Dog Park Grants

Note: We are currently offering new design grants only through December 15, 2023. We encourage you to review our updated design grant information.

As part of its mission of encouraging positive dog/human relationships, the Stanton Foundation supports the development of enclosed dog parks in Massachusetts cities and towns.

This support takes the form of a series of grants to support park design, park construction, and capital improvements in parks supported by the Foundation. Access to these grants requires community contributions as detailed below.

Foundation contributions include:

Design grants: Design grants typically range from $10,000 to $25,000 and are intended to cover up to 100% of the costs of taking a dog park from initial concept to bid-ready construction documents. Expenses covered by a design grant include: preparation of schematics, preliminary drawings, bid documents, construction observation and, if necessary, an initial site survey.

Construction grants: Construction grants will fund 90% of the park’s “hard” construction costs. Hard construction costs include labor and materials. They exclude contingency allowances, insurance, permits, bonds, overhead, or other miscellaneous expenses. Construction grants have ranged from $100,000 to $250,000 and are capped at $250,000.

Required community contributions include:

Land and infrastructure. The community must identify a town owned site or sites(s) prior to the award of the design grant and provide water lines and other basic infrastructure, if applicable (e.g. if the proposed plan includes lighting, an electricity source).

10% match on hard construction costs. This contribution must be in cash, not in-kind services. The source of the cash may be the town budget or contributions.

All "soft costs" associated with park building, including bond, contingency, overhead, insurance, and other miscellaneous items not fairly categorized as "labor and materials."

Ongoing park maintenance. The community is responsible for all ongoing maintenance costs.

Please be aware that the Foundation works exclusively with one contact person, employed by the city/town, to discuss grant opportunities and requirements. Volunteer committee members, group organizers, or other community members involved in dog park design or construction should contact their local officials and encourage them to contact the Foundation, but should not themselves contact the Foundation.