Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE
PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $241,839 to it, the largest being THOMAS O BROWN FOUNDATION ($165,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $242k
- Net assets
- $981k
What Public Lands Alliance does
Mission
The Public Lands Alliance (pla) connects, strengthens, and represents the nonprofit partners of america's public lands. Founded in 1977, pla is the national organization serving the community of nonprofits that support public lands, including cooperating associations, friends groups, trail and watershed conservancies, historical associations, and community stewardship and advocacy organizations. Pla represents a network of nearly 150 member organizations supporting more than 750 public land sites across the united states. Pla builds the capacity and effectiveness of these nonprofit partners to leverage private philanthropy, engage volunteers and local communities, expand educational opportunities, and inspire stewardship of our nation's treasured landscapes and historic places. Strong nonprofit partners are essential to ensuring that one day america's public lands are understood and appreciated, preserved and conserved, and enjoyed by all.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Strengthen pla offers a variety of training, consultation, and networking experiences that enhance the capabilities of nonprofit public land organizations and land management agencies to solve problems, create impact, and achieve shared missions that benefit public lands and their users. Pla delivers its programs online and at face-to-face meetings across the country. Its annual convention and trade show offers critical education, shared learning, and best practices to more than 600 professionals and volunteers from the public lands community and industry partners. Other professional development programs include the partnership awards program, webinars, and an online education resource library. Pla has a special relationship with the u.s. Fish and wildlife service to increase public awareness of and private support for the national wildlife refuge system through collaborative partnerships and capacity building with refuge friends organizations.
$948,971 spentof which $85,737 as grants$926,398 earned by the program71% of program spendingConnect pla provides current, relevant, and customized communication with nonprofit member organizations, agency partners,industry business partners, and other like-mission organizations. Its online connected communities platform enables greater networking between nonprofit member organizations, helping them address current challenges and exchange ideas with their peers. Pla publishes an electronic monthly newsletter with a subscription to more than 3,500 community leaders and professionals that provides information and resources that match the special interests of the public lands partner community.
$202,521 spent15% of program spendingRepresent pla serves as a nonpartisan advocate for better public-private partnerships on america's public lands, increased funding for places and programs that support the missions of our membership, and increased learning and service opportunities for public lands visitors. Pla provides timely, comprehensive input to agency leaders and elected officials on these and related issues from the perspective of nonprofit public lands partners. Pla also engages and educates its nonprofit members on issues critical to their success, inviting them to become better and stronger advocates for public lands and partnerships in their local communities.
$181,464 spent14% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,332,956.
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 $681k to $1.0M (+54%).
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: 2020 8% · 2021 20% · 2023 23% · 2024 22% · 2025 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
42% of PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (13% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 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
Theresa Mcmullan - Interim
CEO & direct
Board chair
Caroline Ward
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $29k → $10k.
2 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 PUBLIC LANDS 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
PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 68% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
30% 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 PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 52% · 2019 100% · 2020 54% · 2021 46% · 2022 78% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE draws 94% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,623 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,623 recreation & sports nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.5M on record.
- Department of the Interior$1.5M
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 PUBLIC LANDS 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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PUBLIC LANDS 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.
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 PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE?
- PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $241,839 to it, the largest being THOMAS O BROWN FOUNDATION ($165,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $241,839 in grants to PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE?
- THOMAS O BROWN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $165,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PUBLIC LANDS ALLIANCE 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 7 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