Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
American Forests
American Forests (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 184 organizations whose IRS filings report $42,070,631 to it, the largest being DORIS DUKE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($5,098,000). 97 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $36M
- Funders on record
- 184
- Grants received
- $42M
- Net assets
- $14M
What American Forests does
Mission
Protection and expansion of threatened urban and wildland forest ecosystems. See Part III
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Programs and Public Policy - American Forests' programmatic work is focused on growing forests that last through climate-resilient forestry, restoring forest landscapes to create greater wildfire resilience and investing in trees for healthier cities through Urban Forestry. We do so through leading forest science and innovation and by convening partners across federal and state agencies, local community leaders and mayors, Tribal nations, corporate partners and donors to drive measurable impact and outcomes. For more than 150 years, American Forests has also played a leading role in shaping and implementing federal climate and conservation legislation. Our work integrates science, policy, partnerships and on-the-ground action to restore our forests, mitigate the wildfire crisis and ensure tree canopy for every community.
$26,225,512 spentof which $7,305,070 as grants$257,994 earned by the program92% of program spendingCommunications - Marketing and communications are core programs that drive our mission forward by powerfully telling the stories of American Forest's impact on the ground, elevating our organization's voice, influencing policy and attracting new and continued partnership and investment. We craft high-impact national campaigns that reach millions through public relations, storytelling across our digital platforms and our strategic partnerships, ultimately driving and building trust in the American Forests strategic narrative and mobilizing support for our efforts.
$2,286,244 spent$2,669 earned by the program8% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $28,511,756.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $12M to $15M (+31%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 5% · 2018 7% · 2019 5% · 2020 6% · 2021 7% · 2022 8% · 2023 11% · 2024 30% · 2025 40%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of American Forests’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Ara Erickson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 72 funders, grant income rose $592k → $9.0M.
28 of 184 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of American Forests’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 184 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
American Forests has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
38% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund American Forests.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 30% · 2019 38% · 2020 19% · 2021 12% · 2022 13% · 2023 17% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
44% of American Forests's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
American Forests draws 87% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 33 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
American Forests has grown faster than three-quarters of the 210 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding American Forests receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $123.8M on record — $123.5M federal, $308k state.
- Department of Agriculture$110.5M
- Department of the Interior$13.0M
- OR$308k
- NJ$25
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like American Forests
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 40 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for American Forests: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds American Forests?
- American Forests (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 184 organizations whose IRS filings report $42,070,631 to it, the largest being DORIS DUKE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($5,098,000). 97 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does American Forests have?
- IRS filings report 184 organizations giving $42,070,631 in grants to American Forests, 97 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of American Forests?
- DORIS DUKE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $5,098,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like American Forests find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 184 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing