South Carolina · Nonprofit
PALMETTO TRAIL
PALMETTO TRAIL (South Carolina) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,164,650 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA INC ($1,766,061). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.0M
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $3.2M
- Net assets
- $6.4M
What Palmetto Trail does
Mission
To foster an appreciation for south carolina's natural and cultural resources, providing opportunities for active recreation on the Palmetto Trail and other trail ystems that can be enjoyed by all in south carolina, regardless of gender, race, creed, age or ability.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Palmetto Trail is dedicated to building, protecting and maintaining a statewide multi-use nature based trail that provides a continuous trail spanning from the mountains to the sea across south carolina. Our mission is to promote the health and wellness of south carolinians through outdoor recreational opportunities, foster economic vitality in our communities through eco-tourism, and inspire a deep appreciation and stewardship of south carolina's natural and cultural resources through conservation environmental education. Palmetto Trail, south carolina's largest trail system can be enjoyed by all in south carolina, regardless of gender, race, creed, age, or ability.
$2,629,983 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,629,983.
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.
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 $8.6M to $5.9M (−32%).
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: 2017 48% · 2018 69% · 2019 63% · 2020 66% · 2021 54% · 2022 95% · 2023 93% · 2024 91% · 2025 94%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of PALMETTO TRAIL’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $169k → $989k.
5 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 PALMETTO TRAIL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 18 of 19 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
PALMETTO TRAIL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
67% 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 PALMETTO TRAIL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 89% · 2018 82% · 2019 47% · 2020 86% · 2021 73% · 2022 73% · 2023 51% — 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
38% of PALMETTO TRAIL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
98% of PALMETTO TRAIL's grant income comes from South Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $183k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
PALMETTO TRAIL has grown faster than half of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding PALMETTO TRAIL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $113k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$113k
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 PALMETTO 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 South Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PALMETTO 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 PALMETTO TRAIL?
- PALMETTO TRAIL (South Carolina) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,164,650 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA INC ($1,766,061). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PALMETTO TRAIL have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $3,164,650 in grants to PALMETTO TRAIL, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PALMETTO TRAIL?
- UNITED WAY ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,766,061 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PALMETTO TRAIL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in South 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 Palmetto Trail →
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 19 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