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Rails to Trails Conservancy at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Rails to Trails Conservancy

The rails-to-trails conservancy is the nations largest trails org.

$737k
Granted FY2025still arriving
35
Grants FY2025still arriving
22
States reached
$180k
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.

Recreation & Sports$3.6MCommunity Improvement$714kEnvironment$333kHealth$59kPhilanthropy$58kHuman Services$49kFood & Nutrition$33kArts & Culture$31kOther$0
02FY2025 · 35 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 35 grants below total $707,390, the rows itemized in this filing. The $737,390 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $30,000 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 $10k10 grants · $71k
  • $10k–50k23 grants · $380k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $257k
$10,290
Median grant
22
States reached
$23M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NEW JERSEY BIKE WALK COALITION$180,000
30TH STREET INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR CORP$77,000
HACE$35,000
NEW HAMPSHIRE SNOWMOBILE ASSOCIATION$27,600
EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DISTRICT$25,000
FRIENDS OF THE MARKET INC$25,000
FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS OF SWANNANOA INC$25,000
WYOMING PATHWAYS$20,000
PARK COUNTY MONTANA$20,000
HARRISON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS$20,000
LARAMIE COUNTY WYOMING$15,000
FRIENDS OF THE MERRIMACK RIVER GREENWAY TRAIL$15,000
CATAWBA LANDS CONSERVANCY$15,000
ANCHORAGE PARK FOUNDATION$15,000
RIVANNA TRAILS FOUNDATION$15,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY18–24, $37k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 73% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%IN COLOR BIRDING CLUB: $10k → 7%GEARIN' UP BICYCLES: $8k → 14%GEARIN' UP BICYCLES: $8k → 14%GEARIN' UP BICYCLES: $12k → 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

AK
ME
NH
WA
ID
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
WY
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
WV
VA
MD
AZ
KS
AR
TN
NC
DC
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL
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.

59%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.9M · 27 repeat orgs$2.0M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +68% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

27 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 23 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
113

Total granted

$2.9M
$1.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+68%
+13%

Still filing today

85%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 55% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $319k 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
EnvironmentRecreation & SportsCommunity ImprovementArts & CulturePhilanthropyHuman ServicesOther
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

  • NEW JERSEY BICYCLE COALITION INC DBA D/B/A NEW JERSEY BIKE & WALK COALITION
    3× · 2021–2025 · $380k · revenue +3% · 47% of their budget
  • 30TH STREET INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR CORP
    5× · 2021–2025 · $264k · revenue +158%
  • H
    HACE
    4× · 2019–2025 · $90k · revenue +75%

Funded once

  • WS
    WASHINGTON STATE PARKS DEPARTMENT
    one grant, 2019 · $88k
  • CN
    CROSS NEW HAMPSHIRE ADVENTURE TRAILgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue +248%
  • DR
    DELAWARE RIVER WATERFRONT CORPORATION
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · 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
Rails to Trails Conservancy

The rails-to-trails conservancy is the nations largest trails org. with a grassroots community more than 1 mil. strong dedicated to building a nation connected by trails, reimagining public spaces to create safe ways for everyone to walk,…

Environment
2
Falls Creek Wildlands and Trails

Falls Creek Wildlands and Trails FCWT promotes conservation stewardship and responsible recreation in the Falls Creek area through trail development and maintenance environmental restoration and preservation projects and educational…

Environment
3
Methow Valley Trails Collaborative

Enhancing sustainable trail experiences in the Methow Valley.

Environment
4
Squannacook Greenways

Squannacook Greenways' goal is to build, maintain, and promote the Squannacook River Rail Trail (SRRT) as a source of recreation and safe non-motorized transportation. The Squannacook River Rail Trail is a proposed conversion of…

Recreation & Sports
5
Georgia Mountain Trails Partnership Inc

A mission to create outdoor recreation opportunity, connect communities and trails, promote quality of life, and to protect our natural resources.

Recreation & Sports
6
The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust

The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust leads and inspires action to conserve and enhance the landscape of the Mountains to Sound Greenway, ensuring a long-term balance between people and nature.

Environment
7
National Pike Trail Council
Environment
8
Kennett Area Trails Alliance
Recreation & Sports
9
Trailbuilders of Quiet Waters Mtb Trails Inc
Recreation & Sports
10
Erie Cattaraugus Rail Trail Inc

Erie Cattaraugus Rail Trail, Inc. (ECRT) is the trail manager for the railbanked portion of the Buffalo-Pittsburgh Railway in Western NY. Over twenty-seven miles long, this railroad right-of-way connects the nine communities along the…

Environment
11
Friends of Berrien County Trails

Support the construction and maintenance of trails (pedestrian, bicycle and waterway) within berrien county and connecting to adjacent counties, and encourage trail use.

Recreation & Sports
12
American Trails

To advance the development of diverse high quality trails and greenways for the benefit of people and communities through collaboration, education and communication to raise awareness of the value these trails offer.

Recreation & Sports
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Regional Trail Corporation; the most unlike its peers is University of Miami. 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

104 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. 104 of the 166 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
38
Early backer (in before they grew)
101/104
Grantees still filing
59/104
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CITY OF BROWNSVILLE: $1,506,001 · OtherCITY OF BROWNSVILLE30TH STREET INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR CORP: $263,750 · Other30TH STREET INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR CORP+83 more: $1,364,671 · Other+83 moreNEW JERSEY BICYCLE COALITION INC DBA D/B/A NEW JERSEY BIKE & WALK COALITION: $380,000 · Recreation & SportsNEW JERSEY BICY…CROSS NEW HAMPSHIRE ADVENTURE TRAIL: $50,000 · Recreation & SportsCROSS NEW HAMPS…NATIONAL ROAD HERITAGE CORRIDOR: $36,500 · Recreation & SportsWashington Area Bicyclist Association: $35,000 · Recreation & Sports+18 more: $192,500 · Recreation & Sports+18 moreGROUNDWORK JACKSONVILLE INC: $40,000 · EnvironmentGROUNDWORK …Wyoming Pathways: $40,000 · EnvironmentWyoming Pat…ARMSTRONG TRAILS INC: $35,000 · EnvironmentARMSTRONG T…SCHUYLKILL RIVER GREENWAY ASSOCIATION: $30,000 · EnvironmentSCHUYLKILL …STATE FORESTS TRUST OF OREGON: $30,000 · EnvironmentSTATE FORES…IOWA NATURAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $30,000 · EnvironmentIOWA NATURA…ANCHORAGE PARK FOUNDATION: $30,000 · EnvironmentANCHORAGE P…REGIONAL TRAIL CORPORATION: $27,000 · EnvironmentREGIONAL TR…Missouri Coalition for the Environment Foundation: $25,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF MADISON COUNTY PARKS & TRAILS: $20,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF HERRING RUN PARKS INC: $17,500 · Environment+14 more: $163,000 · Environment+14 moreHACE: $89,500 · Community ImprovementDELAWARE RIVER WATERFRONT CORPORATION: $50,000 · Community ImprovementThe Urban Oasis Inc: $38,500 · Community ImprovementNORTHWEST SIDE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $27,250 · Community ImprovementFRIENDS OF THE NORTHERN RAIL TRAIL: $25,000 · Community ImprovementFRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS OF SWANNANOA INC: $25,000 · Community ImprovementDELAWARE RIVER CITY CORPORATION: $15,000 · Community ImprovementTHE ELIZABETH RIVER TRAIL FOUNDATION: $15,000 · Community ImprovementACTION GREENSBORO: $15,000 · Community ImprovementHAVENWOODS NEIGHBORHOOD PARTNERSHIP INC: $14,250 · Community Improvement+8 more: $63,540 · Community ImprovementCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $51,500 · PhilanthropyCHADRON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 · PhilanthropyBALTIMORE CIVIC FUND INC: $20,000 · PhilanthropyMIAMI RIVER FUND INC: $18,000 · PhilanthropyCLINTON COUNTY FOUNDATION: $15,000 · PhilanthropySOUTHEAST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION INC: $5,000 · PhilanthropyMONTGOMERY COUNTY PARKS FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · PhilanthropyMOUNTAIN HERITAGE INC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureSOUTHWEST RENEWAL FOUNDATION OF HIGH POINT INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureYellowstone Historic Center Inc: $10,000 · Arts & CultureMICHIGAN TRAILS & GREENWAYS ALLIANCE: $8,500 · Arts & CultureDELAWARE AND LEHIGH NATIONAL HERITAGE CORRIDOR INC: $7,500 · Arts & CultureOHIO & ERIE CANALWAY COALITION: $5,000 · Arts & CultureHBCUS OUTSIDE INCORPORATED: $49,500 · Youth DevelopmentRemember Us Urban Scouts Inc: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentCYCLES OF CHANGE: $5,000 · Youth Development
Other$3,134,422Recreation & Sports$694,000Environment$487,500Community Improvement$378,040Philanthropy$144,500Arts & Culture$66,000Youth Development$64,500

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 budgetNEW JERSEY BICYCLE COALITION INC DBA D/B/A NEW JERSEY BIKE & WALK COALITION: $380,000 over 3y, 47% of budget30TH STREET INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR CORP: $263,750 over 5y, 20% of budgetHACE: $89,500 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $51,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDELAWARE RIVER WATERFRONT CORPORATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHBCUS OUTSIDE INCORPORATED: $49,500 over 3y, 13% of budgetGROUNDWORK JACKSONVILLE INC: $40,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetWyoming Pathways: $40,000 over 2y, 7.3% of budgetThe Urban Oasis Inc: $38,500 over 4y, 11% of budgetNATIONAL ROAD HERITAGE CORRIDOR: $36,500 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetARMSTRONG TRAILS INC: $35,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetWashington Area Bicyclist Association: $35,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetSCHUYLKILL RIVER GREENWAY ASSOCIATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetSTATE FORESTS TRUST OF OREGON: $30,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetCHADRON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 1y, 32% of budgetIOWA NATURAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetANCHORAGE PARK FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetNEW HAMPSHIRE SNOWMOBILE ASSOCIATION: $27,600 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetNORTHWEST SIDE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $27,250 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetREGIONAL TRAIL CORPORATION: $27,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetGEARIN UP BICYCLES: $27,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetEast Bay Bicycle Coalition DBA Bike East Bay: $26,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetMOUNTAIN HERITAGE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE NORTHERN RAIL TRAIL: $25,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetFRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS OF SWANNANOA INC: $25,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetMissouri Coalition for the Environment Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE MARKET INC: $25,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetFRIENDS OF MADISON COUNTY PARKS & TRAILS: $20,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetBALTIMORE CIVIC FUND INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNew Kensington Community Development Corp: $20,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPaso del Norte Community Foundation: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBIKEMORE INC: $18,000 over 2y, 9.2% of budgetMIAMI RIVER FUND INC: $18,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF HERRING RUN PARKS INC: $17,500 over 2y, 6.0% of budgetBay Area Ridge Trail Council: $17,500 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetWEST CREEK CONSERVANCY: $16,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDELAWARE RIVER CITY CORPORATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCLINTON COUNTY FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCAPITAL AREA GREENBELT ASSOC INC: $15,000 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetSHELBY FARMS PARK CONSERVANCY: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE ELIZABETH RIVER TRAIL FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF NORTHEAST GEORGIA INC: $15,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetParks & Trails New York Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetBRONZEVILLE TRAIL TASK FORCE INC: $15,000 over 1y, 45% of budgetPLAY MARIN: $15,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE MERRIMACK RIVER GREENWAY TRAIL: $15,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetSIXTEENTH STREET COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARIZONA TRAIL ASSOCIATION: $15,000 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 Fish and Wil…Rei Cooperative Actio…AARPClif Family FoundationGreater Milwaukee Fou…The William Penn Foun…National Forest Found…Outride fka The Speci…Abc Foundation Charit…Justice OutsideJoseph and Vera Zilbe…National Recreation a…
National Fish and Wildlife FoundationDC23× affinity17 shared granteesties to 10 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · Rei Cooperative Action Fund · AARP · Clif Family Foundation · Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc · The William Penn Foundation · National Forest Foundation · Outride fka The Specialized Foundation · Abc Foundation Charitable Trust · Justice Outside · Joseph and Vera Zilber Family Foundation Inc · National Recreation and Park Association

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 Rails to Trails Conservancy funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Rails to Trails Conservancy. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 19%
  • New Jersey Tree Foundation: 100% of income from government
  • Miami River Fund Inc: 42% of income from government
  • Southeast Community Development Corporation Inc: 35% of income from government
  • Trailkeepers of Oregon: 19% of income from government
  • University of Miami: 5% of income from government
  • Fusion Partnership Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Groundwork Jacksonville Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
42report 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 166 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 Rails to Trails Conservancy’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