Colorado · Nonprofit
ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST
ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST (Colorado) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,505,967 to it, the largest being THE WEXNER FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND ($11,450,000). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.7M
- Funders on record
- 73
- Grants received
- $16M
- Net assets
- $16M
What Aspen Valley Land Trust does
Mission
Protecting the open land and special places of the roaring fork and middle colorado river valleys for wildlife, agriculture, and community forever.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Land and water conservation. Aspen Valley Land Trust has protected 46,319 acres since 1967 including key wildlife habitat, family farms and ranches, scenic open lands, and over 104 miles of land along rivers and streams in the roaring fork and middle colorado river valleys. Avlt also owns or protects 10 public parks, 33 miles of public trails, and three properties used for outdoor education that connect community to conserved lands across western colorado. In 2022, avlt began implementing the goals of its strategic conservation plan: to double the amount of conserved land in our region by 2032. Avlt renewed accreditation by the national land trust accreditation commission and certification by the state of colorado to hold conservation easements for which tax credits are claimed.
$270,234 spent$333,034 earned by the program25% of program spendingLand stewardship. As part of our commitment to forever protecting land, avlt monitored and upheld each of its 269 conservation easements and 13 fee owned properties in 2024, ensuring that agreements were honored and the land cared for. In addition, we worked with landowners and partners to restore and improve important habitat on conserved lands and to maintain and improve accessibility on public parks and open spaces. We participated in active land restoration and stewardship projects at coffman ranch, the silt river preserve, marble children's park, the chapin wright marble basecamp, and supported the crystal river restoration project at riverfront park in carbondale.
$555,083 spent$87,500 earned by the program51% of program spendingCommunity engagement. In 2024, avlt worked with local schools and nonprofits to increase equitable access to land and ensure that all community members are welcomed and able to connect with conserved land. This was primarily accomplished through hosting schools and nonprofits to avlt's coffman ranch and marble basecamp for outdoor learning programs. A total of 27 groups, including over 1,000 students and community members participated in a program at one of avlt's ambassador properties in 2024. In addition, we supported development of trails, outdoor education infrastructure, and partner-led programs at the silt river preserve, a community conservancy in silt, colorado that avlt helps the town of silt manage.
$273,171 spent25% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,098,488.
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 $6.9M to $12M (+72%).
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 4% · 2019 1% · 2020 7% · 2022 6% · 2023 46% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Suzanne Stephens
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 17 funders to 33 funders, grant income rose $117k → $1.1M.
17 of 73 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% 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 ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 73 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
ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST leans on a few funders — its largest provides 74% of grant income and the top three 82%; 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 21% · 2018 46% · 2019 19% · 2020 12% · 2021 35% · 2022 26% · 2023 39% — 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
42% of ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST draws 93% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 18 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,187 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,187 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
61% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Avlt Coffman Ranch LLC · disregarded
- Avlt Special Products LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST: 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 ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST?
- ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST (Colorado) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,505,967 to it, the largest being THE WEXNER FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND ($11,450,000). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST have?
- IRS filings report 73 organizations giving $15,505,967 in grants to ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST, 46 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST?
- THE WEXNER FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND is the largest funder on record, with $11,450,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ASPEN VALLEY LAND TRUST find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 73 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