The "Legacy Landscapes" Endowment Fund
Planting the Future of PHS

Legacy Landscapes is a $12.1 million campaign to raise endowment funds to ensure that these Philadelphia Green treasures are preserved and well-managed in the future.

Enhancing Civic Spaces

A city’s downtown is its public face. Attractive, accessible, and inviting public spaces filled with greenery and flowers enhance a city’s economic prospects by drawing tourists, stimulating business activity, and retaining residents. Philadelphia Green advocates for vibrant landscapes in Center City and has developed strategic partnerships with city agencies, residents, businesses, and other stakeholders to green and maintain important downtown landscapes. To protect these civic treasures, Philadelphia Green manages the planning, design, installation, and long-term horticultural maintenance of several projects, ensuring top-quality product with maximum visual impact.

Working in effective partnerships with government, PHS complements city maintenance services of key public sites, dramatically enhancing the appearance of these important civic spaces. PHS also brings together an extensive network of partners to encourage wise investment in the city’s green assets.

Revitalizing Neighborhoods

Walking along a neighborhood street, few sights are as unexpected—or as welcoming—as lush, green community gardens abundant with vegetables and flowers. These gardens transform unsightly vacant lots into verdant green spaces with significant social, economic, and educational benefits. Residents find “common ground” here, bridging race, culture, and economic status to share the simple joys of gardening.

Of the many community gardens across the city, several long-term successes, known as Keystone Gardens, serve as catalysts of change for their neighborhoods and are hallmarks of the Philadelphia Green program. They not only are places for families to connect with nature, but they also increase property values and help retain residents, benefiting the entire city. PHS seeks to ensure that these Keystone Gardens retain their pivotal role in their communities.

Endowment Fund Gifts

Gifts to Legacy Landscapes are invested. Each year, according to the spending rule established by the PHS Council, a percentage of the Legacy Landscapes Endowment Fund’s market value will be used to support civic and neighborhood landscape projects. Over time, investment returns will increase the market value of the Fund, ensuring that the value of gifts will not be eroded by inflation.

With gifts to Legacy Landscapes, donors create legacies that will sustain these important PHS projects.

There are many ways for you to help PHS achieve the goals set forth in its Legacy Landscapes campaign. You can:

• make an outright gift of cash or securities
• structure a life income plan that offers tax benefits
• set aside a gift from your estate

We would be pleased to meet with you to answer any questions and work with you in designing a plan that best meets your needs. Please contact the PHS Development Office at 215-988-8800.