· Public charity
Chalten Trust
Fighting the environmental crisis by raising awareness of the current environmental crisis; protecting biodiversity and climate resilience through land preservation and restoration; defending and supporting democracy and environmental activism; lobbying and other advocacy in support of these issues; and making grants to other nonprofit…
Read this first · the figures below need context
90% of Chalten Trust’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Marin Community Foundation, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 7 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2022–2024.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- $10k–50k6 grants · $85k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $200k
- $250k+1 grant · $2.4M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MARIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $2,422,000 |
| ACTIVATE AMERICA | $200,000 |
| LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INC | $20,000 |
| 314 ACTION | $20,000 |
| CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL VOTERS | $15,000 |
| VOTEWATER INC | $10,000 |
| VENTURA CITZENS FOR HILLSIDE PRESERVATION INC | $10,000 |
| SOAR INC | $10,000 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY22–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 99% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
California Coastkeeper Alliance unites Waterkeeper programs statewide to fight for swimmable, fishable, and drinkable waters for all Californians.
Sustainable Conservation advances the collaborative stewardship of Californias land, air, and water for the benefit of nature and people. For over three decades, Sustainable Conservation has built coalitions of people with different…
ENVIROVOTERS ED FUND is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the quality of the environment for all Californians. ENVIROVOTERS ED FUND works to build the capacity of environmental organizations by developing and providing…
The mission of wildcoast is to conserve coastal and marine ecosystems and address climate change through natural solutions. our staff is dedicated to conserving threatened and endangered coastlines and wildlife in california and mexico.…
The primary and specific purpose for which the said corporation is formed is to empower individuals, businesses and communities to take actions today that achieve environmental and economic sustainability. The activities of the corporation…
Washington wild protects and restores wild lands and waters in washington state through advocacy, education and civic engagement.
To accelerate progress in interventions that harness Earths natural systems to stabilize the climate.
The California Wilderness Coalition protects the natural landscapes that make California unique, providing clean air and water, a home to wildlife, and a place for recreation and spiritual renewal.
The mission of the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy is to convene broad roundtable dialogues in the areas of energy, water, transportation, telecommunications and technology, housing, and circular economy. Our…
The Center for Environmental Law & Policy is a statewide organization whose mission is to protect, preserve and restore Washington's waters through education, advocacy, policy reform, and public interest litigation.
Rogue Climate's mission is to empower Southern Oregon communities most impacted by climate change including low-income, rural, youth, seniors & communities of color, to win climate justice by organizing for clean energy, sustainable jobs &…
To protect and sustain the unique lands, waters, and biodiversity of west marin.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Rewild and the most unlike its peers is Soar Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
10 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 10 of the 12 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds MARIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds REWILD ↗
- Who funds RAINCOAST CONSERVATION FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Cottonwood Environmental Law Center ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF JACKSON HOLE ↗
- Who funds LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INC ↗
- Who funds 314ACTION ↗
- Who funds CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL VOTERS ↗
- Who funds SOAR INC ↗
- Who funds VOTEWATER INC ↗
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization Chalten Trust funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.