Maryland · Nonprofit
AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY
AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY (Maryland) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $316,226 to it, the largest being AMERICAN TRAILS ($63,026). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $896k
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $316k
- Net assets
- $653k
What American Hiking Society does
Mission
To empower all to enjoy, share, and preserve the hiking experience.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Advocacy campaigns and education through the blog, paperless trail newsletter, and social media help educate the hiking public on the issues that matter most to them and connect them to their members of congress to make their voices heard on critical issues, and also provide education on the latest hiking news, hiker safety, and other topics. Nextgen trail leaders supports and provides professional development for emerging leaders in conservation and equity in the outdoors, who in turn become activist ambassadors.
$323,234 spentof which $4,500 as grants$9,830 earned by the program53% of program spendingVolunteer vacations fosters public land stewardship nationwide through volunteers who donate their time, money, and energy to build and maintain trails. Alternative breaks introduce college-aged individuals nationwide to trail stewardship, and the alternative break scholarship provides outdoor leadership and stewardship opportunities to schools whose student body might not otherwise have that opportunity. American Hiking Society's national trails day serves as a day to raise awareness around and conduct trail service and advocacy through on-the-ground events nationwide and social media campaigns.
$275,849 spent$127,925 earned by the program45% of program spendingMember services are designed to connect members to our advocacy campaigns, educational materials, and our mission of empowering all to enjoy, share, and preserve the hiking experience.
$11,702 spent$7,613 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $610,785.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $516k to $808k (+57%).
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 8% · 2018 8% · 2019 7% · 2020 7% · 2021 33% · 2022 13% · 2023 20% · 2024 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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.
Chief executive
Heather Klein Olson
Executive director
Board chair
Saveria Tilden
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $1k → $63k.
8 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 HIKING SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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 HIKING SOCIETY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
75% 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 HIKING SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2018 66% · 2019 87% · 2020 83% · 2021 42% · 2022 40% · 2023 50% — 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
18% of AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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 HIKING SOCIETY draws 90% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 12 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $149k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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.
Government funding AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $899k on record.
- Department of the Interior$482k
- Department of Agriculture$398k
- Department of Transportation$19k
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 HIKING SOCIETY
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY: 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 HIKING SOCIETY?
- AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY (Maryland) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $316,226 to it, the largest being AMERICAN TRAILS ($63,026). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $316,226 in grants to AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY?
- AMERICAN TRAILS is the largest funder on record, with $63,026 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 27 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing