Get to Know Us: Q&A with Shava Lawson

First, credit where credit is due: you’ve been with Seattle Parks Foundation for over 12 years – longer than any other staff member! What are some of your earliest memories of working at the Foundation?
We were such a small team back then! Most of the staff wore multiple hats. I handled Finance, HR, IT, Operations and managed the fiscal sponsorship program, which then only had 12 fiscally sponsored projects. I have fond memories of our early staff retreats and making delicious home cooked meals together, as well as spending time outdoors in nature and going on some fun field trips, like hiking, kayaking and snowshoeing.

Are there any partners you’ve been working with since you first started? What has it been like seeing their projects evolve?
Three projects come to mind- Cayton Corner Park, Cheasty Trails Greenspace @ Mountain View and Volunteer Park Trust all became partners in 2012/2013, and all are still with us today. Volunteer Park Trust has completed numerous projects in the years since they joined, the most recent of which is the stunning new Amphitheater where they are hosting their third annual Summer Concert Series. Cheasty has been doing restoration in the Cheasty Green Space for years while they build their southern loop bike/pedestrian trail. They are starting construction on the northern loop trail soon. They have planted more than 17,000 trees since 2007! Cayton Corner is breaking ground in the next month and will finally have a little pocket park built in honor of Horace Cayton’s newspaper, Cayton’s Weekly, a local publication for (and by) Black Americans in Seattle.

You’ve worked in-depth with so many incredible partners over the years. What are some key elements of success that you’ve seen guide their projects over the finish line?
PERSERVERANCE and sharing the load. Everyone starts off a project that benefits their community with so much passion and energy. However, burn out is REAL, and it’s important to recruit new folks to join in to help before you get burned out. Another important element of success is PATIENCE; these things take much longer than anticipated, and you really need patience in spades to pace yourself.

Seattle Parks Foundation now works with over 100 fiscal partners. Along with that exponential growth in the number of groups we serve, what other aspects of the Foundation have significantly changed over the years?
As our partners have increased, so have our services and the number of staff working to support their projects (by 60%). Our new-ish Partner Portal, launched in 2023, has a wealth of resources and information that has helped partners do more self-service, which has been useful for groups with less complex projects.

Seattle Parks Foundation has also invested in a lot of DEIJ (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice) work with consultants. This work has been instrumental in gaining a better understanding of the history of our region from redlining & housing discrimination to systemic disinvestment in communities. To this day, this history has impacted communities and created neighborhood inequities that we are attempting to address by partnering with neighborhood led groups who know best what they need for their communities.

You are a member of the National Network for Fiscal Sponsors & attend a weekly Zoom meeting for Fiscal Sponsorship Conversations. What have you learned from other groups, and what have you been able to share with others about how we work at SPF?
Fiscal Sponsorship is a niche field, and there are many ways organizations approach it. Some orgs are “generalists”- meaning – all they do is fiscal sponsorship at a local, national or international level. Others (like us) support their operations with philanthropic work while also serving fiscally sponsored projects. And there are others that offer specific operation and capacity building support to incubate projects into their own 501c3’s. One thing I’ve shared is how our partnerships with identity/affinity groups and coalition and alliances have increased over the last 5+ years. This is a testament to the collective work it requires to address systemic inequities many communities have experienced.

What advice do you have for our newer partners, or for groups who are considering applying for fiscal sponsorship?
Try to recruit people to your committee that have skills to complement your group’s needs. Identify where your gaps are; are you missing someone who is willing to fundraise, do communications or handle administrative tasks? Ask around your community to bring people in with your identified needs so your team isn’t struggling to tackle all the work with one or two people. It really takes a village to do advocacy and/or make parks and public spaces happen!

We start our weekly staff meetings with ice breaker questions, and I wanted to ask you something along those lines here: as a longtime Beacon Hill resident, what’s your favorite way to spend a day in your neighborhood (parks, restaurants, things to do, etc)?
I love this question! My family has been on Beacon Hill for 25 years and we’ve seen this area change so much. We used to go to Jefferson Park when it was just a tiny little sand pit with a merry-go-round. Now we go there to walk the loop trail, watch sunsets and have picnics with food we get from local Beacon Ave establishments El Quetzal or Carnitas Michoacan.

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