpred.org
www.greenplayllc.com
teresap@gpred.org