California · Nonprofit
VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION
VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $727,485 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($213,800). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $727k
- Net assets
- $8.4M
What Volcan Mountain Foundation does
Mission
The Volcan Mountain Foundation's mission is to preserve Volcan Mountain Range in its natural state for all generations.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Acquisitions & Land Preservation: For over 35 years, VMF has been preserving land within the 15-mile long Volcan Mountain Range by facilitating strategic acquisitions, and since 2009 by directly acquiring and managing 1,096 acres of key conserved lands. Since 1989, more than 19,000 acres of land have been acquired by conservation agencies and organizations, bringing conserved land within the 52,000 acre range to roughly 42,000 acres. VMF actively monitors land ownership within the range for opportunities and raises funds for, and maintains, a substantial land acquisition fund so that it can move quickly to purchase high-value conservation property as it becomes available from willing sellers. Building and maintaining partnerships with public agencies and conservation organizations that can own, manage and fund conservation lands is an ongoing, instrumental part of VMF's preservation activities as we continue to work to see that all lands within the range are preserved.
$23,159 spent$13,377 earned by the program3% of program spendingStewardship: Habitat Conservation, Monitoring & Natural Resource Management Although the Volcan Mountain Foundation only first became a land owner and manager in 2009, VMF has been partnering with San Diego County Parks & Recreation rangers and staff for over two decades on botanical and rare plant field surveys, habitat restoration projects, and building and maintaining trails. That experience is now brought to bear on the nearly 1,100 acres that VMF owns and manages on Volcan Mountain. VMF staff and volunteers have worked to restore forest health through coordinated conifer replanting efforts after devastating wildfires. We work to ensure ongoing oak forest and headwaters health in the face of invasive pests, like the gold-spotted oak borer, with a multigenerational oak replanting project, and through removal of invasive species, like bull thistle and the Chinese tree of heaven. VMF's volunteer Wildlife Imaging Team monitors and tracks wildlife presence on VMF and adjacent properties in partnership with Volcan Mountain neighbors, regional wildlife biologists, San Diego Natural History Museum and others. In 2023, VMF embarked on a three-year Volcan Mountain Nature Center Montane…
$518,100 spent$619,262 earned by the program77% of program spendingEnvironmental Education & Community Outreach: VMF's Volcan Mountain Nature Center is an inspiring site to experience and learn about the importance of the forests and headwaters of San Diego County. Water from the Volcan Mountain Range feed four of the largest watersheds in San Diego County. For thousands of years, Native Americans have known the importance of Volcan Mountain; calling it Hahachepang--'where the waters come from'. Now school kids, families and adult life-long learners come to the Nature Center to discover and learn about what watersheds are and the importance of keeping them, and their headwaters healthy. Visitors make uplifting nature connections and experience history and culture in ancient conifer and oak forests. By offering motivating experiences and developing critical ecoliteracy VMF is cultivating the future generations of nature-loving conservation stewards that will protect Volcan Mountain and the world's environment.
$129,651 spent$209,642 earned by the program19% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $670,910.
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.
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 $4.7M to $8.6M (+84%).
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 0% · 2021 14% · 2022 1% · 2023 0% · 2024 39% · 2025 54%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $20k → $172k.
3 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 56% 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 VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION’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
VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
66% 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 VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 51% · 2019 59% · 2020 54% · 2021 96% · 2022 41% · 2023 64% — 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
75% of VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
56% of VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION'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 $320k that is directly attributable, 72% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $408k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Organizations like VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION: 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 VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION?
- VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $727,485 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($213,800). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $727,485 in grants to VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $213,800 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like VOLCAN MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Volcan Mountain →
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 12 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