Central Park Conservancy

Would you like to buy a rustic bridge over the rowboat lake in Central Park? How about an arboretum on the East Side of the reservoir? The Central Park Conservancy isn’t actually selling these items, but it is looking for donors to make them a reality.

After 25 years of quietly raising money from the upper-class denizens who make their home around the park’s borders, the conservancy is opening up its most recent $100 million capital campaign to the public.

In the next 16 months, the conservancy is aiming to bring in $10 million in donations with their new broad-based approach, adding to the $90 million they have already raised in the previous two years. The largest private gift thus far has been $5 million, and the smallest has been $500, all coming from 110 individual donors primarily solicited by the chairmen of the campaign, Elizabeth Varet and Ira Milstein. The city contributed $25 million.

“In the beginning we went to the wealthiest people because it’s a huge bite,” Ms. Varet said. “We could continue just going to wealthy people but I think that would be pathetic. It would confirm to everybody that the conservancy is an elitist organization.”

In fact, the conservancy, which operates the park under a contract with the city, is happy to accept gifts of $10, or $5, or even $1. “What’s important here is that to make sure that New Yorkers and tourists feel that the parks is theirs and theirs to take care of,” Ms. Varet said. “No conservancy budget could make up for people trashing the park.”

The president of the conservancy, Douglas Blonsky, said taking the campaign to the streets is a way to position the conservancy for the future. Encouraging membership is a key goal. Membership begins at $35 and goes up to $500, with perks ranging from free maps of Central Park to exclusive tours, panels, and receptions. Mr. Blonsky said he’d like to see membership increase to 35,000 and include people from all over the city as well as tourists. Membership stands currently at 25,000. Most of the members and donors live within a six-block radius of the park.

The campaign has already funded the restoration of the Mall and the Hecksher ball fields and playground. Two new projects are in the starting phases: the restoration of the lake and its surroundings, and the restoration of the landscapes between the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Harlem Meer.

“You can pick a specific landscape,” Mr. Blonsky said in describing donor opportunities. “We have a lot of people who are doing pathways around the lake.”

The Women’s Committee of the conservancy is about two-thirds toward its $2 million fund-raising goal to reinstall the urns on Bow Bridge, an original feature of the Olmsted and Vaux design.

One project up for grabs is “Rhododendron Mile,” which refers to the landscape east of the reservoir between East 85th and East 97th streets, The plan here is to fulfill the original vision of Olmsted and Vaux’s Greensward Plan, which proposed an arboretum of American specimen trees. “I want it to be come a horticulture destination,” Mr. Blonsky said. “Right now it’s quite drab. Historically it looked more like a country road and we want to turn it into a place where people want to come.”

“It’d be great for buildings along Fifth to take block-long segments,” he added.

About half of the campaign is being spent on the park projects, with the other half earmarked for operating budget. The annual operating budget is currently $25 million, but officials said the cost would increase as further areas of the park were restored. The endowment is currently $110 million.

Signs informing people about the campaign will be going up in the next month along the perimeters of the park. The conservancy is also sending out several direct mail solicitations.

“For me the great thing about the park is that is it completely a place where the rich and poor sick and healthy and immigrant and mayflower person are all together,” Ms. Varet said. “There’s no charge to enter. That’s got to be something that people want to give money to.” “I’m not going to pressure anybody,” she added. “It should be voluntary. I want people to know they’re making a choice to support something they care about.”