Virginia · Nonprofit
FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION
FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION (Virginia) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,583 to it, the largest being THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION ($5,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $117k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $6k
- Net assets
- $159k
What Forest Fire Lookout Association does
Mission
Preservation of historic fire lookouts and their legacy through research, education, and support of restoration, staffing, and other alternative uses.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Phase 2 of the restoration of the historic Argentine Rock Lookout for future public use, through USDA-Forest Service Agreement #23-PA-11051100-011. Accomplishments included staircase and walkway restoration work to access lookout structure.
$52,002 spent59% of program spendingPrinting and postage for publication and distribution of quarterly magazine to approximately 1500 members and other interested parties.
$21,770 spent25% of program spendingOngoing maintenance and support for the upkeep of multiple historic fire lookouts. Assessment and work undertaken at 36 historic lookout sites in California, New York, Washington, and Montana through various agreements with US Forest Service, National Parks, and State agencies to support continued public use.
$3,119 spentof which $12,100 as grants4% of program spendingOther Program Service Expenses: Support for volunteer staffing of lookouts for interpretation and fire detection purposes. Three lookouts staffed by volunteers in California for fire detection and public interpretation and four in New York staffed with volunteer stewards for public interpretation ($4698) Website Expenses ($2015) Conference Expenses ($1115) Other Miscellaneous Administrative Expenses ($2988)
$10,816 spent12% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $87,707.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 $142k to $159k (+12%).
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.
100% of FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Board chair
Michael Guerin
National Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $5k → $112.
2 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT 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
FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 90% 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
100% 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 FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 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 FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION'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. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $437k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$437k
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 FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT 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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
87%
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 FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT 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 FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION?
- FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION (Virginia) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,583 to it, the largest being THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION ($5,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $5,583 in grants to FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION?
- THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 Forest Fire Lookout Association →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), 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