Washington · Nonprofit
RECREATION NORTHWEST
RECREATION NORTHWEST (Washington) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,646,257 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($780,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $90k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $554k
What Recreation Northwest does
Mission
We teach the health benefits of nature, promote outdoor recreation, and steward the places where we play.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Education: parkscriptions is an evolving mental health program that empowers high school students to learn the health benefits of time in nature to improve mental health, encourage social engagement within community spaces, and promote environmental stewardship.
$79,954 spent$23,442 earned by the program53% of program spendingTrails stewardship: Recreation Northwest is dedicated to working on our regional trail networks with our jurisdictional partners. Hosted the first whatcom regional trails summit to bring jurisdiction and agency landowners together to begin the collaborative effort towards completion of the coast millennium trail and bay to baker trail.
$44,409 spent$16,051 earned by the program29% of program spendingOutdoor recreation advocacy: education for civic engagement opportunities in recreation process planning and engaged in opportunities to support local outdoor recreation economic and community development efforts in order to increase the impacts of the outdoor recreation sector.
$27,341 spent$35 earned by the program18% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $151,704.
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 $435k to $970k (+123%).
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 10% · 2018 9% · 2019 6% · 2020 11% · 2022 3% · 2023 42%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
2% of RECREATION NORTHWEST’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (39% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 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
Todd Elsworth
Chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $51k → $15k.
4 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 90% 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 RECREATION NORTHWEST’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
RECREATION NORTHWEST leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
94% 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 RECREATION NORTHWEST.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 74% · 2019 47% · 2020 51% · 2021 100% · 2022 71% · 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.
How long its funders stay
11% of RECREATION NORTHWEST's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 36% 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
90% of RECREATION NORTHWEST'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 $166k that is directly attributable, 96% of it comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
RECREATION NORTHWEST is better cushioned than half of the 13,282 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,282 recreation & sports nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like RECREATION NORTHWEST
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
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
63% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for RECREATION NORTHWEST: 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 RECREATION NORTHWEST?
- RECREATION NORTHWEST (Washington) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,646,257 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($780,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does RECREATION NORTHWEST have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $1,646,257 in grants to RECREATION NORTHWEST, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RECREATION NORTHWEST?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $780,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RECREATION NORTHWEST find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Recreation Northwest →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 14 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