Vermont · Nonprofit
CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION
CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION (Vermont) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $497,921 to it, the largest being Share Winter Foundation ($148,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $476k
- Funders on record
- 30
- Grants received
- $498k
- Net assets
- $700k
What Catamount Trail Association does
Mission
The Catamount Trail Association is a passionate group of backcountry skiers and outdoor enthusiasts. We've been breaking trail since 1984, creating north america's longest backcountry ski trail and pioneering innovative recreation projects throughout vermont. Our mission is to expand access to vermont's backcountry because we believe days spent in the mountains with friends are powerful, and that those experiences should be open to everyone. We are advocates, volunteers, supporters, and trailblazers working to steward the catamount trail, manage backcountry ski terrain, permanently protect mountain lands, and expand equitable access to skiing. By building trails, community, and opportunity we connect people to vermont's mountain landscape.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Trail/terrain development, maintenance, and protection: the Catamount Trail Association develops, manages, and conserves the catamount trail, a public-access ski trail. The catamount trail and related trails and terrain are unique resources for recreation and important conservation and economic assets for the people and the state of vermont. The cta builds partnerships to support trails and terrain and fosters awareness and stewardship of vermont's diverse landscapes through promotion and use of the backcountry. Cta also advocates use of trails and terrain for the recreational, economic, quality of life, and health benefits they provide.
$202,756 spent61% of program spendingYouth education: the Catamount Trail Association administers ski cubs, a program focused on introducing youth to cross-country skiing as a means to promote healthy lifestyles for vermont families and communities. Ski cubs collaborates with local organizations and schools to serve participants with limited resources and limited access to winter sports opportunities. This program empowers vermont youth to enjoy an active, outdoor lifestyle during the winter and develop a lifelong affinity for outdoor recreation and natural areas with friends, family, and community members.
$83,713 spent25% of program spendingEvents: Catamount Trail Association events exist to introduce people to the sport of backcountry skiing, to connect users and grow the backcountry community, and to promote use of the catamount trail and our chapter managed zones. The winter fundraising event transitioned to an in person event called the catgut. It was previously an asynchronous event. For a second season, race to the top was somewhat modified with the race taking place, but no events afterwards.
$48,163 spent14% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $334,632.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
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 $458k to $655k (+43%).
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 5% · 2019 7% · 2020 19% · 2021 20% · 2022 10% · 2023 13% · 2024 9% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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.
Board chair
Jay Stearns
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $20k → $92k.
3 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION’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
CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 30% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
63% 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 CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 41% · 2019 43% · 2020 32% · 2021 56% · 2022 39% · 2023 31% — 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
43% of CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION draws 68% of its grant income from funders outside Vermont, across 12 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $135k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Government funding CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $632k on record — $200k federal, $432k state.
- Department of Agriculture$200k
- Grants$412k
- Grants to Municipalities$15k
- Sponsorships$3k
- Other Grants$2k
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 CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION
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 Vermont
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% 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
Part of a family of 8 related entities
- Rochester Area Sport Trail Alliance · exempt
- Northeast Kingdom Backcountry Coal · exempt
- Dutch Hill All of Skiers & Hikers · exempt
- Grateful Shreds Backcountry Coal · exempt
- Mad River Valley Backcountry Coal · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION: 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 CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION?
- CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION (Vermont) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $497,921 to it, the largest being Share Winter Foundation ($148,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $497,921 in grants to CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION?
- Share Winter Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $148,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CATAMOUNT TRAIL ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Vermont. 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 Catamount Trail Association →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 30 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