The Parks Foundation: Paper in 2019, Public in 2020

Federal ruling February 2019; publicly announced November 2020

Lead: The city's own foundation is the youngest corporation in this section, and its two birthdays print exactly as the record gives them. The Mishawaka Parks and Recreation Foundation Inc (EIN 83-2587090), of 904 North Main Street, holds a federal ruling from February 2019. The Parks Department's own 2020 annual report then records that the foundation "was officially announced to the public in November [2020] with the purpose of engaging the community to benefit Mishawaka Parks and Recreation in order to further the charitable and educational programs and projects of the city." The corporation was paper in 2019 and public in 2020; both facts stand. Its most recent register return (tax period ending December 2025) reports assets of $2,136,446 against revenue of $1,956,328 — revenue at capital-campaign scale for a corporation six years public, the signature of a campaign vehicle rather than an endowment.

Its documented runs are the campaign record. In 2023 the foundation and the Parks Department ran a crowdfunding campaign for a pocket park — a $50,000 goal under the state's matching-grant frame, led with the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council — beside a portable skate park effort. In 2025 the Wyn and Carol Laidig Foundation's grants, as compiled from its filings, included $327,401 to the Mishawaka Parks Foundation: the manufacturing family's foundation bankrolling the city's, one article of this section paying into another. As of November 2026 the city's parks page presents the foundation as a 501(c)(3) "dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for residents of Mishawaka and surrounding communities by supporting and promoting recreational, cultural, and educational opportunities," and sends donors to its current campaign, the Miracle League project — announced as the foundation's present work, and printed here as announced, the parks file owning the ground it will stand on.

Sources:

1. IRS Business Master File, Indiana extract, November 2026: Mishawaka Parks and Recreation Foundation Inc (EIN 83-2587090, ruling February 2019, assets $2,136,446, revenue $1,956,328, tax period 202512).
2. City of Mishawaka Parks Department, 2020 annual report: the November 2020 public announcement and purpose, verbatim; the city's parks and foundation pages as published November 2026 (the Miracle League campaign).
3. The Wyn and Carol Laidig Foundation's grants as compiled from its 990-PF (Zeffy grant finder): $327,401 to the Mishawaka Parks Foundation, 2025; the 2023 pocket-park crowdfunding campaign record.