About Us — Friends of the Cape Cod National Seashore

We are the official philanthropic partner of the Cape Cod National Seashore. Through education, advocacy, and community programming, FCCNS is dedicated to preserving, protecting, and enhancing the park's fragile environment, visitor experience, and unique cultural heritage, while connecting the public with one of the nation's most treasured coastal landscapes.

ABOUT

Established in 1987, the Friends of Cape Cod National Seashore (FCCNS) has served for nearly four decades as the official philanthropic partner of Cape Cod National Seashore, mobilizing private philanthropy, volunteer service, and community engagement to help protect and enhance this national treasure while strengthening the park's capacity to serve visitors and steward its natural and cultural resources.

Cape Cod National Seashore encompasses more than 43,000 acres across six Outer Cape towns and welcomes close to 4 million visitors annually. Those visitors generate approximately $754 million in economic output for surrounding communities, making the Seashore one of Cape Cod's most important economic drivers. Yet this extraordinary level of visitation also places significant demands on park infrastructure, facilities, natural resources, and staff.

At a time when federal budgets and staffing levels are increasingly constrained, the Friends of Cape Cod National Seashore provides the flexibility and responsiveness that private philanthropy makes possible—helping the park address critical needs, maintain and improve visitor experiences, respond to emerging challenges, invest in long-term resilience, and act more quickly than federal timelines often allow.

Every dollar raised by FCCNS stays here on Cape Cod and directly supports projects and priorities within the National Seashore.

OUR ROLE

• Fund critical projects that federal funding cannot address quickly enough
• Support visitor safety, accessibility, conservation, and historic preservation
• Mobilize volunteers and community partners
• Align donor investments with high-priority park needs
• Strengthen the long-term sustainability of the National Seashore

The Homeland of the Wampanoag People

The Friends of the Cape Cod National Seashore acknowledges that its work, and all of the Cape Cod National Seashore, falls within the homeland of the Wampanoag people, or “People of the First Light.”

It is important to acknowledge that all of Cape Cod itself falls within the homeland and territory of the Wampanoag people, which includes the federally-recognized Mashpee Wampanoag tribe.

Native people have lived here for thousands of years and continue to live here today. Over millennia, the Wampanoag people built indelible bonds with the lands and waters of Cape Cod. These people have endured injustices and many challenges over the centuries due to colonization and government policies. These trials continue to this day. The timeline of the tribe's existence dwarfs that of the colonial period and the establishment of federal, state, county and municipal governments.

The mission of the Friends will benefit from greater awareness of the rich past – and present – of the Wampanoag people. The Friends intend to move forward by gratefully acknowledging a past that has often been overlooked, and by engaging in a continuing dialogue with the tribe.

There is much more work to be done to gain respect, trust and understanding of the original people’s past, present and future. It is the Friends’ hope that it becomes a resource in this important work.

To learn more about the Wampanoag people and current Indigenous issues, please visit: https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/