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Indiana · Nonprofit

FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC

FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC (Indiana) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,637,259 to it, the largest being ARTS UNITED OF GREATER FORT WAYNE INC ($192,123). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$510k
Funders on record
37
Grants received
$1.6M
Net assets
$994k
28/37 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 75%
01What it does

What Fort Wayne Trails Inc does

Mission

Fort wayne trails is a community partner and advocate in the development of a connected, multi-purpose system of trails in allen county.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. For the 2024-2025 programming year, fwt had the following accomplishments: vann family crossing: fwt played a key role in working with the city of fort wayne to receive a 5m gift from the vann family foundation for a much needed connection over coliseum blvd. Linking the north and south trail systems to create 130 miles of connected trail. The crossing will be built in 2026. Cedar creek parks trail: fwt continued to help coordinate and advocate for funding to complete this trail from metea north county park to grabill, in downtown. Fwt helped manage the project during construction in 2025. Pufferbelly-golden spike: fwt contributed 300,000 to the building of the golden spike section of the pufferbelly trail. It was used as leverage for matching funds for a next level trails grant received from the state of indiana for 2.7m. Local advocacy: fort wayne trails played a critical role in helping acquire the right of way for the union chapel trail trail from the pufferbelly to auburn rd. With our efforts, the project will be able to go to construction in 2026. Regional trail advocacy: fort wayne trails plays an active role on the poka-bache coalition working to build the 83-mile trail…

    $637,395 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $637,395.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($335k) Expenses 100 ($407k) Net assets 100 ($692k)2018 Revenue 124 ($415k) Expenses 83 ($337k) Net assets 111 ($771k)2019 Revenue 124 ($413k) Expenses 75 ($305k) Net assets 138 ($956k)2020 Revenue 120 ($403k) Expenses 107 ($436k) Net assets 134 ($925k)2021 Revenue 164 ($548k) Expenses 104 ($424k) Net assets 154 ($1.1M)2022 Revenue 122 ($408k) Expenses 73 ($298k) Net assets 169 ($1.2M)2023 Revenue 205 ($687k) Expenses 98 ($400k) Net assets 211 ($1.5M)2024 Revenue 128 ($428k) Expenses 134 ($545k) Net assets 194 ($1.3M)2025 Revenue 153 ($510k) Expenses 211 ($858k) Net assets 143 ($994k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (153)Expenses (211)Net assets (143)Peer revenue range

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 $1.3M to $996k (−26%).

$692k
$771k
$956k
$960k
$1.1M
$1.2M
$1.5M
$1.3M
$996k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

91% of FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (18% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 16,168 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$73k
’17
$78k
’18
$109k
’19
−$33k
’20
$125k
’21
$109k
’22
$288k
’23
−$117k
’24
−$348k
’25
9.2
months of
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

Mike Kelly

Board chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed202225262423252318
Joined·+6+3+6+4+2+4+2+5
No longer listed·405632410
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 15 funders, grant income fell $189k → $95k.

5 of 37 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 FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 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

FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left

33% 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 FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC.

12%
largest funder
34%
top three
~14
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 24% · 2019 17% · 2020 46% · 2021 28% · 2022 38% · 2023 21% — 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 FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 76% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC draws 55% of its grant income from funders outside Indiana, across 10 states in all.

NY
IN
OH
PA
CT
MO
DE
DC
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Indiana out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $219k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC is better cushioned than half of the 10,453 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−68% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve9.2mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)5% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,453 recreation & sports nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC

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 Indiana

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

74% of spending goes to programs.

Program 74%Management 13%Fundraising 12%

Governance

17
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

94%

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 FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC: 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.

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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 FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC?
FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC (Indiana) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,637,259 to it, the largest being ARTS UNITED OF GREATER FORT WAYNE INC ($192,123). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC have?
IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $1,637,259 in grants to FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC, 28 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC?
ARTS UNITED OF GREATER FORT WAYNE INC is the largest funder on record, with $192,123 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FORT WAYNE TRAILS INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Indiana. 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 37 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