North Carolina · Nonprofit
BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION
BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION (North Carolina) receives grants from 106 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,630,160 to it, the largest being BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation ($1,255,750). 56 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.5M
- Funders on record
- 106
- Grants received
- $6.6M
- Net assets
- $8.7M
What Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation does
Mission
The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is the fundraising partner, 501(c)(3), for the blue ridge parkway, providing support for initiatives along the 469-mile route, including historical and cultural preservation, natural resource protection, visitor amenities, and education and outreach.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is the fundraising partner for the blue ridge parkway, the country's most visited national park unit. The nonprofit addresses unmet park needs by providing support for initiatives and programs along the 469-mile route, including historical and cultural preservation, natural resource protection, visitor amenities, and education and outreach. The organization's mission includes engaging a new generation of stewards in the protection of the national park and additional public lands.
$755,275 spentof which $609,322 as grants$434,608 earned by the program23% of program spendingA signature program of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, kids in parks engages children and families in outdoor recreation activities that foster lifelong wellness through meaningful connections to nature. The program accomplishes this through the installation of track trails. At each track trail, families utilize self-guided materials designed to enhance their hiking, biking, paddling, fishing, and disc golf adventures. Children who complete track trails can register their outings online and receive free prizes created to make their next adventure more fun and rewarding. Track trails encourage children to be physically active while inspiring the next generation of stewards to care for public lands, including the blue ridge parkway.
$666,887 spent20% of program spendingThe blue ridge music center preserves, interprets, and presents the evolving musical traditions of the blue ridge mountains, highlighting the influence of american roots music on many genres of music. The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation provides funding for an annual summer concert series, free milepost music concerts in the national park, programming and event staff, and repairs and enhancements at the national park service facility at milepost 213 near galax, va. Established by the u.s. Congress in 1985, the site includes an outdoor amphitheater, an indoor theater, a visitor/interpretive center housing the roots of american music museum, and two hiking trails.
$471,184 spent14% of program spendingIn 1949, the bluffs restaurant became the first dining establishment to open on the blue ridge parkway. The former coffee shop welcomed generations of diners before closing in 2010. In 2020, the stone and timber building underwent extensive renovations through funding secured by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. To ensure the continued operation of the bluffs restaurant, the foundation entered into a historic lease for the national park service facility. As part of that agreement, the foundation is responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the building. The nonprofit has expanded its role by operating the restaurant and offering educational and pop-up events that celebrate heritage foodways, highlight mountain culture, and build community connections. It is once again a must-visit destination for homestyle meals and hospitality in the national park. The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation created the blue ridge rising program to unite and serve the gateway communities of the blue ridge parkway by strengthening cross-jurisdictional relationships and fostering economic development, with a particular focus on travel, tourism, and outdoor recreation. Community listening sessions in the 29…
$1,415,431 spent43% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,308,777.
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 2024 to 2025, from $7.6M to $8.9M (+17%).
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 10% · 2019 27% · 2020 39% · 2021 22% · 2022 19% · 2023 30% · 2024 20% · 2025 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
90% of BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION’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. 1 of the last 9 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
Carolyn Ward
CEO
Board chair
Greg Andeck
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 37 funders, grant income rose $65k → $799k.
21 of 106 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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 BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 106 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
BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
48% 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 BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 29% · 2018 20% · 2019 21% · 2020 59% · 2021 23% · 2022 34% · 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 BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION draws 69% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 18 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $6.2M on record.
- Appalachian Regional Commission$5.1M
- Department of Commerce$911k
- National Endowment for the Arts$157k
- Department of Agriculture$20k
- Department of State$13k
- Department of the Interior$5k
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 BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 4 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION: 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 BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION?
- BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION (North Carolina) receives grants from 106 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,630,160 to it, the largest being BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation ($1,255,750). 56 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 106 organizations giving $6,630,160 in grants to BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION, 56 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION?
- BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,255,750 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY FOUNDATION 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 106 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