Get to Know Us: Q&A with Kristen Milliron

You joined the team at Seattle Parks Foundation about 3 years ago, after living in San Francisco, New York and Vancouver – all places known for their parks! How do Seattle’s public spaces compare to some of the other places that you’ve lived?
I’ve been fortunate to live in some incredible cities – and truthfully, it’s the outdoor spaces that make them great! Because I’ve moved so much, I’ve really depended on the parks and public spaces to help foster a sense of community for me, whether that’s meeting new people at the dog park, going to see a concert at an outdoor venue, or laying down a picnic with thousands of other New Yorkers on a sunny Spring Day. Parks are spaces you can go to on your own without feeling alone; they feel like a very uniting space to me, where you already have something in common with everyone there because you chose to enjoy your day in a similar way.

When I look back on the parks in each of these cities, the things that stand out to me are water, green space, and trees. Not all cities can accomplish all three of these elements in a single park, so I feel like that’s a lucky piece of continuity for me. And we have so many to choose from here in Seattle, from Carkeek down to Seward Park, we’re fortunate for such plentiful and diverse green space!

You’ve worked at a number of wonderful organizations across the country and in Canada. Is there a thread that connects the work you’ve done over the years to your role at SPF?
Yes! I started my nonprofit career at the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. I am a self-professed neurology nerd and loved fundraising for the cutting-edge research that was seeking to improve the quality of life for those living with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and advance towards a cure. In my tenure there I learned a lot about the etiology of PD, including environmental factors like exposure to pesticides and heavy metals.

This led me to my next role at the David Suzuki Foundation (DSF), the leading environmental nonprofit in Canada. DSF has a large climate program, inclusive of pollinator protection, environmental justice movements, and action towards renewable energy. Our health is so interconnected to nature and the environment, and I felt that directing my attention to the things that contribute to health challenges like PD would be a worthwhile shift.

At DSF we worked on really big campaigns like putting the right to a healthy environment directly into the Canadian constitution. And last fall, after a seven year campaign, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act adopted it, putting the duty on the federal government to ensure all people have access to clean air, water, and soil (including banning pesticides like those that contribute to Parkinson’s!)

And that leads me to today. When I moved to Seattle, I wanted to work for an organization that was hyper-local; something that would fully immerse me in the community, and fast! I’d spent so much time traveling for work and moving all over the country that I was ready to settle into a community and focus on these big challenges at the ground level. Seattle Parks Foundation (SPF) has four strategic priorities, one of which is neighborhood based climate solutions. We are at a critical moment in the health and future of our planet, and I believe that in order for change to be successful, we need to get everyone involved. And that starts in your own neighborhood! I am so inspired by our community partners who are dedicating their time and energy to this mission, and it makes me proud to support them, every day.

Seattle Parks Foundation works closely with the City of Seattle’s Parks and Recreation department. How do you see the relationship between our two organizations growing in the future?
One of the things that I love about working with Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) is that they are all about partnership. They truly want to make our parks great and our community proud. We’ve done so many fun things with them in the last year alone, from a beach cleanup at Golden Gardens Park during MLB All-Star Weekend to the Pickleball for All Tournament in the streets of downtown last summer. They partner with us on corporate engagement opportunities, helping to get volunteers out into our parks, and are working with us on an exciting concert series we have planned for next summer. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Since most parks are city-owned, we depend on a strong relationship with SPR in order to support our partners’ projects. We have two major park openings happening this Spring: Be’er Sheva Park and Pathways Park, where our community partners are working directly with staff from SPR to see their plans come to life.

In addition to that, we have a long history of partnership on the Seattle Bench Program, where residents can purchase a bench with a plaque dedication in one of our local parks. That program has been dormant for quite a few years, but we’re working behind the scenes to bring it back. Stay tuned!

This fall, we will be kicking off a year of events to celebrate 25 years of the Seattle Parks Foundation. We hit another milestone recently, as we now provide fiscal sponsorship to over 100 community partners. With these two milestones, what do you hope people understand about Seattle Parks Foundation and our fiscal partners?
I could not be more excited to celebrate 25 years of Seattle Parks Foundation. I think SPF has worked behind the scenes a lot and I really see this as our chance to market our brand and showcase just how much we’ve done in the past quarter century. I hope people get a sense of the positive impact on the community: we have supported over 300 projects and have over 115 active projects today. There are so many parks and public spaces throughout the region that have benefited from SPF, and I hope Seattleites are energized by that!

The second thing I’d love for people to better understand is our fiscal sponsorship model. We lend our 501(c)(3) status to the community-led groups that we work with and offer a suite of administrative services to them like donation entry and receipting, marketing and fundraising support, and one-on-one guidance to help navigate the lifecycle of their project. We are able to leverage our relationships with public agencies in service of our partners, and we do it all while subsidizing our costs by close to 50%. We do this because we believe in the work that our partners are doing; we know it’s important. In order to subsidize these costs, we depend on the generosity of operating donors to ensure we can continue to offer these services to our growing portfolio of partners.

The other piece about fiscal sponsorship that I hope people understand is that the people involved in these community-led projects are primarily volunteers. They have jobs, families, and all of the commitments that the rest of us have, yet they carve time out of their busy schedules to help improve the quality of our shared spaces for everyone to enjoy. That’s why we say our parks and public spaces are people powered – they couldn’t be what they are without the love and dedication of countless volunteers.

As our Chief Operating Officer, one of your many tasks is to help shape the culture of our organization. What’s most important to you when it comes to workplace culture?

What I love about mission-driven work is that you’re all united around a shared purpose. One person’s win is a win for the organization, and that’s worth celebrating! For me, a positive workplace culture is all about authenticity, trust, open conversations, and the ability to have some fun while you’re working towards your shared goals. That’s another important piece: goals! People are so much happier when there are clear targets, reliable feedback, regular check-ins, and it’s a bonus if there are opportunities to collaborate so everyone’s not working in their own silo.

Music is a big part of your life – can you share a little bit about the role music played in your family, and the role it plays in your life now?
I’d love to! I grew up in a very musical home – my mum is a music teacher and plays in a string quartet, and my dad sings and acted in a lot of musical theater when I was growing up. Some of my fondest memories are of family gathered around my grandmother’s piano at holiday parties and listening to my parents’ record collection.

While I grew up playing music, it wasn’t until I developed my own taste in music that I would say my passion grew. And it grew strong! The only way I can explain it is that music lights a fire in my belly – it’s a passion that drives me. I’ve traveled all over the world to see my favorite bands and have been to hundreds (and hundreds) of concerts. There’s something special about seeing music performed live, and I suppose it goes back to what I said earlier about parks being uniting spaces. At a concert, everyone is there for the same reason. You all love the same music and are experiencing it together. There’s nothing more uniting than that.

Now I get to share that passion with my toddler. I love taking him to music class and introducing him to my record collection – his favorite album is Baby Beluga by Raffi, the very same vinyl I grew up with! 

Thank you, Kristen, for sharing more about yourself with us!