GrantmakersCalifornia

American Trails

Redding, CA · EIN 52-1591902. Reported 62 grants totalling $1,519,895 to 53 organizations across tax years 2022-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

53organizations funded
$12,482median reported grant
$1,519,895granted, 2022-2024
31%of grantees funded again the next year
7%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For American Trails, the IRS classifies it under recreation & sports rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE N32Z) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 53 distinct organizations, with 7% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 31% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 2 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $12,482. Half of what it reported fell between $9,804 and $31,477; the smallest was $5,440 and the largest $101,993. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
16 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
26 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
11 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
8 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
1 grant

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Wood River Bicycle CoalitionHailey, ID$101,993112024
Back Country Horsemen of WashingtonEllensburg, WA$100,000222024
Cottonwood Canyons FoundationHolladay, UT$95,290112024
Wild Alabama a Nonprofit CorporationDouble Spgs, AL$77,334332024
Tread Lightly IncN Salt Lake, UT$74,643112024
SeedsTraverse City, MI$74,618112024
Back Country Horsemen of the Virginia HighlandsFries, VA$74,032222024
Partnership for Youth IncSaint Louis, MO$69,700112024
Western States Endurance Run FoundationAuburn, CA$68,300112024
American Hiking SocietySilver Spring, MD$63,026222024
Montana Conservation Corps IncBozeman, MT$55,870112023
Western States Trail FoundationAuburn, CA$54,627112024
Superior Watershed PartnershipMarquette, MI$54,446222024
Watershed Research and Training CenterHayfork, CA$49,632112024
Colorado Fourteeners InitiativeLakewood, CO$41,960112024
Selway-Bitterroot FoundationBoise, ID$36,870222024
The Mountains to Sound Greenway TrSeattle, WA$27,217112024
Idaho Trails AssociationBoise, ID$20,652222024
Pulaski Users Group IncStanley, ID$20,105112024
Washington Trails AssociationSeattle, WA$20,000112023
New Mexico Wilderness AllianceAlbuquerque, NM$18,203222024
Tahoe Rim Trail AssociationStateline, NV$17,726112024
Heart of Oregon Corps IncBend, OR$17,288112023
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference IncMahwah, NJ$15,000112023
North Country Trail Association IncorporatedLowell, MI$13,142112024
International Mountain Bicycling AssociationDriggs, ID$12,701112024
Prince William Sound Stewardship FoundationGirdwood, AK$12,626112024
Scarborough Land Conservation TrustScarborough, ME$12,500112023
Friends of PathwaysJackson, WY$12,464112023
Carolina Mountain Club IncorporatedAsheville, NC$12,250112024
Year One IncDenver, CO$11,000112023
Friends of the Dillon Ranger District a Co Nonprofit CorpSilverthorne, CO$10,104112024
Eco-ServantsRuidoso, NM$10,000112024
Redwood Parks ConservancyCrescent City, CA$10,000112024
Sawtooth Society IncHailey, ID$10,000112023
The Trail ConservancyAustin, TX$10,000112024
Three Rivers Land TrAlfred, ME$10,000112023
World Trails Network - Hub for the AmericasCampton, NH$10,000112024
Wozu IncCannon Ball, ND$10,000112022
The Access FundBoulder, CO$9,804112024
North Superior Ski and Running ClubGrand Marais, MN$8,687112023
Friends of the InyoBishop, CA$8,452112023
West Virginia University Research CorporationMorgantown, WV$8,424112022
Wilderness VolunteersFlagstaff, AZ$8,124112024
Foothills Rails to Trails CoalitionPuyallup, WA$8,002112024
Ice Age Trail AllianceCross Plains, WI$8,000112023
Methow Valley Trails CollaborativeWinthrop, WA$7,990112024
Bay Area Ridge Trail CouncilBerkeley, CA$7,000112022
Alaska TrailsAnchorage, AK$6,500112024
Routt County RidersSteamboat Springs, CO$6,383112024
Alborn Dirt DevilsAlborn, MN$6,300112024
The Pendleton Area Saddle ClubAnderson, SC$5,470112023
Bchc Education Fund IncBakersfield, CA$5,440112023

8 of 53 (15%) received money in more than one year over the 3 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 45 of 53 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Environment
22 orgs
Recreation & Sports
13 orgs
Education
3 orgs
Youth Development
2 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 org
Civil Rights
1 org
Employment
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
20224$35,424$9,212
202322$422,132$12,297
202436$1,062,339$15,434

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

13% of its giving went to organizations in California. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

California
$203K
Idaho
$202K
Utah
$170K
Washington
$163K
Michigan
$142K
Colorado
$79K
Alabama
$77K
Virginia
$74K

Down to the city

Auburn, CA
$123K
Hailey, ID
$112K
Ellensburg, WA
$100K
Holladay, UT
$95K
Double Spgs, AL
$77K
N Salt Lake, UT
$75K

Find more funders like American Trails

We read newly filed IRS returns and email you the grantmakers whose giving matches your state and cause, as they are published. Free.

No spam, unsubscribe in one click. We never sell or share your address.

Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund28 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc27 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program20 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc20 shared recipientsNational Forest Foundation18 shared recipientsNational Wilderness Stewardship Alliance13 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $12,482 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in California.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding environment in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding youth development in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from American Trails's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 36 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 491797, Redding, CA, 96049.

EIN 52-1591902 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.