California · Nonprofit
PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION
PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION (California) receives grants from 93 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,462,016 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($855,300). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.6M
- Funders on record
- 93
- Grants received
- $5.5M
- Net assets
- $5.5M
What Pacific Crest Trail Association does
Mission
The Pacific Crest Trail Association's mission is to advocate for the pacific crest trail as an inspirational outdoor experience, to connect people to the pct, and to conserve the trail.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Trail and land management and protection:in 2025, the Pacific Crest Trail Association (pcta) partnered with land trusts and federal agencies to evaluate acquisition opportunities from private owners that own land including or adjacent to the pct. The pcta worked with partners on the acquisition of 3,325 acres of forestland in the castle crags and trinity alps wildernesses. Pcta acquired 1.3 acres on the outskirts of whitewater, california. In addition, pcta advocated for land and water conservation fund support for the u.s. Forest service and the bureau of land management.in 2025, 532 miles of the pct were closed because of fires. With 194 trail miles burned, pcta assisted the forest service to develop extensive restoration plans.pcta also monitored or responded to ongoing threats or land management projects and planning efforts along the trail, including the following: - trailwide-timber harvesting, fuels reduction, reforestation, hazard tree removal, invasive plant eradication, watershed, meadow, and fire restoration, illegal and incompatible uses, commercial and competitive events, housing developments, bridge installations, trail network developments and expansions, illegal…
$407,523 spent$224,814 earned by the program11% of program spendingTrail maintenance:each year the pcta brings together agency partners and volunteers with shared values and serves as a liason between people and public lands. Volunteers and corps crew members perform the hard, physical labor of performing annual and deferred maintenance and reconstruction on the pct, giving hikers and horseback riders the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of wild and scenic lands while traveling on safe and passable trail. Pcta volunteers contributed 56,844 service hours in 2025, an in-kind value of $2 million. These hours included:- 1,140 miles of trail maintenance- 21 miles of trail reconstruction- 50 volunteer training eventstrail skills college - recruiting and educating volunteerspcta's comprehensive training programs are designed to actively support and involve our volunteers in carrying out safe and top-notch work on the trail. Led by seasoned staff, agency partners, and volunteer leaders well-versed in trail maintenance and leadership, the pcta's training events provide an engaging platform for volunteers to learn the essential elements of trail design, reconstruction, maintenance, and upkeep. Additional training events focus on evaluating and certifying…
$2,400,506 spentof which $422,706 as grants$1,883,635 earned by the program64% of program spendingTrail promotion and education:through our print and electronic publications and personal outreach,- we promote the pacific crest trail as a recreation space for everyone- promote safe and responsible use of the trail by educating trail users in leave no trace principles, as well as informing trail users about trail closures and the impacts from wildfire- mobilize volunteers to maintain the trail- keep our members and elected leaders informed of programs and issues facing the trail - introduce new audiences to the richness of the pacific crest trail experiencein 2025, promotional activities included: - publishing three issues (31,200 copies) of the pacific crest trail communicator magazine, and distributing it to members, partners and elected officials; - publishing an annual calendar; - publishing twelve regular issues of trail dirt, the pcta's electronic newsletter;- publishing dozens of blog and hundreds of social media posts & storiesthe pcta also ...- responded to 5,297 inquiries from trail users and the general public;- issued 4,998 long-distance permits and 2,656 section hike permits;- garnered almost five million website visits;- engaged 326,000 social media followers.
$929,902 spent$271,572 earned by the program25% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,737,931.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2017 to 2018, from $5.1M to $3.8M (−26%).
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 9% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
Megan Wargo
CEO
Board chair
John Remmers
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 38 funders, grant income rose $324k → $760k.
15 of 93 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 66% 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 PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 93 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
PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
80% 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 PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 32% · 2019 62% · 2020 31% · 2021 26% · 2022 25% · 2023 33% — growing more concentrated.
“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
38% of PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
66% of PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $1.9M that is directly attributable, 59% of it comes from funders outside California, across 27 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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.
Government funding PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $19.5M on record — $19.4M federal, $80k state.
- Department of Agriculture$18.4M
- Department of the Interior$1.0M
- DISTRIBUTION TO NON-GOVERNMENTS$75k
- AGENCY PROGRAM RELATED SERVICES$5k
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 PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 40 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION: 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 PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION?
- PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION (California) receives grants from 93 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,462,016 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($855,300). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 93 organizations giving $5,462,016 in grants to PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION, 59 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION?
- GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $855,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 93 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