West Virginia · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT INC
FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT INC (West Virginia) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $897,773 to it, the largest being CLAUDE WORTHINGTON BENEDUM FOUNDATION ($125,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.5M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $898k
- Net assets
- $2.7M
What Friends of the Cheat Inc does
Mission
To restore, preserve and promote the outstanding natural qualities of the cheat river watershed.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Cheat watershed restoration - restoration of streams contaminated by acid mine drainage pollution is the organization's primary focus. In 2013, friends of the cheat expanded its scope to include directly monitoring and maintaining acid mine drainage treatment systems at bond forfeiture sites. The organization continues to remediate pollution from abandoned mine lands. This work includes stream monitoring and pollution prioritization, contract procurement for engineer plans of treatment systems and construction of systems, permitting, construction observation and post-construction system and stream monitoring.engineering plans for several projects were in various stages of development, including the upper muddy creek and the sovern tichnell site. Progress was also made on non-construction projects including watershed based planning and treatment system evaluation projects.
$1,420,173 spent74% of program spendingRecreation and river access - friends of the cheat maintains many whitewater river accesses and works to implement non-motorized rail trails in preston county. Friends of the cheat assessed water trail access site needs, executed small improvements at several sites and developed inmformational materials.
$444,493 spent23% of program spendingFriends of the cheat's, inc. Education program work includes regular print and online publications including the into the canyon newsletter and state of the watershed report, as well as special material and curricula. Educational events and workshops engage people of all ages and abilities in outdoor learning experiences, such as snokeling and stream assessments, to foster environmental stewardship and an appreication for the cheat river watershed.
$42,351 spent2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,907,017.
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 $892k to $2.4M (+165%).
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: 2017 77% · 2018 78% · 2019 56% · 2020 83% · 2021 75% · 2022 72% · 2023 79% · 2024 84%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
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
Rich Dennis
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $27k → $50k.
9 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 CHEAT INC’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
FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
46% 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 CHEAT INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 57% · 2018 100% · 2019 68% · 2020 61% · 2021 43% · 2022 36% · 2023 42% — 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
36% of FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT INC draws 82% of its grant income from funders outside West Virginia, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $254k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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 CHEAT INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.7M on record.
- Department of the Interior$1.7M
- Appalachian Regional Commission$50k
- Department of Agriculture$15k
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 THE CHEAT 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 West Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% 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 CHEAT 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.
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 CHEAT INC?
- FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT INC (West Virginia) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $897,773 to it, the largest being CLAUDE WORTHINGTON BENEDUM FOUNDATION ($125,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT INC have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $897,773 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT INC, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT INC?
- CLAUDE WORTHINGTON BENEDUM FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $125,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE CHEAT INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in West Virginia. 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 24 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