--- title: Fund Recreation Programs Without Raising Taxes description: Five partner types can share facilities and funding. See how nonprofit hospital health assessments open the door for falls prevention programs. image: https://www.recreationhq.net/hubfs/blog-images/photo-partner-power-fund-programs-without-taxes.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://www.recreationhq.net/playbook/partner-power-fund-programs-without-taxes#main-content) [![](https://www.recreationhq.net/hs-fs/hubfs/raw_assets/public/recreationhq/images/logo-N6.png?width=34&height=34&name=logo-N6.png) Recreation**HQ**](https://www.recreationhq.net/) [Free trial](https://app.recreationhq.net/register?utm_source=site&utm_medium=mobile_header) [Home](https://www.recreationhq.net/) [Platform](https://www.recreationhq.net/platform) [Solutions](https://www.recreationhq.net/solutions) [Pricing](https://www.recreationhq.net/pricing) [Playbook](https://www.recreationhq.net/playbook) [Sign In](https://app.recreationhq.net/) [Start Now](https://app.recreationhq.net/register) [Home](https://www.recreationhq.net/) / [Playbook](https://www.recreationhq.net/playbook) # Partner Power: How to Fund Programs Without Raising Taxes BM Brian M. · May 7, 2026 ![Older adults doing a guided outdoor yoga class on a park lawn under trees](https://www.recreationhq.net/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-images/photo-partner-power-fund-programs-without-taxes.jpg?width=1520&name=photo-partner-power-fund-programs-without-taxes.jpg) Institutional partnerships can bring program revenue, facilities, and reach that a department budget rarely replicates on its own. Many of them are also informal: a standing arrangement with a school district that nobody has written down, and that quietly delivers less each year as the people who agreed to it move on. ## Five partnership categories, and what each can deliver **School districts.** Shared facilities after hours, student referrals into your programs, joint after-school and summer programming, and community credibility. The value to you is access to gym and field space you would otherwise have to rent or build. Price it before you negotiate: get a real quote for the hours you would need at a private facility, so you know what you are being given and can say so at the next budget hearing. Our guide to [making the case to city council](https://www.recreationhq.net/playbook/making-case-city-council-recreation-budget) covers how to present it. **YMCAs and JCCs.** Complementary programming, shared facilities, and co-marketing to each other's participant bases. These work when they are additive rather than competitive, so negotiate clear lane boundaries before signing anything. If your program catalogs overlap more than they complement, you are building a competitor relationship with extra paperwork. **Hospitals and health systems.** This is the category many departments underuse, and the reason is worth understanding in detail, so it gets its own section below. **Local employers.** Employee wellness programs, corporate league sponsorships, and volunteer labor for events and maintenance days. The pitch that tends to land is proximity: their employees already live in your service area and their kids may already be in your programs. For the sponsorship side, see [why local businesses fund recreation programs](https://www.recreationhq.net/playbook/sponsorship-strategy-local-businesses-recreation). **Nonprofits.** United Way chapters, Boys and Girls Clubs, faith communities, and neighborhood organizations can extend delivery into populations your department does not naturally reach, and some bring grant relationships that can open funding you cannot access directly. See [three funding sources most departments ignore](https://www.recreationhq.net/playbook/winning-grants-recreation-funding-sources). ## Why health systems are a strong first partner Charitable hospitals operate under a federal framework that makes community health needs part of their planning. Section 501(r)(3), added as part of the Affordable Care Act, requires a charitable hospital facility to [conduct a community health needs assessment every three years](https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/community-health-needs-assessment-for-charitable-hospital-organizations-section-501r3), take into account input from people who represent the broad interests of the community, make the assessment widely available to the public, and adopt an implementation strategy to meet the needs it identifies ([IRS, section 501(r)(3)](https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/community-health-needs-assessment-for-charitable-hospital-organizations-section-501r3)). The IRS also says that [failing the 501(r) requirements may result in revocation of tax-exempt status](https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/requirements-for-501c3-hospitals-under-the-affordable-care-act-section-501r). That is your opening. The assessment is a public document, your local health system has likely already written one, and it identifies and prioritizes community health needs. Read it before you make contact, then propose the program that maps onto a need it already names. You are not asking for a donation. You are offering delivery capacity for a need the hospital has already named, in facilities it may not have to build. Whether it partners with outside organizations is the hospital's call. Falls prevention is often a strong candidate for older adults. The CDC says falls are [the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults](https://www.cdc.gov/falls/data-research/index.html), and reports [about 4.5 million emergency department visits and 1.4 million hospitalizations](https://www.cdc.gov/falls/data-research/facts-stats/index.html) tied to older adult falls. Numbers like these are the kind a health system may care about. You may already have the gym, the instructor, and the older adults walking through your door; our post on [senior programming](https://www.recreationhq.net/playbook/senior-programming-recreation-opportunity) covers the demand side. ## Building the agreement A partnership agreement does not need to be complex. It needs four things: what each party provides in facilities, staff, participants, and funding; what each party receives in revenue split, branding, data, and access; what success looks like and how it will be measured; and how either party exits without damaging the relationship. Scope the first one to a single program for a single season, review it together, and expand only after that. In general, expanding too early is a common way for partnerships to strain. Do not promise an outcome you cannot measure. If the hospital's assessment names falls, agree at the start on what you will report back, whether that is enrollment, session attendance, or a validated balance measure, and build the collection into registration rather than bolting it on in month five. For reporting ideas, see [proving program impact](https://www.recreationhq.net/playbook/program-evaluation-proving-impact-mayor). ## Frequently asked questions ### Why would a hospital partner with a parks and recreation department? Charitable hospitals must [adopt an implementation strategy to meet the community health needs identified in their assessment](https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/community-health-needs-assessment-for-charitable-hospital-organizations-section-501r3). A recreation department can offer delivery capacity for a need the hospital has already named. ### How often must a nonprofit hospital do a community health needs assessment? The IRS says a charitable hospital facility must [conduct one every three years](https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/community-health-needs-assessment-for-charitable-hospital-organizations-section-501r3) and make it widely available to the public, so you can usually read it before making contact. ### Which programs should a department propose to a health system first? Start with a need named in the hospital's own assessment. Falls prevention for older adults is often a fit, because the CDC calls falls [the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults](https://www.cdc.gov/falls/data-research/index.html). ### What should a community partnership agreement include? Four things: what each party provides, what each party receives, how success will be measured, and how either party can exit. Start with one program for one season before expanding. 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