Texas · Nonprofit
THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT)
THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT) (Texas) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,312,513 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($5,776,500). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.8M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $8.3M
- Net assets
- $1.2M
What The Great Springs Project Inc (Audit) does
Mission
To help create a network of spring-to-spring trails and a corridor of protected lands over the edward's aquifer recharge zone, between san antonio and austin, texas.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The organization worked to unify existing local efforts to address the most critical water, land, wildlife, and public health challenges facing the central texas region. In 2022, the organization released the great springs trails plan for the proposed 100+ mile spring-to-spring network of trails from the alamo to the capitol. This plan is a living document that serves as a resource for the completion of the trail network by the texas bicentennial in 2036. Sections of the trail will likely be built in phases, with the order of phases depending on key factors such as funding, landowner negotiation, establishing right-of-way, permitting, design, and construction. This plan represents a major step forward on the path to implementation. The organization is doing direct outreach to over 850 landowners over the recharge zone of the edwards aquifer between austin and san antonio to develop conservation projects with and securing trail right of way from willing landowners.
$1,932,442 spentof which $2,115 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,932,442.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $914k to $3.0M (+229%).
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 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT)’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. 1 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
Garry Merritt
CEO
Board chair
Deborah Morin
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 20 funders, grant income rose $175k → $1.7M.
9 of 39 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 75% 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 THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT)’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 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
THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT) leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
77% 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 THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT).
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 69% · 2020 37% · 2021 75% · 2022 61% · 2023 60% — 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
60% of THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT)'s funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% 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
75% of THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT)'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 $2.1M that is directly attributable, 90% of it comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT) has grown faster than three-quarters 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 THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT) receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $300k on record.
- Department of the Interior$300k
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 THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT)
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Gsp Land LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT): 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 THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT)?
- THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT) (Texas) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,312,513 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($5,776,500). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT) have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $8,312,513 in grants to THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT), 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT)?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $5,776,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE GREAT SPRINGS PROJECT INC (AUDIT) find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Great Springs Project Inc (Audit) →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 39 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