Appalachian Voices
“To bring people together to protect the land, air, and water of Central and Southern Appalachia.”
1 live lawsuit, 81 cents of every dollar to the work.
The origin
How they started
Appalachian Voices grew in 1997 out of a scrappy Boone, North Carolina newspaper called The Appalachian Voice and has spent decades fighting mountaintop-removal coal mining across central and southern Appalachia. It documents the industry’s toll on the region’s ridges and headwater streams and pushes for coal ash cleanup and a shift to renewable energy. Today it runs offices across five states, with locations in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Where the money went, FY2024
The work, and what it cost
Address coal’s impacts and accelerate a just transition to…
$3.4M, 47% of spendingProsperous communitiesaddressed the ongoing and legacy impacts of the extraction and use of coal for electricity generation that are passed on to the public in the form of air and water pollution, habitat destruction…
Including $552,847 granted onward, the largest share ($128,813) to Martin County Health Department.
Read it as they filed it
ADDRESS COAL'S IMPACTS AND ACCELERATE A JUST TRANSITION TO HEALTHY, PROSPEROUS COMMUNITIESADDRESSED THE ONGOING AND LEGACY IMPACTS OF THE EXTRACTION AND USE OF COAL FOR ELECTRICITY GENERATION THAT ARE PASSED ON TO THE PUBLIC IN THE FORM OF AIR AND WATER POLLUTION, HABITAT DESTRUCTION AND INCREASED HEALTH COSTS, AND WORKED IN BROAD PARTNERSHIPS TO ADVANCE ECONOMIC INITIATIVES IN THE AREAS MOST IMPACTED BY COAL TO PROMOTE MORE RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIES THAT BUILD UPON AND HONOR THE REGION'S NATURAL AND CULTURAL ASSETS.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Prevent new investments in fossil fuels
$2.4M, 33% of spendingAnd accelerate the transition to clean energyopposed major new investments in fossil fuel infrastructure including gas pipelines and fossil fuel power plants that would lock US into decades of continued fossil fuel use…
Read it as they filed it
PREVENT NEW INVESTMENTS IN FOSSIL FUELS AND ACCELERATE THE TRANSITION TO CLEAN ENERGYOPPOSED MAJOR NEW INVESTMENTS IN FOSSIL FUEL INFRASTRUCTURE INCLUDING GAS PIPELINES AND FOSSIL FUEL POWER PLANTS THAT WOULD LOCK US INTO DECADES OF CONTINUED FOSSIL FUEL USE, AND PROMOTED POLICIES AND STRENGTHENED EFFORTS TO HASTEN A TRANSITION TO CLEAN ENERGY SOURCES AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY THAT SUPPORT RATHER THAN IMPERIL THE NATURAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE REGION.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Build Awareness of Regional Issues
$155K, 2% of spendingContinued to produce the Appalachian voice newspaper, to build awareness of environmental threats and opportunities to transition to sustainable energy and economic alternatives.
Read it as they filed it
BUILD AWARENESS OF REGIONAL ISSUES: CONTINUED TO PRODUCE THE APPALACHIAN VOICE NEWSPAPER, TO BUILD AWARENESS OF ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES TO TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY AND ECONOMIC ALTERNATIVES.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Follow the dollar
81 cents of every dollar goes to the work
A good sign, not a scorecard: what matters is the extremes, and this is nowhere near one.
$5,954,253 programs, $853,195 management, $501,701 fundraising. Form 990, FY2024.
The people
Who does the work
Honesty note: leadership comes from each year’s federal filing, so it can run a year behind. The FY2024 filing lists two people as executive director, Thomas D Cormons and Kathleen K Boyle, usually a handover inside the year. If it’s out of date, tell us. Work at Appalachian Voices? Claim this page.
Those 75 volunteers are people who decided this ground was theirs to defend. If Appalachian Voices is fighting for your place too, the matchmaker will find your way in.
Find your way inThe record
The court record
Fights alongside Sierra Club (2 shared cases), Southern Environmental Law Center (1 shared case) and The Wilderness Society (1 shared case). Same case, same side, on the federal docket.
The filings
14 years of filings
Total revenue by fiscal year, as filed. Point at or tap the line for any year.
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2011 | $1,572,793 |
| 2012 | $1,300,054 |
| 2013 | $1,436,656 |
| 2014 | $2,059,936 |
| 2015 | $2,540,982 |
| 2016 | $2,267,840 |
| 2017 | $2,342,450 |
| 2018 | $2,551,243 |
| 2019 | $2,673,690 |
| 2020 | $2,862,373 |
| 2021 | $3,834,032 |
| 2022 | $5,027,693 |
| 2023 | $6,420,546 |
| 2024 | $6,757,001 |
From $1.6M in 2011 to $6.8M in FY24, with no missed filing in 14 years. FY24 is the highest year on file.
On the Hill
Appalachian Voices files its own federal lobbying reports: 16 filings from 2023 to 2026, naming 96 bills. The filings, at the Senate.
Most filed on agriculture, bankruptcy and the budget.
Year by year
The record, in order
- 1997Appalachian Voices is formed.the return, formation year
- 2017Sierra Club, Inc. v. U.S. Forest Service: plaintiff, won.the docket
- 2021Wild Virginia v. United States Forest Service: plaintiff, closed.the docket
- 2023Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement: plaintiff, on appeal.the docket
- 2026Center for Biological Diversity v. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement: plaintiff, still in court.the docket
Rust, a case still in court. Hollow, a filing. Every row is a record we hold: 4 federal cases with the group on the docket. Nothing here is written from memory.
Their ground
Appalachian Voices is not on our editors’ record for a threatened place yet. See every threatened place on one map, and who stands for each.
Across the 5 states where they work, the congressional delegations average 30 of 100 on public lands. See the full scorecard
Ways in
How to help
Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.
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.
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The mission is theirs. The backing is yours.