The Oglebay Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation devoted to the raising of private funds for the welfare, maintenance, and future development of Oglebay and Wheeling Park in Wheeling, West Virginia, and their affiliated organizations and programs. Private philanthropy has been important since the Parks System Trust Fund was formed in 1945. These private funds have gone a long way in creating the only self-sustaining public parks system in the United States.

When the Foundation was incorporated in 1996 it became the major trust vehicle for philanthropic gifts to the parks. At that time trust funds already in existence, such as the Maintenance Trust, the Oglebay Park Children’s Association, America’s Future Trees Foundation, and the Friends of Oglebay annual fund, were placed under the Foundation.

The majority of the facilities built or renovated since the late 1990s are the result of generous gifts to The Oglebay Foundation. In 1997 the Foundation adopted a Maintenance Endowment Mission which reads: To provide adequate resources to fund current and future maintenance needs of Oglebay and Wheeling Park. The mission statement further solidifies the current position held by the Wheeling Park Commission that facilities should not be built unless there is a maintenance plan in place.