Michael M. Parks, CFRE

Michael M. Parks has served as president of The Dayton Foundation since 2002. As president, he works to help people and organizations help others in the Dayton Region and beyond. He has elevated the Foundation’s role in fostering community collaborations and leadership initiatives, developed new, first-in-the-nation services for donors and not-for-profit organizations, and has become a resource on philanthropy and the nonprofit community regionally and nationally. Founded in 1921, The Dayton Foundation is one of the first community foundations in the nation and today is among the top four percent of over 800 such foundations. Under Mike Parks’ leadership, the Foundation has grown to more than 4,100 charitable funds, increased assets from $214 million in 2002 to $1.2 billion today and has exceeded more than 475,000 grants awarded totaling $1.4 billion since inception.

Mike currently lends his expertise to help advance numerous area projects and initiatives, including Aileron Investment Committee Advisory Board, On Main Advisory Committee, The Hundred Club of Dayton Board of Directors and the University of Dayton Davis Center for Portfolio Management Advisory Board. He also serves as the immediate past chair for The Dayton Region New Market Fund Board and was a founding Board member for Learn to Earn Dayton. Nationally, he chairs the Council on Foundation’s Community Foundation Advisory Group, which represents more than 800 community foundations in the nation.

In 2020, Mike received the Humanitarian Award by the National Conference for Community & Justice of Greater Dayton for his leadership in addressing systemic racism and advancing Greater Dayton as a diverse and inclusive community. He also has been recognized as an Outstanding Fundraising Executive by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Greater Dayton Region Chapter, in 2015, and inducted into the 40 Under Forty Hall of Fame by the Dayton Business Journal’s in 2018. A frequent speaker and writer on issues and trends impacting nonprofits, he also was interviewed on the national PBS program, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Mike served the YMCA for 22 years, most recently as the President/CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Dayton. He and his wife, Amy, have been married for 42 years and have four children, ages 29 to 39, five granddaughters and two grandsons.