North Carolina · Nonprofit
Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc
Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc (North Carolina) receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,168,551 to it, the largest being STEVEN C LEUTHOLD FAMILY FOUNDATION ($595,000). 42 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 68
- Grants received
- $2.2M
- Net assets
- $32M
What Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc does
Mission
The mission of the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust is to safeguard the unique and irreplaceable landscape of our area through conservation of ecologically valuable land and protection of the biodiversity dependent on such landscapes.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
In 2024 the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust (HCLT) completed three land projects (1) the fee simple acquisition of 100 acres of ecologically sensitive forestland containing some of the headwaters of the Chattooga River, (2) the fee simple acquisition via donation of more than 55 acres of biodiverse habitat, including almost a mile of Overflow Creek, the primary source of Glen Falls, and via transfer the fee simple acquisition of an 8 acre tract within the Cashiers Township, protecting it from development. HCLT also provided stewardship of conserved land by completing 100% monitoring of all conservation easements and fee simple lands held by HCLT. HCLTs commitment to stewardship is perpetual. Worked with conservation easement landowners to ensure protection of conservation values, rare habitat types, and plant communities. Built trails and expanded community access to conserved lands. Engaged the Highlands and Cashiers communities for involvement with trail maintenance and improvements, invasive species mitigation, and habitat restoration.
$446,615 spent$12,423 earned by the program100% of program spendingHCLTs education and outreach efforts focus on educating the public about conservation and the natural world by providing opportunities for children, families, and adults to engage in hands-on environmental education and exploration activities at no cost. Our programming generally encompasses three types of outreach (1) guided events for adults and families, such as hikes and clinics, (2) youth- focused environmental education programs, and (3) community speaker events. In 2024 we hosted more that 60 events open to the public, including on such topics as forest bathing, fungi identification, pollinator habitats, wildflower identification, and so on; more than 40 youth events, including programming for organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club, local schools and preschools, and local day camps; and several speaker events, including 6 Village Nature Series lectures. In 2024 HCLT created more than 1,800 individual interactions with youth and adults through our various outreach and environmental education programming.
HCLT continues to ensure that it operates ethically and morally, and proactively complies with all legal and statutory requirements. HCLT is an accredited organization by the Land Trust Alliance and in 2024 successfully participated in the re-accreditation process, a complete and thorough review, undertaken every five years, of all HCLTs policies and practices. HCLT has stringent requirements for board members, maintains robust by-laws and policies that are reviewed regularly, engages the services of a third-party bookkeeper, and maintains all appropriate insurance coverages. HCLT completed an independent audit of its 2024 financial statements and received an unqualified opinion.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $446,615.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2020 to 2021, from $26M to $30M (+16%).
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: 2021 0% · 2022 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust 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 6 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.
Chief executive
Lance Hardin
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 30 funders, grant income rose $38k → $196k.
10 of 68 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 Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 68 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
Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
44% 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 Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 87% · 2019 22% · 2020 34% · 2021 23% · 2022 44% · 2023 20% — 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
48% of Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
53% of Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc's grant income comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $784k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,187 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,187 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust 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 North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
58% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
54%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust 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 Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc?
- Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc (North Carolina) receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,168,551 to it, the largest being STEVEN C LEUTHOLD FAMILY FOUNDATION ($595,000). 42 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc have?
- IRS filings report 68 organizations giving $2,168,551 in grants to Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc, 42 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc?
- STEVEN C LEUTHOLD FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $595,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Inc 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.
Play a game about who funds Highlands-Cashiers Land →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 68 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing