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American Battlefield Trust at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

American Battlefield Trust

The American Battlefield Trust preserves America's hallowed battlegrounds and educates the public about what happened there and why it matters.

$3.4M
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$2.1M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$5.3MEnvironment$5.0MEmployment$249kRecreation & Sports$185kEducation$103kPublic Benefit$100kReligion$50kFood & Nutrition$8k
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 8 grants below total $3,272,974, the rows itemized in this filing. The $3,442,878 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $169,904 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $74k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $328k
  • $250k+2 grants · $2.9M
$85,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$249M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Franklin's Charge Inc$2,100,000
Virginia Department of Historic Resources Board$771,474
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation$180,000
North American Land Trust$85,000
Capital Region Land Conservancy$62,500
Land Conservancy of Adams Co Inc$29,000
Battle of Nashville Trust Inc$25,000
Americans for Battlefield Preservation$20,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 91% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%Friends of Minute Man National Park: $10k → 8%EAST BRADFORD TOWNSHIP: $20k → 6%LAND CONSERVANCY OF ADAMS CO PA: $40k → 9%NATURAL LANDS TRUST: $96k → 10%NPS - ABPP: $239k → 14%American Veterans Archaeological Recovery: $10k → 16%OZARK REGIONAL LAND TRUST: $138k → 11%Franklin's Charge: $350k → 4%JEFFERSON CO HISTORIC LANDMARKS COMMISSION: $1.0M → 12%Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center: $1.9M → 14%Battle of Nashville Trust Inc: $25k → 14%JEFFERSON CO HISTORICAL LANDMARKS COMMISSION: $8k → 9%THE CONSERVATION FUND: $27k → 7%Chesterfield County: $50k → 7%HISTORIC GREEN SPRINGS: $9k → 11%CITY OF PETERSBURG VA: $75k → 11%Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation: $180k → 12%TREASURER OF VIRGINIA DCR: $8k → 22%STATE OF LOUISIANA: $19k → 19%STATE OF MD DNR: $12k → 6%Save Historic Antietam Foundation: $35k → 12%Commonwealth of Kentucky Kentucky Heritage Council: $250k → 14%North American Land Trust: $85k → 6%Land Conservancy of Adams Co Inc: $29k → 9%NPS - ABPP: $103k → 14%FRANKLIN'S CHARGE INC: $58k → 4%Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center: $26k → 14%CITY OF PETERSBURG VA: $25k → 11%SHENANDOAH VALLEY BATTLEFIELDS FOUNDATION: $100k → 12%Capital Region Land Conservancy: $63k → 22%BRANDYWINE CONSERVANCY & MUSEUM OF ART: $75k → 6%Gettysburg Area Recreation Authority: $10k → 9%AMERICANS FOR BATTLEFIELD PRESERVATION: $20k → 14%Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation: $80k → 12%Virginia Department of Historic Resources Board: $771k → 22%North American Land Trust: $25k → 6%AMERICANS FOR BATTLEFIELD PRESERVATION: $20k → 14%SHENANDOAH VALLEY BATTLEFIELD FOUNDATION: $29k → 12%VA DEPARTMENT OF HISTORIC RESOURCES: $152k → 22%AMERICANS FOR BATTLEFIELD PRESERVATION: $20k → 14%Commonwealth of VA DHR: $18k → 22%US Dept of Interior NPS: $1.0M → 14%Commonwealth of VA DHR: $14k → 22%US Dept of Interior NPS: $63k → 14%VA DEPARTMENT OF HISTORIC RESOURCES: $12k → 22%NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: $31k → 14%Commonwealth of VA DHR: $10k → 22%US Dept of Interior NPS: $27k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

MI
MA
PA
NJ
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
TN
SC
DC
LA
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 68% of American Battlefield Trust’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

American Battlefield Trustlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 50% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$9.0M · 13 repeat orgs$2.0M to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
24

Total granted

$9.0M
$1.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+24%
+55%

Still filing today

54%
54%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 74% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $859k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentArts & CultureRecreation & SportsEmploymentOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • FC
    FRANKLINS CHARGE INC
    3× · 2020–2025 · $2.5M · revenue ×313
  • SB
    SC BATTLEGROUND PRESERVATION TRUST
    5× · 2020–2024 · $660k · revenue +108%
  • SV
    SHENANDOAH VALLEY BATTLEFIELDS FOUNDATION
    5× · 2017–2025 · $389k · revenue +152%

Funded once

  • CO
    Commonwealth of Kentucky Kentucky Heritage Council
    one grant, 2024 · $250k
  • SC
    STAFFORD COUNTY
    one grant, 2017 · $150k
  • OR
    OZARK REGIONAL LAND TRUST INC DBA OZARK LAND TRUSTgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $138k · revenue +37%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Central Virginia Battlefields Trust

To protect american civil war battlefields and historic sites in the central virginia region through acquisitions and other strategies.

Arts & Culture
2
Friends of Honey Hill

Were on a mission to keep history alive. since 2016, friends of honey hill has been dedicated to preserving the lowcountry of south carolinas most remarkable civil war battlefields. but were not just about protecting the landwere here to…

Arts & Culture
3
Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association

The preservation of the gettysburg battlefield as a national memorial and to stimulate interest in the gettysburg battlefield as a patriotic shrine.

Arts & Culture
4
Middle Creek National Battlefield Foundation Inc
—
5
Preservation America Trust
Arts & Culture
6
New River Land Trust

To conserve the rural, natural, and cultural heritage of the new river region, protecting farms, forests, open spaces, and historic places.

Environment
7
Big Thicket Natural Heritage Trust

We acquire properties to be donated to the National Park Service and state entities and advocate for protection of Big Thicket natural resources.

Environment
8
American Battlefield Trust

The American Battlefield Trust preserves America's hallowed battlegrounds and educates the public about what happened there and why it matters. The purpose of the American Battlefield Trust is to inspire appreciation of America, its…

Arts & Culture
9
San Jacinto Battleground Association

The organization acquires and preserves land adjacent to san jacinto battleground state historic site for conservation purposes and sponsors archeology studies and public education concerning the battle of san jacinto.

Arts & Culture
10
Montgomery County Lands Trust Inc

Land Conservation and Preservation.

Environment
11
Historic Virginia Land Conservancy

Promoting for the benefit of the general public, the preservation, protection and enjoyment of our natural resources, principally in the lower james, york, rappahannock and chowan rivers and surrounding watersheds.

Environment
12
Piedmont Land Conservancy

The mission of piedmont land conservancy is to protect natural and scenic lands, farms, and green space in piedmont north carolina to enrich the quality of life for our communities and for future generations.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Operation Nightingale Usa. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

25 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 25 of the 40 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
25/25
Grantees still filing
16/25
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NATIONAL MALL AND MEMORIAL PARKS: $1,126,654 · OtherNATIONAL MALL AND MEMORIAL PARKSJEFFERSON CO HISTORIC LANDMARKS COMMISSION: $1,031,635 · OtherJEFFERSON CO HISTORIC LANDMARKS COMMISSIONVirginia Department of Historic Resources Board: $771,474 · OtherVirginia Department of Historic Resources BoardSC BATTLEGROUND PRESERVATION TRUST: $660,442 · OtherSC BATTLEGROUND PRESERVATION TRUSTSOUTH CAROLINA BATTLEGROUND TRUST: $410,580 · OtherSOUTH CAROLINA BATTLEGROUND TRUSTNATIONAL PARK SERVICE: $342,387 · OtherNATIONAL PARK SERVICECommonwealth of Kentucky Kentucky Heritage Council: $250,000 · OtherCOMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA BOARD OF HISTORIC RESOURCES: $218,665 · Other+14 more: $485,721 · Other+14 moreFRANKLINS CHARGE INC: $2,507,557 · EnvironmentFRANKLINS CHARGE INCREFLECTION RIDING ARBORETUM AND NATURE CENTER: $1,926,122 · EnvironmentREFLECTION RIDING ARBORETUM AND NATURE CENTER+8 more: $551,865 · Environment+8 moreSHENANDOAH VALLEY BATTLEFIELDS FOUNDATION: $388,766 · Arts & CultureAmericans For Battlefield Preservation: $100,000 · Arts & CultureBrandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art: $75,000 · Arts & CultureSAVE HISTORIC ANTIETAM FOUNDATION INC: $35,000 · Arts & CultureBATTLE OF NASHVILLE TRUST INC: $25,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $10,000 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF FRANKLIN PARKS INC: $25,000 · Recreation & SportsOperation Nightingale USA: $10,000 · Employment
Other$5,297,558Environment$4,985,544Arts & Culture$633,766Recreation & Sports$25,000Employment$10,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFRANKLINS CHARGE INC: $2,507,557 over 3y, 10% of budgetREFLECTION RIDING ARBORETUM AND NATURE CENTER: $1,926,122 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetSC BATTLEGROUND PRESERVATION TRUST: $660,442 over 5y, 14% of budgetSHENANDOAH VALLEY BATTLEFIELDS FOUNDATION: $388,766 over 5y, 2.5% of budgetOZARK REGIONAL LAND TRUST INC DBA OZARK LAND TRUST: $137,915 over 1y, 20% of budgetNORTH AMERICAN LAND TRUST: $110,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetAmericans For Battlefield Preservation: $100,000 over 5y, 92% of budgetNatural Lands Trust Inc: $96,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBrandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art: $75,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetLAND CONSERVANCY OF ADAMS COUNTY INC: $69,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetSAVE HISTORIC ANTIETAM FOUNDATION INC: $35,000 over 1y, 35% of budgetTHE LAND TRUST OF VIRGINIA INC: $29,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetTHE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $27,450 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBATTLE OF NASHVILLE TRUST INC: $25,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetFRIENDS OF FRANKLIN PARKS INC: $25,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetTHE WEST VIRGINIA LAND TRUST INC: $20,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetMINUTE MAN NATIONAL PARK ASSOC INC: $10,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetOperation Nightingale USA: $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Conservation Fund…Land Trust Alliance I…National Fish and Wil…Pam Lewis FoundationAppalachian Trail Con…The Nature ConservancyAmerican Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Conservation Fund a Nonprofit CorporationVA16.7× affinity6 shared granteesties to 9 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Conservation Fund a Nonprofit Corporation · Land Trust Alliance Inc · National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · Pam Lewis Foundation · Appalachian Trail Conservancy · The Nature Conservancy · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization American Battlefield Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from American Battlefield Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Minute Man National Park Assoc Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 40 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on American Battlefield’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home