Utah · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA
FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA (Utah) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,091,746 to it, the largest being PALLADIUM FOUNDATION ($2,625,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.6M
- Funders on record
- 55
- Grants received
- $6.1M
- Net assets
- $2.8M
What Friends of Cedar Mesa does
Mission
Bears ears partnership works to protect and build respect for the cultural and natural landscapes of the greater bears ears region.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
The organization acquired two programs from canyon country discovery center in september: canyon country youth corps and their river program. They are still in the process of building the youth corps and river program with assets received. Canyon country youth corps was an americorps program that provides job training to youth through on-the-ground projects for america's public lands. Projects include invasive species management, fence and trail building, protection of water resources through low-tech process based restoration and fire fuel reduction. Youth corps members receive a living stipend and an eduction award at the completion of their service. Bep's river program serves indigenous youth and the youth of san juan county providing a means for exploring bears ears national monument via the san juan river through summer camps and youth-elder programs. River program resources are also a means for conservation efforts along the san juan river.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Bears ears partnership carries out impactful work to protect the greater bears ears region in southeastern utah through a multi-faceted approach to conservation, which includes pairing on-the-ground fieldwork, education, and advocacy. We support and contribute to smart local, conservation efforts, research efforts, and volunteer service activities in the region as well as support tribal partners working to protect their ancestral lands. In 2024, bears ears partnership safely continued public lands stewardship efforts in the region, including carrying out conservation efforts at highly visited cultural sites in southeastern utah such as structural conservation, trail work, fencing, placement of educational signage, and more. The organization also carried out research, including recording multiple rock imagery sites to assist land managers by adding to the official archaeological record of the region. Bears ears partnership owns and manages the bears ears education center and continued our program and advocacy work, focused on virtual outreach efforts. During peak season, bears ears education center provides critical visitor information to over 150 visitors a day. Our education…
$1,834,979 spentof which $152,478 as grants100% of program spendingMisc. Expense
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,834,979.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $1.7M to $3.0M (+79%).
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: 2023 8% · 2024 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 20 funders, grant income rose $343k → $1.3M.
13 of 55 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 55 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
FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% 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
31% 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 FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 33% · 2019 34% · 2020 28% · 2021 25% · 2022 27% · 2023 47% — 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
38% of FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
55% of FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA's grant income comes from Utah funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $734k arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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 FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $481k on record.
- Department of the Interior$436k
- Department of Agriculture$45k
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 FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
42%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA: 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 FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA?
- FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA (Utah) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,091,746 to it, the largest being PALLADIUM FOUNDATION ($2,625,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA have?
- IRS filings report 55 organizations giving $6,091,746 in grants to FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA?
- PALLADIUM FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,625,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF CEDAR MESA 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 55 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