Colorado · Nonprofit
WALKING MOUNTAINS
WALKING MOUNTAINS (Colorado) receives grants from 92 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,966,415 to it, the largest being FRECHETTE FAMILY FOUNDATION ($2,345,000). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.8M
- Funders on record
- 92
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $25M
What Walking Mountains does
Mission
To awaken a sense of wonder and inspire environmental stewardship and sustainability through natural science education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Sustainability & stewardship programs:a resource and education hub to inspire action from local to global. Specific program areas include: energy smart colorado (energy efficiency and renewables), zero waste (events outreach), actively green (sustainable business training and certification), eco-schools (sustainability in k-12 schools) and the annual sustainable community film series. Internships support full-time staff working in these areas. These programs diverted 66,000 pounds of waste from the landfill.
$952,518 spent$1,193,234 earned by the program22% of program spendingYouth programs:field science programs: the heart and soul of Walking Mountains youth programming. Increasing science literacy, promoting systems thinking and creating a sense of place while fostering environmental stewardship. Served 6,263 k-12 students and pre-school aged children in eagle county through experiential and standards-based field science programs, all for free.
$330,687 spent$283,893 earned by the program8% of program spendingCommunity programs:engaging community members and visitors of all ages through year-round experiential opportunities, integrated facilities, and the local environment. Walking Mountains interacted with 36,729 people this past year at our science center, the nature discovery center, the vail nature center, and other locations where visitors learn about local plants, animals and the ecology of the area. A variety of lectures, workshops, seminars and field programs are offered throughout the year for adults.
$698,231 spent$260,262 earned by the program16% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,368,318. The per-program figures do not add up to the total the return states; both are shown as filed.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2023 to 2024, from $25M to $28M (+13%).
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 20% · 2022 11% · 2023 10% · 2024 10% · 2025 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
67% of WALKING MOUNTAINS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Markian Feduschak
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Colleen Reitan
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 25 funders to 42 funders, grant income rose $843k → $2.4M.
27 of 92 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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 WALKING MOUNTAINS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 92 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
WALKING MOUNTAINS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
50% 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 WALKING MOUNTAINS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 59% · 2018 23% · 2019 19% · 2020 19% · 2021 33% · 2022 20% · 2023 46% — 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 WALKING MOUNTAINS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
WALKING MOUNTAINS draws 82% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 25 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
WALKING MOUNTAINS has grown faster than half of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding WALKING MOUNTAINS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $825k on record.
- Environmental Protection Agency$660k
- Department of Agriculture$165k
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 WALKING MOUNTAINS
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
71%
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 WALKING MOUNTAINS: 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 WALKING MOUNTAINS?
- WALKING MOUNTAINS (Colorado) receives grants from 92 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,966,415 to it, the largest being FRECHETTE FAMILY FOUNDATION ($2,345,000). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WALKING MOUNTAINS have?
- IRS filings report 92 organizations giving $11,966,415 in grants to WALKING MOUNTAINS, 59 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WALKING MOUNTAINS?
- FRECHETTE FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,345,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WALKING MOUNTAINS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 Walking Mountains →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 92 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