New Mexico · Nonprofit
SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST
SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST (New Mexico) receives grants from 48 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,801,878 to it, the largest being EUGENE V AND CLARE E THAW CHARITABLE TRUST ($2,853,192). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 48
- Grants received
- $6.8M
- Net assets
- $8.3M
What Santa Fe Conservation Trust does
Mission
The Santa Fe Conservation Trust partners with our community to keep northern new mexico's living lands and people flourishing together. We protect culturally and environmentally significant landscapes, ignite people's passion for nature and enable the continual regeneration of our healthy place.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Land program - since its inception in 1993, sfct has protected over 46,640 acres in northern new mexico, in rio arriba, san miguel, santa fe, and taos counties, working with landowners to create voluntary land protection agreements using conservation easements, as well as purchasing fee title land with high conservation value. Conservation easements are legal documents that permanently protect private land, ensuring it remains pristine and beautiful for future generations which benefits the public at large. Sfct works with landowners and their families to preserve the natural environment for posterity and future generations.
$523,915 spent$29,400 earned by the program55% of program spendingTrails program - sfct has been involved in the creation of over 80 miles of trails, including: the dale ball trails, atalaya trail, santa fe rail trail, the spur trail, la tierra trails, la piedra trail and, along with commonweal conservancy, the galisteo basin preserve trails. Sfct trails program works in partnership with the city of santa fe and it's volunteer group, along with other entities, to coordinate trail development and construction, organize volunteer trail work, identify and prioritize trail linkages, promote the trails, and provide the public with trail information and access through educational programs and events. Sfct is also leading a partnership support for the grand unified santa fe trail organization (gusto). Sfct is in charge of convening partners, researching and mapping existing trails, identifying gaps and opportunities for new trails, and prioritizing and implementing the trail connections that are identified in the planning process. The vision of the gusto initiative is an interconnected system of natural-surface trails that allows non-motorized users to travel in a loop around the greater santa fe area, as well as between the city center and the…
$171,463 spent$951 earned by the program18% of program spendingCommunity conservation - because conservation easements are permanent and run with the land, sfct must monitor and enforce its conservation easements forever. This duty of perpetual care presents unique challenges to land trusts everywhere. Sfct must have broad community support to ensure its longevity and viability. Sfct is working to strengthen the organization through the implementation of "community conservation programs" that help sfct broaden and diversify its constituency. Sfct programs are designed to give everyone outdoor experiences that will help them become passionate defenders of nature and of conservation. Sfct's legacy of trails work is the natural way to implement community conservation programs. As such, sfct offers programs to ensure equitable access to nature and santa fe's trail resources. Since 2014, sfct has introduced over 5,000 south side kids and their families to santa fe's trail system (passport to trails). In 2018, sfct started an in-town walking program (vamonos: santa fe walks) for those whose access to nature is more challenging: the elderly, infirm, transportation limited, immigrant community, or to those afraid to walk alone. Through 2024, sfct had…
$257,194 spent$20,470 earned by the program27% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $952,572.
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 2020 to 2021, from $4.5M to $7.3M (+62%).
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 6% · 2019 8% · 2020 5% · 2021 3% · 2022 17% · 2023 17% · 2024 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
83% of SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Sarah A Noss
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $148k → $402k.
11 of 48 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 48 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
SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
37% 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 SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 54% · 2019 39% · 2020 83% · 2021 49% · 2022 18% · 2023 19% — 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
52% of SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
77% of SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST's grant income comes from New Mexico funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST
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 New Mexico
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
72%
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 SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST: 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 SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST?
- SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST (New Mexico) receives grants from 48 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,801,878 to it, the largest being EUGENE V AND CLARE E THAW CHARITABLE TRUST ($2,853,192). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST have?
- IRS filings report 48 organizations giving $6,801,878 in grants to SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST, 31 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST?
- EUGENE V AND CLARE E THAW CHARITABLE TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $2,853,192 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SANTA FE CONSERVATION TRUST find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Mexico. 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 Santa Fe Conservation →
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 48 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