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National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance

The National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance supports stewardship organizations working within the National Wilderness Preservation System.

$286k
Granted FY2025still arriving
7
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$18k
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, FY2020 to 2025.

Environment$2.0MRecreation & Sports$447kYouth Development$51kCommunity Improvement$5k
02FY2025 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 7 grants below total $76,292, the rows itemized in this filing. The $286,294 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $210,002 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

  • Under $10k3 grants · $26k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $51k
$10,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$141k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SELWAY BITTERROTT FRANK CHU$17,500
SOUTHERN APPALACHAIN WILDERNE$13,162
Bob Marshall Wilderness Found$10,000
WYOMING WILDERNESS ASSOC$10,000
SITKA CONSERVATION SOCIETY$9,998
WILD ARIZONA$8,211
Friends of Mount Evans$7,421
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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–22, $11k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Great Old Broads: $6k → 12%GREAT OLD BROADS: $5k → 12%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

AK
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
WI
MI
OR
NV
WY
CA
UT
CO
WV
VA
AZ
NM
NC
AL
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.0M · 40 repeat orgs$529k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +47% since the first grant, against +40% for those funded once.

40 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 33 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

40
48

Total granted

$2.0M
$529k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+47%
+40%

Still filing today

85%
77%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentRecreation & SportsCommunity ImprovementHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentPublic BenefitOther
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

  • BM
    BOB MARSHALL WILDERNESS FOUNDATION
    4× · 2020–2025 · $147k · revenue +38%
  • NM
    NEW MEXICO WILDERNESS ALLIANCE
    4× · 2020–2024 · $137k · revenue +110%
  • WA
    WILD ARIZONA
    6× · 2020–2025 · $131k · revenue +289%

Funded once

  • NF
    NATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $33k · revenue +169%
  • SJ
    SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2024 · $22k · revenue 0%
  • AE
    AMERICAN ENDURANCE RIDE CONFERENCE
    one grant, 2022 · $20k · revenue +7%
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
Stewards of the Sequoia

Promoting Responsible Recreation and Environmental Stewardship

Environment
2
Scenic Montana Trails
—
3
Pacific Crest Trail Association

The pacific crest trail association's mission is to advocate for the pacific crest trail as an inspirational outdoor experience, to connect people to the pct, and to conserve the trail.

—
4
Gunnison Trails Inc

Gunnison Trails is a non-profit trail advocacy organization established to assist land managers and other organizations in maintaining existing trails, educating users on responsible trail-based recreation, and pursuing opportunities for…

Environment
5
Alpine Trails Foundation

Trail maintenance

—
6
International Mountain Bicycling Association Central Wyoming Trails Alliance

CWTA seeks to preserve, protect, and promote mountain biking, trail running, hiking and equestrian access on public and publicly accessible private lands. Through effective communication and education, we advocate for diverse use…

Recreation & Sports
7
Poudre Wilderness Volunteers

Poudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV) is a Larimer County, Colorado, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1996. The mission of PWV is to assist the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the United States Forest Service in managing and…

Environment
8
The Colorado Trail Foundation

To provide, improve, and maintain, through voluntary public involvement and in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, a linear, non-motorized, sustainable, scenic, recreation trail corridor for hikers,…

Recreation & Sports
9
Conasauga District Trail Volunteers Inc

Maintain Trails for US Forest Service

Environment
10
Boulder Mountainbike Alliance

The Boulder Mountainbike Alliance exists to serve as a positive voice for mountain biking in the greater Boulder County, Colorado area by improving the trail experience for all users through social rides and events, advocacy, and trail…

Recreation & Sports
11
Rocky Mountain Wild

Rocky mountain wild works to protect, connect, and restore wildlife and wild lands in the southern rocky mountain region. we work to secure the biodiversity of the mountains, plains, and desert ecosystems of colorado, wyoming, utah, and…

Environment
12
Santa Fe Forest Coalition

Educate the public on forest conservation issues in New Mexico

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship; the most unlike its peers is Back Country Horsemen of the Virginia Highlands. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

73 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. 73 of the 88 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)
28
Early backer (in before they grew)
71/73
Grantees still filing
61/73
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NEW MEXICO WILDERNESS ALLIANCE: $137,122 · EnvironmentNEW MEXICO WILDERNESS ALLIANCEWILD ARIZONA: $131,160 · EnvironmentWILD ARIZONASITKA CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $103,956 · EnvironmentSITKA CONSERVATION SOCIETYSELWAY-BITTERROOT FOUNDATION INC: $95,504 · EnvironmentSELWAY-BITTERROOT FOUNDATION INCSouthern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards: $90,272 · EnvironmentSouthern Appalachian Wilderness StewardsCONTINENTAL DIVIDE TRAIL COALITION: $80,740 · EnvironmentCONTINENTAL DIVIDE TRAIL COALITIONVENTANA WILDERNESS ALLIANCE: $62,066 · EnvironmentFriends of the Inyo: $52,504 · Environment+29 more: $452,262 · Environment+29 moreWILD ALABAMA INC: $92,074 · OtherWILD ALABAMA INCWASHINGTON TRAILS ASSOCIATION: $85,000 · OtherWASHINGTON TRAILS ASSOCIATIONRoaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers: $71,974 · OtherRoaring Fork Outdoor VolunteersCITIZENS COMMITTEE TO SAVE OUR: $45,210 · OtherCITIZENS COMMITTEE TO SAVE OURFRIENDS OF THE CENTRAL CASCADES WILDERNESS: $41,117 · OtherFRIENDS OF THE CENTRAL CASCADES…FRIENDS OF NEVADA WILDERNESS: $31,188 · OtherTuolumne River Preservation Trust dba Yosemite Rivers Alliance: $29,723 · OtherTHE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA: $25,606 · OtherYAVAPAI TRAILS ASSOCIATION: $25,000 · OtherSOUTHERN APPALACHIAN WILDERNE: $24,460 · Other+20 more: $235,505 · Other+20 moreBOB MARSHALL WILDERNESS FOUNDATION: $146,860 · Recreation & SportsBOB MARSHALL WILDER…VOLUNTEERS FOR OUTDOOR COLORADO: $43,000 · Recreation & SportsVOLUNTEERS FOR OUTD…Mountain Bike the Tetons Inc: $41,634 · Recreation & SportsMountain Bike the T…Idaho Trails Association: $37,697 · Recreation & SportsIdaho Trails Associ…NATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION: $33,385 · Recreation & SportsNATIONAL FOREST FOU…COLORADO FOURTEENERS INITIATIVE: $30,000 · Recreation & SportsCOLORADO FOURTEENER…Headwaters Trails Alliance: $20,000 · Recreation & SportsAPPALACHIAN TRAIL CONSERVANCY: $19,399 · Recreation & SportsFRIENDS OF PATHWAYS: $14,500 · Recreation & Sports+6 more: $43,821 · Recreation & Sports+6 moreWYOMING WILDERNESS ASSOCIATION: $73,660 · AnimalsASCEND WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE: $50,916 · Youth DevelopmentFRIENDS OF PANTHERTOWN INC: $40,325 · Community ImprovementLOVE IN MOTION FOUNDATION INC: $5,265 · Community ImprovementGREAT OLD BROADS FOR WILDERNESS: $11,244 · Human ServicesARIZONA TRAIL ASSOCIATION: $9,744 · Public Benefit
Environment$1,205,586Other$706,857Recreation & Sports$430,296Animals$73,660Youth Development$50,916Community Improvement$45,590Human Services$11,244Public Benefit$9,744

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 budgetBOB MARSHALL WILDERNESS FOUNDATION: $146,860 over 4y, 8.3% of budgetNEW MEXICO WILDERNESS ALLIANCE: $137,122 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetWILD ARIZONA: $131,160 over 6y, 4.1% of budgetSITKA CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $103,956 over 5y, 2.5% of budgetSELWAY-BITTERROOT FOUNDATION INC: $95,504 over 6y, 4.3% of budgetWILD ALABAMA INC: $92,074 over 3y, 13% of budgetSouthern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards: $90,272 over 3y, 5.1% of budgetWASHINGTON TRAILS ASSOCIATION: $85,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetCONTINENTAL DIVIDE TRAIL COALITION: $80,740 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetWYOMING WILDERNESS ASSOCIATION: $73,660 over 4y, 5.8% of budgetRoaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers: $71,974 over 5y, 2.7% of budgetVENTANA WILDERNESS ALLIANCE: $62,066 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetFriends of the Inyo: $52,504 over 3y, 2.7% of budgetASCEND WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE: $50,916 over 4y, 8.1% of budgetCITIZENS COMMITTEE TO SAVE OUR: $45,210 over 3y, 5.8% of budgetVOLUNTEERS FOR OUTDOOR COLORADO: $43,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetMountain Bike the Tetons Inc: $41,634 over 4y, 7.4% of budgetFRIENDS OF PANTHERTOWN INC: $40,325 over 4y, 7.6% of budgetSKY ISLAND ALLIANCE: $39,728 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetIdaho Trails Association: $37,697 over 3y, 13% of budgetABSAROKA BEARTOOTH WILDERNESS FOUNDATION: $35,400 over 3y, 5.7% of budgetTHE COLORADO MOUNTAIN CLUB: $34,898 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetNATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION: $33,385 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWILDLANDS RESTORATION VOLUNTEERS: $31,985 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetFRIENDS OF NEVADA WILDERNESS: $31,188 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetCOLORADO FOURTEENERS INITIATIVE: $30,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetTuolumne River Preservation Trust dba Yosemite Rivers Alliance: $29,723 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetBCHC EDUCATION FUND INC: $26,415 over 3y, 47% of budgetIDAHO CONSERVATION LEAGUE INC: $22,809 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetSAN JUAN MOUNTAINS ASSOCIATION: $21,592 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetAMERICAN ENDURANCE RIDE CONFERENCE: $20,381 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetCOTTONWOOD CANYONS FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetHeadwaters Trails Alliance: $20,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetAPPALACHIAN TRAIL CONSERVANCY: $19,399 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVail Valley Mountain Bike Association: $19,320 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF MOUNT EVANS & LOST CREEK WILDERNESSES: $19,035 over 2y, 54% of budgetEAGLE SUMMIT WILDERNESS ALLIANCE: $18,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetUPPER GILA WATERSHED ALLIANCE: $16,869 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetNFRIA-WSERC CONSERVATION CENTER INC: $16,527 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetPotomac Appalachian Trail Club: $15,556 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetGILA CHAPTER-BACK COUNTRY HORSEMEN OF NEW MEXICO: $15,167 over 1y, 11% of budgetPOST WILDFIRE OHV RECOVERY ALLIANCE: $15,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetFRIENDS OF PATHWAYS: $14,500 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetFRIENDS OF SCOTCHMAN PEAKS WILDERNESS INC: $13,949 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetMAMMOTH LAKES RECREATION: $11,550 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetGREAT OLD BROADS FOR WILDERNESS: $11,244 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetRocky Mountain Field Institute Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSIERRA BUTTES TRAIL STEWARDSHIP: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

National Forest Found…PatagoniaorgThe Wilderness SocietyAmerican TrailsResources Legacy FundColorado Gives Founda…Maki FoundationThe New-Land Foundati…Clif Family FoundationConservation Lands Fo…Western Conservation …The Pew Charitable Tr…
National Forest FoundationMT91.3× affinity43 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Forest Foundation · Patagoniaorg · The Wilderness Society · American Trails · Resources Legacy Fund · Colorado Gives Foundation · Maki Foundation · The New-Land Foundation Inc · Clif Family Foundation · Conservation Lands Foundation · Western Conservation Foundation · The Pew Charitable Trusts

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 National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 17%
  • Wallowa Mt Hells Canyon Trails Asso: 62% of income from government
  • The Green Mountain Club Inc Debonis: 17% of income from government
  • Cascade Volunteers: 14% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
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 88 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

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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