Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY
RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 306 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,464,997 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,460,171). 176 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $13M
- Funders on record
- 306
- Grants received
- $18M
- Net assets
- $17M
What Rails to Trails Conservancy does
Mission
The rails-to-trails conservancy is the nations largest trails org. With a grassroots community more than 1 mil. Strong dedicated to building a nation connected by trails, reimagining public spaces to create safe ways for everyone to walk, bike & be active outdoors.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Trail development: since its inception, rtc has worked to reimagine public corridors and rights of way for people to walk, bike and be active outside creating vibrant public spaces that engage, inspire and empower communities from coast to coast. This work embodies best practices and leading-edge initiatives to guide trail development in ways that promote community engagement, bring innovation to trail development and planning, and prioritize trail networks and the connections that trails can deliver between people and places.through our trailnation portfolio of projects, rtcs creating national models that showcase the outsized benefits that connected trails and active transportation routes can deliver - locally, regionally and nationally. The portfolio is focused on nine places across the country that are diverse in their geography, culture, size, and scope - southeast wisconsin, the san francisco bay area, the industrial heartland (western pennsylvania, west virginia, ohio and new york state), greater philadelphia, maryland, washington, d.c., miami, northern new jersey and new england. The lessons from trail nation are shared among rtc's trail nation collaborative, a nationwide…
$4,888,577 spentof which $614,890 as grants$237,028 earned by the program46% of program spendingPublic information/events: rtc serves as the voice of the trail's movement, speaking out about the transformative power of trails, encouraging their use, and generating demand for trails nationwide. Rtc's flagship initiative, traillink.com served millions of visitors in 2025 providing access to more than 5,300 trails representing 41,000 miles through its website and five-star rated apps. This trail content is also offered in a series of print guidebooks. Through storytelling and direct engagement, rtc shares information about trails across a variety of public channels that collectively reach millions of people, including its magazine, monthly news, social media, website, news media and publications. Rtc also spearheads trail use campaigns and events designed to engage and inspire the public to use trails, including our celebrate trails day event, trail moments campaign and share the trail campaign.
$3,006,630 spentof which $45,000 as grants$712,982 earned by the program28% of program spendingTrail policy: as the nation's foremost advocacy organization for trails and active transportation, rtc seeks to grow and safeguard public funding for trails, walking and bicycling at every level - federal, state and local - ensuring the investments needed to create a transformative 21st century active transportation system in america and promoting policies that make trail building possible. At the federal level, rtc leads efforts to grow and protect the legacy transportation alternatives program (which includes the recreational trails program) - the largest source of funding for trail development and maintenance - and advocates for innovations in public funding including championing the active transportation infrastructure investment program, which establishes competitive grants that will strategically invest in projects that connect trails and active transportation infrastructure. As the country's only national organization solely committed to defending the preservation of former railroad corridors for continued public use, rtc has helped shape the legal framework around rail trails and continues to defend the federal railbanking statute in congress and the courts as an essential…
$1,928,995 spentof which $77,500 as grants18% of program spendingMember programs: in addition to the programs provided through public information and education, rtc also digitizes member and constituent information in alignment with the organization's comprehensive gis database of more than 45,000 miles of trails, creating a centralized resource that assists the organization in identifying opportunities for linking trail systems, and mobilizing grassroots support of trail projects. Other activities include delivery of member benefit and service programs.
$626,521 spent6% of program spendingResearch: rtc's research program focuses on creating innovative tools that empower communities to advance trail systems in their cities, towns and regions, while also monitoring the benefits trails bring to communities, the impact trails have on people and places, and the implementation of state and federal programs that provide the funding and resources to build and maintain trails.
$131,633 spent1% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,582,356.
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 2022 to 2023, from $16M to $20M (+25%).
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 6% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Edward Chang
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 61 funders to 116 funders, grant income rose $1.7M → $2.4M.
43 of 306 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 306 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
RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
46% 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 RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 20% · 2019 16% · 2020 21% · 2021 23% · 2022 22% · 2023 18% — 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
41% of RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 37 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 19 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
RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY's funding base is broadening — from 61 funders to 116 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $160k on record — $116k federal, $44k state.
- Department of Transportation$116k
- FEDERAL$44k
- DIRECT STATE SERVICES - NON-SALARY$180
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 RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY: 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 RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY?
- RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 306 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,464,997 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,460,171). 176 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY have?
- IRS filings report 306 organizations giving $18,464,997 in grants to RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY, 176 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,460,171 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 306 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