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Recreation· Outdoor club

Appalachian Mountain Club

“Promote the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the mountains, forests, waters, and trails of the Appalachian region.”

Home groundBoston, MA
Founded1876
KindRecreation 501(c)(3)
Led byNicole Zussman

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The work

What they do

Oldest outdoor recreation and conservation organization in America. Hut system, trail maintenance, conservation advocacy, and education in the Northeast. Works on White Mountain National Forest.

Every year they sign one sentence and file it with the federal government: “AMC is dedicated to the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the outdoors.”

Where the money went, FY2024

The work, and what it cost

Boots on the ground

$15.4M

Outdoor Program Centers - The Appalachian Mountain Club (the AMC) manages more than 40 outdoor program centers and backcountry facilities, including lodges, mountain huts, full-service camps, cabins, shelters and campgro...

Including $1,500 granted onward.

Read it as they filed it
Outdoor Program Centers - The Appalachian Mountain Club (the AMC) manages more than 40 outdoor program centers and backcountry facilities, including lodges, mountain huts, full-service camps, cabins, shelters and campgrounds. These AMC facilities serve as a base for 4-season recreational activities, nature and environmental education courses, programs, scientific research, outdoor artistic pursuits, and other conservation-related activities. Visitors and overnight guests enjoy a broad range of walk-on programs, guided naturalist activities, outdoor recreational safety and skill building workshops, and backcountry activities to choose from. AMC facilities *Refer to Schedule O, Page 46 for Continuation*Outdoor Program Centers (Continued):are managed to reduce environmental impact by providing environmentally sensitive septic systems, composting, public drinking water, and overnight accommodations (some near treeline and in sensitive alpine areas) in areas where camping would have severe effects on the alpine plant life. The AMC facilities provide information and education on the local environment, recreational opportunities, outdoor safety, trails, and emergency shelter. The AMC staff also participates in search-and-rescue efforts throughout the White Mountains of NH and other regions. In 2024, the AMC provided 102,356 overnight guest accommodations at its facilities and information and other services to more than 2 million visitors.

IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.

Boots on the ground

$11.0M

1. Education Program - The Appalachian Mountain Club (the AMC) works with approximately 30,000 young people each year through guided and self-guided programs designed to make the outdoors and the environment accessible a...

Including $17,060 granted onward.

Read it as they filed it
1. Education Program - The Appalachian Mountain Club (the AMC) works with approximately 30,000 young people each year through guided and self-guided programs designed to make the outdoors and the environment accessible and meaningful to people from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Our programs serve participants from Maine to New Jersey and include day and overnight school programs (grades K-12), walk-on activities offered to families coming through the AMC's huts and lodges, weekend long skill-based trainings, to one to three-week outdoor summer adventures. Across programs, hands-on experiences teach participants how to enjoy the outdoors through skills-building and improved understanding of the natural world as well as how to minimize their impact on the environment. 2. Trails Program - The AMC staff and more than 5,000 volunteers are engaged in on-the-ground recreation management and trail maintenance on 1,823 miles of trails, including more than 300 miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail in five states. Many of these trails are on public lands, including the White Mountain National Forest, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Acadia National Park, and state parks throughout the region. The AMC offers a broad range of trail volunteer opportunities, including an adopt-a-trail program, teen trail crew programs, and volunteer vacations for adults interested in giving back through trail stewardship, amoung others. 3. Publications/Communications - The AMC encourages safe and responsible outdoor recreation and environmental stewardship through a variety of publications, including the Outdoors Bulletin, semi-annual Appalachia journal (the nation's longest running journal on mountaineering and conservation), and numerous retail books, maps, and field guides. Each publication stresses safety and stewardship and encourages volunteerism. Our website (www.outdoors.org) serves as an online resource for members and non-members seeking the latest information on outdoor adventures, lodging and program opportunities, backcountry conditions, volunteer opportunities, and outdoors skill-building.

IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.

Keeping wilderness wild

$3.9M

Conservation Research and Policy - The Appalachian Mountain Club (the AMC) actively fosters the protection, enjoyment and understanding of the outdoors.

Including $9,900 granted onward.

Read it as they filed it
Conservation Research and Policy - The Appalachian Mountain Club (the AMC) actively fosters the protection, enjoyment and understanding of the outdoors. The AMC's Research and Policy Program conducts analyses of natural ecosystems to guide our efforts to protect natural and recreational resources from Maine to Virginia. This includes studying changes in land cover and land use and the impact of these changes on ecological and recreational resources; monitoring air quality and climate change impacts on Northeastern mountain ecosystems; analyzing in-stream flow criteria and hydroelectric dam operation impacts on river ecosystems and recreational resources; developing methods to reduce recreational user impacts on the region's*Refer to Schedule O, Pages 46-47 for Continuation*Conservation Research and Policy (Continued):mountains and trails; and studying the benefits and impacts of different transportation options and energy sources, including renewable energy, on the ecosystems of concern to the AMC. Achievements are exemplified by the development and successful implementation of the recovery plan for an alpine plant formerly listed on the federal endangered species list, publication of a national award winning "Ecological Atlas of the Upper Androscoggin Watershed", adoption by states of elements of AMC's wind power and solar siting guidelines and AMC's successful citizen science mountain monitoring program, Northeast Alpine Flower Watch and Flower and Fauna of the White Mountain National Forest.The AMC's Research and Policy program also works with conservation partners and local communities to build grassroots support for priority conservation projects. The Research and Policy Program participates in and comments on formal resource management programs and decisions at the local, state, and federal level; consults with industry and landowners to find equitable solutions to environmental problems; advocates for state and federal land protection, clean air, climate and energy policies, and trails funding, and facilitates member and public participation in local, state and federal environmental issues and policy. AMC's strategy for land conservation in the 100-Mile Wilderness region in Maine includes addressing regional ecological and economic needs through outdoor recreation, resource protection, sustainable forestry and community partnerships.

IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.

Boots on the ground

$1.1M

Membership - The Appalachian Mountain Club (the AMC) members provide the grassroots network through which the AMC delivers its programming on a local level throughout our 12 state and district regions.

Read it as they filed it
Membership - The Appalachian Mountain Club (the AMC) members provide the grassroots network through which the AMC delivers its programming on a local level throughout our 12 state and district regions. The more than 400,000 members, advocates and supporters of the AMC provide a base of volunteers for trail projects, local clean-up and conservation projects, outdoor education and safety instruction. These members and volunteers organize and lead thousands of recreational outings and provide the local governance structure for the 11 local AMC chapters. Member dues and participation in the above mentioned activities provide a critical base of support for carrying out the AMC mission.

IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.

Follow the dollar

76 cents of every dollar goes to the work

76¢
76¢ the work18¢ keeping the lights on6¢ finding the next member

Read it as a snapshot, not a scorecard. Splits move year to year with grants and campaigns, and healthy shops live all across this range.

Backed on the record by Wilderness Society, latest filing FY23.

$31,451,412 programs, $7,439,625 management, $2,760,042 fundraising. Form 990, FY2024.

The people

Who does the work

859paid staff
5,000volunteers last year
21board members
150years on the ground
Nicole ZussmanPresident & CeoComp $359,257, FY2024
Jennifer NorrisChief Development OfficerComp $216,814, FY2024
Nicholas StevensVp & CfoComp $197,677, FY2024
Yvette Austin SmithBoard ChairVolunteer, 2 hrs a week, $0

Chairs the 21-member board.

Honesty note: leadership comes from each year’s federal filing, so it can run a year behind. Orgs that claim their page can update it same-day. Work at AMC? Claim this page.

Those 5,000 volunteers are people who decided this ground was theirs to defend. If AMC is fighting for your place too, the matchmaker will find your way in.

Make it 5,001

The filings

14 years of filings

14 years of filings

Total revenue by fiscal year, as filed. Point at the line for any year.

$25M$50M$43.6M FY2420112024
Total revenue by fiscal year
YearRevenue
2011$29,541,534
2012$21,712,358
2013$22,237,266
2014$30,302,542
2015$31,820,756
2016$46,242,039
2017$33,070,020
2018$43,806,285
2019$35,424,938
2020$22,774,131
2021$39,035,407
2022$51,955,587
2023$46,023,510
2024$43,640,730

From $29.5M in 2011 to $43.6M in FY24, with no missed filing in 14 years.

The record

On the Hill

Appalachian Mountain Club has hired federal lobbyists: 31 filings from 2019 to 2026. The filings, at the Senate.

Most filed on natural resources, real estate/land use/conservation and clean air and water (quality).

Stand with Appalachian Mountain Club

150 years on the ground, 5,000 volunteers, 76 cents of every dollar on the line. That is who is holding it. There is room for one more.

Sources and methodFinancials, headcounts, and program text: IRS Form 990, FY2024 and 13 prior filings via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, EIN 04-6001677. Leadership and compensation: Form 990 Part VII and the return’s signature block, FY2024 filing. Funders: the funders’ own returns (Schedule I and 990-PF Part XV) via ProPublica, names and years only. Lobbying: Senate LDA filings naming AMC as client or registrant, read from the MTJP LDA corpus. Place links: MTJP editorial curation with per-link sources. Org-reported figures are always labeled. Data verified as of 2026-09-23. Nothing on this page is pay-to-play.