Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
NATIONAL LINKS TRUST
NATIONAL LINKS TRUST (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,260,738 to it, the largest being CLARK CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC DBA A JAMES & ALICE B CLARK FOUNDATION ($1,500,000). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $15M
- Funders on record
- 54
- Grants received
- $4.3M
- Net assets
- $14M
What National Links Trust does
Mission
National Links Trust is a non-profit organization dedicated to positively impacting our community and changing lives through affordable and accessible municipal golf.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
National Links Trust (nlt) operates three municipal golf courses in washington, dc: east potomac golf links, langston golf course and rock creek park golf. These properties generate revenue through regular golf course operations; however, as part of the organization's mission to provide accessible, affordable golf to local communities, the rates are well below market value. To better serve the community of golfers in washington, dc, nlt invested in course improvement projects including:a. Continued improvement of course conditions through improved agronomic practices.b. Significant planning, consultation, design, and refinement of future plans for large-scale capital improvement projects at the three courses to transform them into true community assets that benefit both golfers and non-golfers in the community.c. Implementation of an adaptive management approach to removing invasive vegetation and the beginning of site work at rock creek park golf ahead of a large-scale capital improvement project at the course.d. Execution of a full restoration and renovation of east potomac miniature golf - the nation's oldest continuously operating miniature golf course.the jack vardaman…
$10,195,056 spent$10,955,195 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $10,195,056.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $3.9M to $8.9M (+131%).
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.
24% of NATIONAL LINKS TRUST’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 5 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
Damian Cosby
Executive director
Board chair
Michael Mccartin
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $71k → $395k.
11 of 54 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 NATIONAL LINKS TRUST’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 54 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
NATIONAL LINKS TRUST has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 35% 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
32% 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 NATIONAL LINKS TRUST.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 70% · 2021 37% · 2022 31% · 2023 32% — 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
57% of NATIONAL LINKS TRUST'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
NATIONAL LINKS TRUST draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 16 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $682k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
NATIONAL LINKS TRUST holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like NATIONAL LINKS TRUST
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
68%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 27 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NATIONAL LINKS TRUST: 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 NATIONAL LINKS TRUST?
- NATIONAL LINKS TRUST (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,260,738 to it, the largest being CLARK CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC DBA A JAMES & ALICE B CLARK FOUNDATION ($1,500,000). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATIONAL LINKS TRUST have?
- IRS filings report 54 organizations giving $4,260,738 in grants to NATIONAL LINKS TRUST, 29 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL LINKS TRUST?
- CLARK CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC DBA A JAMES & ALICE B CLARK FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL LINKS TRUST find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 National Links →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 54 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