North Carolina · Nonprofit
Balsam Mountain Trust
Balsam Mountain Trust (North Carolina) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $519,611 to it, the largest being CHARLES F DE GANAHL FAMILY FOUNDATION ($175,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $570k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $520k
- Net assets
- $1.3M
What Balsam Mountain Trust does
Mission
The mission of the Balsam Mountain Trust is the stewardship of the natural and cultural resources on Balsam Mountain Preserve and the southern Blue Ridge Mountain region, achieved through effective land management practices, scientific research and environmental education. The Balsam Mountain Trust inspires people to be responsible stewards of the natural and cultural resources of the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains through education and conservation leadership.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Trust continues its efforts to monitor and improve the ecosystem health of the Balsam Mountain Preserve. One of our highest priorities is to maintain the integrity of the health of the Balsam Mountain conservation easement lands. Highlights of 2025 include the cataloging of 57 bird species in the third year of a three-year survey, continued removal of multiflora rose from on the Preserves natural heritage sites, treatment of 33 hemlock trees on the Preserve to fight the invasive wooly adelgid, and a completion of a resurvey and recommended management interventions for a natural heritage area.
$81,507 spent29% of program spendingThe Trust continues to develop and present environmental education programs to thousands of students and lifelong learners. Since its founding, the Trust has reached over 100,000 program participants. The Trusts partnership with AmeriCorps continued in 2025 with program presentations to schools in Jackson, Haywood, Macon, and Swain Counties. Our outreach also included monthly interpretive hikes at Pinnacle Park, monthly programs at the Sylva Library, and hosting WNC Birdfest in Dillsboro.
$118,185 spent41% of program spendingThe Trusts Nature Center continues to be well received by the public, while housing our collection of ambassador animals used in outreach programming. In 2025, we hosted several school groups, art meets science crafting classes and supported undergraduate researchers and classes for Western Caroling University and UNC-Asheville. 2025 saw the completion of our primary bird enclosure and the creation of a landscaping master plan.
$85,581 spent$6,031 earned by the program30% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $285,273.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $920k to $1.0M (+14%).
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.
95% of Balsam Mountain Trust’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 6 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
Michael Wall
Executive Director
Board chair
Joel Bradley
Chair/Acting Treasurer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 9 funders, grant income rose $250 → $110k.
6 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 55% 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 Balsam Mountain Trust’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
Balsam Mountain Trust leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
55% 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 Balsam Mountain Trust.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 61% · 2021 49% · 2022 56% · 2023 45% — 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
60% of Balsam Mountain Trust's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 79% 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
55% of Balsam Mountain Trust'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 $231k that is directly attributable, 95% of it comes from funders outside North Carolina, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $288k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
Balsam Mountain Trust holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 2,433 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,433 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Balsam Mountain 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 North Carolina
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
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Balsam Mountain 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 Balsam Mountain Trust?
- Balsam Mountain Trust (North Carolina) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $519,611 to it, the largest being CHARLES F DE GANAHL FAMILY FOUNDATION ($175,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Balsam Mountain Trust have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $519,611 in grants to Balsam Mountain Trust, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Balsam Mountain Trust?
- CHARLES F DE GANAHL FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $175,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Balsam Mountain Trust find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Balsam Mountain →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 14 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