Ohio · Nonprofit
ARC OF APPALACHIA
ARC OF APPALACHIA (Ohio) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,795,542 to it, the largest being COLUMBUS FOUNDATION ($2,088,300). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.9M
- Funders on record
- 43
- Grants received
- $5.8M
- Net assets
- $52M
What Arc of Appalachia does
Mission
Our Mission: Arc of Appalachia protects the rich diversity of life within North America's Great Eastern Forest. Our Work: We acquire and steward wildlands in the Appalachian heartland. We create sanctuaries where people can connect with the natural world. We teach about our forest heritage to inspire a global conservation ethic.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Land Acquisition & Nature Preservation - In 2025, Arc of Appalachia (the Arc) expanded its nature preserve holdings by eight properties and 2,267 acres. The Arc also supported a partner nonprofit, Wilderness East, in its purchase of seven properties totaling 1,691 acres. The Arc will purchase these properties from Wilderness East once grant and public funding have been achieved. All of these acquisitions further the Arc's mission of wildlands preservation. Over the organization's 30-year history, 181 separate land acquisitions have been consummated, establishing 38 preserve regions, nearly all of which remain actively stewarded by the Arc. Through a combination of grants and private donations, the Arc acquired in Ohio: 956 acres in Gallia County (86 acre Beaver Wetlands and 870 acre Mudsoc Woods), 60 acres in Hocking County (Pip Ridge), 5 acres in Scioto County (addition to our Ohio Hanging Rock Preserve), 1 acre in Holmes (part of our Killbuck Preserve), 45 acres in Jackson County (Welkin Ring), and 1,200 acres in Greenbrier County, West Virginia (Wild Rock Canyon).Land Stewardship & Hiking Trails. The Arc Land Stewardship Team in 2025 was able to complete Sugarbush, Rock Oak,…
$719,810 spentof which $12,787 as grants$8,554 earned by the program51% of program spendingEducation - In 2025 Arc of Appalachia was committed to teaching the value of Ohio's natural landscapes through its outdoor education courses, through interpretive displays and staff contact at the Appalachian Forest Museum, and via nature immersion opportunities presented to visitors on the Arc's nearly 80 miles of hiking trails. Calculated through head counts, registration data, and car counters, the Arc attracted 144,324 visitors in 2025. Notable attendance includes: 12,306 visitors to the Appalachian Forest Museum, 11,825 visitors to Fort Hill Preserve, 25,302 visitors to Junction Earthworks. The Arc hosted four large annual events in 2025: Wildflower Pilgrimage, Mothapalooza, Tree People, and the John Roger Simon Sorghum Festival.
$687,595 spent$352,818 earned by the program49% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,407,405.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2024 to 2025, from $44M to $53M (+19%).
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: 2019 23% · 2020 58% · 2021 49% · 2022 67% · 2023 29% · 2024 26% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of ARC OF APPALACHIA’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. 0 of the last 7 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $174k → $939k.
19 of 43 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 91% 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 ARC OF APPALACHIA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 43 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
ARC OF APPALACHIA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
94% 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 ARC OF APPALACHIA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 58% · 2018 49% · 2019 30% · 2020 40% · 2021 39% · 2022 41% · 2023 68% — growing more concentrated.
“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
53% of ARC OF APPALACHIA'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
91% of ARC OF APPALACHIA's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $500k that is directly attributable, 71% of it comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
ARC OF APPALACHIA runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,767 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,767 recreation & sports nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like ARC OF APPALACHIA
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 Ohio
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
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 6 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Charitable Remainder Trust #1 · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ARC OF APPALACHIA: 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 ARC OF APPALACHIA?
- ARC OF APPALACHIA (Ohio) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,795,542 to it, the largest being COLUMBUS FOUNDATION ($2,088,300). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ARC OF APPALACHIA have?
- IRS filings report 43 organizations giving $5,795,542 in grants to ARC OF APPALACHIA, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ARC OF APPALACHIA?
- COLUMBUS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,088,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ARC OF APPALACHIA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 2019–2025), and the filings of 43 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