Skip to content
Pacific Crest Trail Association at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

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.

$423k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$411k
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.

Environment$1.2MEmployment$202kRecreation & Sports$101k
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $12k
  • $250k+1 grant · $411k
$410,923
Median grant
2
States reached
$7.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN CONSERVATION EXPERIENCE$410,923
WILLIAM S HART UNION HS DISTRICT$11,783
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 11%. 75% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%AMERICAN CONSERVATION EXPERIENCE: $411k → 16%STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $154k → 10%PACIFIC FOREST TRUST: $15k → 10%SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINS FOUNDATION: $34k → 11%SIERRA BUTTES TRAIL STEWARDSHIP: $20k → 13%WILLIAM S HART UNION HS DISTRICT: $12k → 14%SISKIYOU MOUNTAIN CLUB: $50k → 13%NORTHWEST YOUTH CORPS: $115k → 15%AMERICAN CONSERVATION EXPERIENCE: $62k → 8%STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $88k → 10%AMERICAN CONSERVATION EXPERIENCE: $169k → 16%SUTTER BUTTES TRAIL STEWARDSHIP: $6k → 13%WILLIAM S HART UNION HS DISTRICT: $12k → 14%SOUTHERN OREGON LAND CONSERVANCY: $6k → 13%NORTHWEST YOUTH CORPS: $69k → 15%STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $26k → 10%AMERICAN CONSERVATION EXPERIENCE: $64k → 16%WILLIAM S HART UNION HS DISTRICT: $12k → 14%NORTHWEST YOUTH CORPS: $18k → 15%AMERICAN CONSERVATION EXPERIENCE: $21k → 16%WILLIAM S HART UNION HS DISTRICT: $7k → 14%AMERICAN CONSERVATION EXPERIENCE: $13k → 16%AMERICAN CONSERVATION EXPERIENCE: $13k → 16%AMERICAN CONSERVATION EXPERIENCE: $9k → 16%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.
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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.4M · 6 repeat orgs$113k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +85% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
5

Total granted

$1.4M
$113k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+85%
+8%

Still filing today

67%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
EnvironmentEmploymentOther
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

  • AC
    American Conservation Experience
    8× · 2017–2025 · $761k · revenue +168%
  • TS
    THE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC
    3× · 2021–2023 · $268k · revenue +70%
  • NY
    NORTHWEST YOUTH CORPS
    3× · 2017–2021 · $202k · revenue +85%

Funded once

  • SM
    SISKIYOU MOUNTAIN CLUB
    one grant, 2024 · $50k · revenue 0%
  • SC
    SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINS FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $34k · revenue +8%
  • TP
    The Pacific Forest Trust Incorporatedgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $15k · revenue +293%
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
Sierra Watch

Sierra watch secures conservation outcomes to protect the natural resources, mountain communities, and timeless values of the tahoe sierra.

Environment
2
Sheridan Community Land Trust

Sheridan community land trust preserves our open spaces, healthy rivers and creeks, working ranches, wildlife habitat, and vibrant history, while expanding recreation opportunities to connect people with the places they love.

Environment
3
Santa Barbara County Trails Council

Our mission is to protect public trail access build and maintain safe and sustainable trails and promote public engagement in land stewardship and trail use for all types of outdoor recreation.

Recreation & Sports
4
Sequoia Parks Conservancy

The sequoia parks conservancy funds and enables projects and programs that protect, preserve, and provide access to the natural and cultural resources of sequoia and kings canyon national parks.

Environment
5
Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship

Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship is creating and maintaining world-class trails responsibly, sustainably, and collectively.

Environment
6
Sierra Foothill Conservancy

Protect, manage and preserve lands and wildlife having unique natural resources and cultural qualities within and near the foothills of the sierra nevada range.

Environment
7
Stewards of the Sequoia

Promoting Responsible Recreation and Environmental Stewardship

Environment
8
Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps

ESCC provides opportunities for at-risk, underserved youth, and young adults, from marginalized populations to experience and better understand their wilderness natural resources. ESCC provides programs that inform the general public about…

Environment
9
Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust

The Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust works to protect and conserve agricultural lands, open space, and wildlife habitat in Yuba, Sutter, and Colusa counties for the benefit of current and future generations

—
10
Land Trust of Santa Cruz County

Land trust of santa cruz county (the organization) was incorporated in california as a not-for-profit corporation in 1978. the mission of the organization is to protect, care for, and connect all people to the vibrant natural and working…

Environment
11
Northern California Regional Land Trust

The purpose of the organization is to monitor, manage, and preserve conservation easements it stewards in northern california. the organization acquires conservation easements in land exhibiting important natural features to protect and…

Environment
12
Sequoia Riverlands Trust

We conserve the lands and waters of California's heartland.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Southern California Mountains Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Northwest Youth Corps. 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

9 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. 9 of the 11 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
7/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

American Conservation Experience: $760,676 · EnvironmentAmerican Conservation ExperienceSISKIYOU MOUNTAIN CLUB: $50,000 · EnvironmentSISKIYOU MOUNTAIN CLUBSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINS FOUNDATION: $33,774 · Environment+3 more: $40,679 · EnvironmentTHE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC: $268,450 · OtherTHE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIA…WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY: $108,312 · OtherWASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGYWilliam S Hart Union High School District: $42,063 · OtherWilliam S Hart Union High School…The Pacific Forest Trust Incorporated: $15,000 · OtherNORTHWEST YOUTH CORPS: $202,040 · EmploymentNORTHWEST YOUTH…
Environment$885,129Other$433,825Employment$202,040

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetAmerican Conservation Experience: $760,676 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetTHE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC: $268,450 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetNORTHWEST YOUTH CORPS: $202,040 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetSISKIYOU MOUNTAIN CLUB: $50,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINS FOUNDATION: $33,774 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSIERRA BUTTES TRAIL STEWARDSHIP: $26,050 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetThe Pacific Forest Trust Incorporated: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTruckee Trails Foundation Inc: $8,629 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetSOUTHERN OREGON LAND CONSERVANCY INC: $6,000 over 1y, 0.9% 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…National Fish and Wil…The Oregon Community …Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
National Forest FoundationMT19.9× affinity7 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Forest Foundation · National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · The Oregon Community Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation 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 Pacific Crest Trail Association funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Pacific Crest Trail Association. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 100%
  • Northwest Youth Corps: 100% of income from government
  • Siskiyou Mountain Club: 22% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
1report 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 11 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 Pacific Crest Trail Association’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