California · Nonprofit
YOSEMITE FOUNDATION
YOSEMITE FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 349 organizations whose IRS filings report $32,886,909 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION ($7,213,896). 213 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $25M
- Funders on record
- 349
- Grants received
- $33M
- Net assets
- $49M
What Yosemite Foundation does
Mission
Yosemite conservancy inspires people to support projects and programs that preserve yosemite and enrich the visitor experience.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Park enhancements-every year, the conservancy provides grants to yosemite national park based on the highest priority needs of the park. These grants provide essential funding for trail repair, habitat restoration, historic preservation, wildlife management, scientific research, visitor services, and more.
$10,130,941 spentof which $9,067,605 as grants61% of program spendingPark programs: the conservancy supports the preservation and education related roles of the national park service mission through a varied portfolio of public educational programs. The conservancy's outdoor adventures enhance the yosemite experience for park visitors through dozens of interpretive and educational day hikes, backpacking trips and other programs in geology, botany, natural and social history, photography, and the arts. The conservancy also conducts educational field programs on a custom basis and by contract with travel providers. In addition, the conservancy supports art programs and the parson's memorial lodge summer series. The conservancy also helps inspire and train the next generation of stewards by supporting internships, (cont. On sch. O) junior ranger activities, and other youth programs in the park, and helps sustain yosemite-focused leadership programming and educational outreach with university of california, merced.the conservancy's wilderness operations program assists the national park service in ensuring that yosemite backcountry visitors are educated about and prepared for wilderness travel. Conservancy wilderness staff manage the wilderness…
$4,487,735 spent$1,511,280 earned by the program27% of program spendingRetail & publishing: this program comprises sales conducted at visitor center bookstores, information centers and wilderness centers, through an online store, and to wholesale customers. In addition to selling maps, guides, native american handcrafts, apparel and other items related to yosemite and the sierra nevada, the conservancy publishes and sells books that educate people and inspire them to connect with and care for national parks and public lands.
$2,096,244 spent$2,133,581 earned by the program13% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $16,714,920.
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 2017 to 2018, from $19M to $28M (+45%).
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 4% · 2024 3% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
81% of YOSEMITE FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (11% for the typical peer).
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.
Board chair
Steve Ciesinski
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 97 funders to 129 funders, grant income rose $1.9M → $5.3M.
33 of 349 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 YOSEMITE FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 349 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
YOSEMITE FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
65% 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 YOSEMITE FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 25% · 2019 18% · 2020 24% · 2021 17% · 2022 20% · 2023 38% — broadly stable.
“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
48% of YOSEMITE FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
YOSEMITE FOUNDATION draws 56% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 35 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $14M arriving through sponsors registered in 19 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
YOSEMITE FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 184 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 184 recreation & sports nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding YOSEMITE FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $563k on record.
- Department of the Interior$563k
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 YOSEMITE 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
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Yf Real Estate Holdings LLC · disregarded
- Charitable Gift Annuity (7) · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for YOSEMITE 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 YOSEMITE FOUNDATION?
- YOSEMITE FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 349 organizations whose IRS filings report $32,886,909 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION ($7,213,896). 213 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does YOSEMITE FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 349 organizations giving $32,886,909 in grants to YOSEMITE FOUNDATION, 213 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of YOSEMITE FOUNDATION?
- NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $7,213,896 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like YOSEMITE 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.
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 349 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