Appalachian Trail Conservancy
“To preserve and manage the Appalachian Trail for future generations.”
The origin
How they started
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy looks after the roughly 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail and the protected corridor of public land around it, coordinating the volunteer clubs that do the actual trail work from Georgia to Maine. It was founded in 1925 as the Appalachian Trail Conference, the body that organized building the trail in the first place. Today it works under a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service and coordinates 31 local maintaining clubs. Its headquarters moved to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, in 1972.
Every year they sign one sentence and file it with the federal government: “PRINCIPAL STEWARDS PROTECTING, MANAGING, AND ADVOCATING FOR THE 2,200 MILE ANST (APPALACHIAN NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL)”
Where the money went, FY2025
The work, and what it cost
Keeping the wild alive
$11.7MFOUNDED IN 1925, THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL CONSERVANCY WORKS PASSIONATELY TO MANAGE AND PROTECT THE APPALACHIAN NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL.
Including $779,568 granted onward, most of it $59,262 to Potomac Appal Trail Club.
Read it as they filed it
FOUNDED IN 1925, THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL CONSERVANCY WORKS PASSIONATELY TO MANAGE AND PROTECT THE APPALACHIAN NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL. AS THE ONLY NON-PROFIT DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO THE ENTIRETY OF THE TRAIL AND ITS LANDSCAPE, THE ATC ENDEAVORS TO KEEP ITS VAST NATURAL AND SCENIC BEAUTY HEALTHY, RESILIENT, AND CONNECTED, SO THAT EVERYONE CAN EXPERIENCE ITS TRANSFORMATIVE POWER FOR GENERATIONS TO COME. EACH YEAR, THE A.T. LANDSCAPE DRAWS MILLIONS OF VISITORS (16.9 MILLION RECREATION VISITS IN 2025), SERVES AS A CRITICAL WILDLIFE CORRIDOR AND REFUGE FOR THOUSANDS OF DIVERSE SPECIES, AND PLAYS A VITAL ROLE IN DRIVING CLIMATE RESILIENCE AND ECONOMIC VITALITY IN NEIGHBORING COMMUNITIES.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2025, signed under penalty of perjury.
Follow the dollar
72 cents of every dollar goes to the work
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.
$11,664,255 programs, $2,308,369 management, $2,127,243 fundraising. Form 990, FY2025.
The people
Who does the work
Took the helm from Sandra Marra, who drew $230,137 in the final year on file.
Honesty note: leadership comes from each year’s federal filing, so it can run a year behind. This one caught a changing of the guard in the act: the FY2025 officer table lists Sandra Marra, the return itself is signed by Cinda Waldbuesser. Orgs that claim their page can update it same-day. Work at ATC? Claim this page.
Those 4,592 volunteers are people who decided this ground was theirs to defend. If ATC is fighting for your place too, the matchmaker will find your way in.
Make it 4,593The filings
14 years of filings
14 years of filings
Total revenue by fiscal year, as filed. Point at the line for any year.
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2011 | $7,686,834 |
| 2012 | $6,185,949 |
| 2013 | $7,323,448 |
| 2014 | $7,840,291 |
| 2015 | $7,654,300 |
| 2016 | $8,207,358 |
| 2017 | $10,396,138 |
| 2018 | $10,128,267 |
| 2019 | $9,512,573 |
| 2020 | $16,945,098 |
| 2021 | $14,528,575 |
| 2022 | $11,963,959 |
| 2023 | $14,574,772 |
| 2025 | $23,507,721 |
From $7.7M in 2011 to $23.5M in FY25, across 14 public filings. The 2025 peak of $23.5M reads like one-time gifts, so trust the line, not the peak.
The record
On the Hill
Appalachian Trail Conservancy files its own federal lobbying reports: 56 filings from 2019 to 2026, naming 32 bills. The filings, at the Senate.
Most filed on natural resources, budget/appropriations and clean air and water (quality).
Across the 14 states where they work, the congressional delegations average 62 of 100 on public lands. See the full scorecard
Ways in
How to help
72 cents of your dollar goes straight to the work above.
Give on their site ↗Show upVolunteer with themFind their volunteer door on their own site.
Find it on their site ↗SpeakComment and callOpen comment windows and call scripts for fights like these, ready to send.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapStand with Appalachian Trail Conservancy
101 years on the ground, 4,592 volunteers, 72 cents of every dollar on the line. That is who is holding it. There is room for one more.