North Carolina · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL
FRIENDS OF THE FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL (North Carolina) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $46,651 to it, the largest being THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ($23,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $135k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $47k
- Net assets
- $76k
What Friends of the Fonta Flora State Trail does
Mission
Organization Mission - The mission of Friends of Fonta Flora State Trail (F3ST) is to work with partners to connect mountain communities across three counties in western North Carolina through the Fonta Flora State Trail to promote physical health, mental wellness, economic development, and outdoor recreation for the enjoyment and education of all people. The planned 100-mile trail is currently about 1/3 complete. None of the trail is along a former rail corridor, so the location, land acquisition, and design of each section from Morganton to Asheville reflects the needs, topography, and vision of the community through which it passes.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Program
Program Service Accomplishments: 1. Old Fort Park and Trail Complex: Funded by a PARTF grant, McDowell County, the Town of Old Fort, McDowell Trails Association, F3ST was awarded $660k for a park and trailhead, now complete with 100 parking spaces, restrooms, a picnic pavilion, and a dog park. In 2023, F3ST was awarded a $100k RTP grant for a 1-mile trail to connect USFS Gateway Trails with the new park, and to get pedestrian and bicycle traffic off a dangerous section of Highway 70. F3ST was also awarded a $88k CTP Land Acquisition grant and purchased land for the trailhead entry. In early 2026, F3ST combined the $100k RTP funds with an additional $125k in grant funding for the planned trails and entry driveway. 2. Planning the Trail: In 2022, F3ST was awarded a $90k Dogwood Health Trust Grant for a feasibility study to plan new segments of the Fonta Flora State Trail in McDowell County. In 2025 F3ST advised on a DOT-funded feasibility study for a serpentine section of trail to connect the Town of Black Mountain with Point Lookout trail which straddles the Blue Ridge Escarpment. In 2025, F3ST began work with several partners to plan new segments of the Fonta Flora Trail in vast…
$0 spentof which $67,800 as grants
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $0.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $49k to $69k (+40%).
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: 2024 83%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of FRIENDS OF THE FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (18% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
From the IRS filings of FRIENDS OF THE FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL’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 FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
50% 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 FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL.
“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
FRIENDS OF THE FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL draws 53% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 3 states in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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 FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 10,453 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,453 recreation & sports nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FRIENDS OF THE FONTA FLORA STATE 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 North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
100%
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 FRIENDS OF THE FONTA FLORA STATE 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 FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL?
- FRIENDS OF THE FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL (North Carolina) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $46,651 to it, the largest being THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ($23,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $46,651 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL?
- THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION is the largest funder on record, with $23,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE FONTA FLORA STATE TRAIL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 2021–2025), and the filings of 4 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