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Michigan · Nonprofit

Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance

Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance (Michigan) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,588,894 to it, the largest being Iron Belle Trail Fund ($4,260,607). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$4.5M
Funders on record
15
Grants received
$6.6M
Net assets
$4.3M
4/15 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance does

Mission

Michigan Trails & Greenways Alliance is the statewide voice for nonmotorized trial users, helping people build, connect and promote trails for a healthier and more prosperous Michigan.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Michigan Trails/Greenways Alliance advocates for trails policy and works directly with local trail groups to carry policy positions to the legislature and help to advance funding issues at the state level. The staff and the board of directors provide technical assistance and support to state, regional and local organizations on all aspects of trail planning, acquisition, development, operations and maintenance.

    $219,007 spentof which $26,500 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $219,007.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($64k) Expenses 100 ($44k) Net assets 100 ($345k)2018 Revenue 641 ($410k) Expenses 461 ($202k) Net assets 165 ($570k)2019 Revenue 790 ($506k) Expenses 1239 ($544k) Net assets 153 ($529k)2020 Revenue 183 ($117k) Expenses 768 ($337k) Net assets 90 ($309k)2021 Revenue 632 ($405k) Expenses 974 ($428k) Net assets 73 ($250k)2022 Revenue 101 ($64k) Expenses 484 ($213k) Net assets 30 ($102k)2023 Revenue 275 ($176k) Expenses 458 ($201k) Net assets 22 ($77k)2024 Revenue 2729 ($1.7M) Expenses 3909 ($1.7M) Net assets 31 ($108k)2025 Revenue 7093 ($4.5M) Expenses 699 ($307k) Net assets 1259 ($4.3M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (7093)Expenses (699)Net assets (1259)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $132k to $4.4M (+3215%).

$346k
$603k
$540k
$317k
$289k
$120k
$93k
$132k
$4.4M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2018 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

100% of Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$20k
’17
$208k
’18
−$38k
’19
−$220k
’20
−$23k
’21
−$148k
’22
−$25k
’23
$31k
’24
$4.2M
’25
168
months of
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

Gary Wood

Chairman

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed18655551210
Joined·+2+1+1+1+0+7+3
No longer listed·14211005
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $110k → $129k.

6 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance’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

Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

71% 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 Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance.

65%
largest funder
96%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 91% · 2019 100% · 2020 96% · 2021 100% · 2022 61% · 2023 56% — 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

17% of Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 27% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

100% of Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance's grant income comes from Michigan funders.

MI
AZ
DC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Michigan out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $273k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin93% · outside the comparable range
Months of reserve168.2mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)70% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

71% of spending goes to programs.

Program 71%Management 25%Fundraising 4%

Governance

10
board members
90%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MI

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance: 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.

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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 Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance?
Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance (Michigan) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,588,894 to it, the largest being Iron Belle Trail Fund ($4,260,607). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance have?
IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $6,588,894 in grants to Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance?
Iron Belle Trail Fund is the largest funder on record, with $4,260,607 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance 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.

Play a game about who funds Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance →

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