Michigan · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL
FRIENDS OF THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL (Michigan) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $225,806 to it, the largest being HERBERT H AND BARBARA C DOW FOUNDATION ($100,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $208k
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $226k
- Net assets
- $633k
What Friends of the Betsie Valley Trail does
Mission
Create and maintain rail trail system.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Pave the Trail from the trailhead in Beulah south to Case Rd
$61,126 spent50% of program spendingEngineering design of the Trail for paving from Thompsonville north to Case Rd
$57,533 spent47% of program spendingRepair the asphalt from M-115 south to Adams Rd
$3,681 spent3% of program spendingSupport Wm. R. Olsen Endowment at the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation
$1,000 spent1% of program spendingMaintain volunteer effort to clear the Trail of debris and overhanging brush
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $123,340.
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 2021 to 2022, from $269k to $405k (+50%).
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.
91% of FRIENDS OF THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (73% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $2k → $30k.
4 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 14 of 15 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 THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
36% 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 THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 63% · 2018 100% · 2019 80% · 2020 82% · 2021 58% · 2022 61% · 2023 49% — 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
67% of FRIENDS OF THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
78% of FRIENDS OF THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $82k 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.
Against its field
FRIENDS OF THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 850 unclassified nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 850 unclassified nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FRIENDS OF THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL: 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 THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL?
- FRIENDS OF THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL (Michigan) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $225,806 to it, the largest being HERBERT H AND BARBARA C DOW FOUNDATION ($100,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $225,806 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL?
- HERBERT H AND BARBARA C DOW FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 15 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