Our mission is to advance the Roosevelt legacy and support the National Park Service in conserving and enhancing the lands and buildings associated with the Roosevelt family on four sites in Hyde Park, the 32nd President’s home. They include FDR’s homes, Springwood and Top Cottage; Eleanor Roosevelt’s home, Val-Kill; and the former Vanderbilt estate, which for its historic significance and scenic beauty, FDR established as a National Historic Site in 1939.

A non-membership organization, the Foundation is governed by a board of directors who believe that immersion in the natural world that FDR knew as he grew up in the Hudson River Valley reveals an exciting opportunity. The land that ingrained in the future President the respect for nature that characterized so many programs of his New Deal has the potential to serve as a teaching laboratory for the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to Hyde Park annually. By presenting educational programs that use the landscapes of Roosevelt’s childhood and recreate some of the innovative, always practical, projects that he introduced, the Foundation seeks to transform a presidential memorial into a future-oriented demonstration of practical, scalable conservation. Doing so will give tangible expression to key elements of Franklin Roosevelt’s character: his intense pragmatism and his focus on the future. Today, the Foundation is committed to working with the National Park Service to build this future-focused “teaching laboratory” at Hyde Park.