Utah · Nonprofit
CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC
CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC (Utah) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,872 to it, the largest being RUTH BROWN FOUNDATION ($2,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.5M
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $3k
- Net assets
- $18M
What Canyonlands Natural History Assoc does
Mission
Cnha supports the national park service, bureau of land management, usda forest service, and various other partnerships through sales of interpretive materials. Those sales provide financial aid to support outdoor education, free publications, interpretive programs, monitoring of wildlife, vegetation and water, seasonal park rangers and interns, safety and educational videos and trailhead improvements and interpretive signage.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Npsinterpretation, education and visitor services (ievs): funding for free publications, jr ranger materials, general interpretation supplies, canyon youth engagement education program, intern and volunteer support, and onboarding many seasonal park ranger positions for the southeast utah group parks, including housing support for interns and volunteers.resource stewardship strategy: science is a large area of support from cnha to the nps spanning a wide variety of programs. Funds were used for game cameras for wildlife monitoring, and the purchase of a weather station for long term vegetation monitoring. Also included were monitoring for harmful algal blooms and water quality, acoustic monitoring for mexican spotted owls, invasive plant surveys, and gps collars for bighorn sheep studies. As with ievs, cnha provided funding for archaeology and natural resource intern positions along with housing support for the interns. Program service accomplishments: support for night sky programs including a night sky ranger position for canyonlands, the purchase of a smart telescope and tablet, and continuing support for the annual astro fest.
$1,668,806 spentof which $1,150,551 as grants39% of program spendingBlmmajor support in 2025 for improving campground and trail accessibility for all user groups. We brought out folks from dovetail consulting to assess multiple campgrounds and mountain bike trails to see where improvements could be made. We then hired and sca intern to work with the blm to measure slope, gradient and obstacles for over 100 miles of trails. This work will provide better information for signage at trailheads and an interactive map for websites so that users can make their own decisions on whether they have the ability to navigate certain trails. Cnha continues to support the blm in their outreach efforts with local communities funding a natural resources field day for high school students, a junior ranger day, and internships for high school students. Every year we fund outreach materials and signage for the blm. 2025 included interpretive signage for the posey historical marker site, route signs for trailheads and roads, powder coating of sign pedestals that were donated to the blm from the park service, the printing of the area blm newspaper and cedar mesa trip planner.
$422,086 spentof which $294,144 as grants10% of program spendingUsfsthe largest area of support for the forest service came in the way of housing. Cnha began the process of purchasing 4 tiny homes for the manti la sal national forest to be used for employee housing. We put down a deposit for all four houses. One house was completed and installed in 2025, and we made payments on framing houses number 2 & 3. Work on the three remaining tiny homes will be completed in 2026.cnha supported the forest service by providing interns from utah state university to backfill staffing shortages. Interns assisted with a wide variety of work across numerous programs with multiple disciplines including recreation trail crews, wildlife and botany, cultural resource monitoring, and range management conducting vegetation surveys, spring restoration projects, and monitoring range conditions.trailhead improvements in bears ears national monument. The dry wash alcove trail and trailhead was recently created to provide an easily accessible trail within the bears ears national monument. This trailhead and site is the only front country cultural resource on usfs lands within benm and is the primary location the usfs directs users seeking a more front country and…
$588,077 spentof which $462,830 as grants14% of program spendingSales and other partnerships and outreach
$1,585,953 spent37% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,264,922.
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 $7.7M to $11M (+38%).
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: 2020 7% · 2021 4% · 2022 3% · 2023 3% · 2024 3% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
5% of CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Sam Wainer
Executive director
Board chair
Cathy Bonde
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $149 → $39.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC’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
CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 87% of grant income and the top three 100%; 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: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
100% of CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC's grant income comes from Utah funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $372 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
CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $281k on record.
- Department of the Interior$197k
- Department of Agriculture$84k
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 CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC
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 Utah
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC: 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 CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC?
- CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC (Utah) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,872 to it, the largest being RUTH BROWN FOUNDATION ($2,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $2,872 in grants to CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC?
- RUTH BROWN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Utah. 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 2 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