California · Nonprofit
AMERICAN TRAILS
AMERICAN TRAILS (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $257,599 to it, the largest being THE JAKET FOUNDATION ($215,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $258k
- Net assets
- $17k
What American Trails does
Mission
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.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Legacy trails program: enables project partners from nonmotorized and motorized user groups to complete trails projects on lands managed by the usda forest service, which improve watershed health, restore aquatic organism passages, preserve access, and decommission unauthorized and previously closed trails.
$1,124,120 spentof which $1,039,111 as grants77% of program spendingNational trails training partnership: as the lead trail organization for the partnership, American Trails is also providing on-line details of businesses, products, and services that support trail planning, improvement, and education. American Trails provides workshops on key trail topics for states and local groups to host. We're also doing research to identify needs as well as resources in priority areas such as accessible trails, volunteer development, funding, trail design, construction, and maintenance, nonprofit management, strategic planning, and liability. American Trails is also seeking grants to support the program and develop new training materials and curricula.
$135,669 spent$4,900 earned by the program9% of program spendingInternational trails summit: every two years American Trails and the professional trailbuilders association sponsors the international trails summit to bring together trail and greenway advocates, managers, planners, and users, as well as tourism and business interests. The summit is the largest gathering of all trail interests - professionals, managers, and users who believe their combined voices are the best way to strengthen trails for everyone.
$11,063 spent1% of program spendingAdvancing trails webinar series: American Trails brings agencies, trailbuilders, advocates, and volunteers the latest in state-of-the-art information on all aspects of trails and greenways. Our webinars focus on a variety of trail topics, usually applicable to all trail types, with expert presenters. Webinar topics are chosen from current cutting-edge trail topics selected from attendee/presenter suggestions as well as recent popular conference sessions.
$55,460 spent4% of program spendingTrails capacity program: supports partners from all nonmotorized and motorized trail user groups, including water trails. Projects may include trail research, stewardship, and maintenance projects that are inclusive, engaging, educational, and foster improved trail user behavior. This program is targeted for non-forest service federal lands, as well as state, local, and private lands.
$53,421 spentof which $52,902 as grants4% of program spendingOther programs
$70,757 spent$35,832 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,450,490.
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 2023 to 2024, from $207k to $550k (+166%).
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: 2018 58% · 2019 58% · 2020 76% · 2021 84% · 2022 83% · 2023 57% · 2024 87%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of AMERICAN TRAILS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (13% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Mike Passo
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $1k → $10k.
1 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 TRAILS’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 TRAILS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 83% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 96% · 2022 100% · 2023 97% — 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
50% of AMERICAN TRAILS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 22% 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 TRAILS draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $111 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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 TRAILS has grown faster than half of the 2,728 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,728 recreation & sports nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding AMERICAN TRAILS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.6M on record — $4.6M federal, $10k state.
- Department of Agriculture$3.8M
- Department of the Interior$415k
- Department of Transportation$372k
- MA$5k
- NJ$3k
- FL$2k
- VT$1k
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 TRAILS
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 11 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN TRAILS: 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 TRAILS?
- AMERICAN TRAILS (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $257,599 to it, the largest being THE JAKET FOUNDATION ($215,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AMERICAN TRAILS have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $257,599 in grants to AMERICAN TRAILS, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN TRAILS?
- THE JAKET FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $215,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN TRAILS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 9 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