Friends of the Smokies
“Preserve and protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”
2 funders on the record, 73 cents of every dollar to the work.
The work
What they do
Major fundraising and support organization for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Funds trails, wildlife, education, and infrastructure.
Where the money went, FY2025
The work, and what it cost
Educational and Visitor Services
$3.8M, 73% of spendingBack country programs, historical and natural resource preservation
Including $3,418,468 granted onward, all of it to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Read it as they filed it
EDUCATIONAL AND VISITOR SERVICES, BACK COUNTRY PROGRAMS, HISTORICAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE PRESERVATION
IRS Form 990 Part III for fiscal year 2025, signed under penalty of perjury.
Follow the dollar
73 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.
$3,838,592 programs, $687,689 management, $749,917 fundraising. Form 990, FY2025.
The backers
Backed, each with its source, by National Park Foundation and T Rowe Price Program For Charitable Giving, latest filing FY25.
The people
Who does the work
Honesty note: leadership comes from each year’s federal filing, so it can run a year behind. If it’s out of date, tell us. Work at Friends of the Smokies? Claim this page.
Those 170 volunteers are people who decided this ground was theirs to defend. If Friends of the Smokies is fighting for your place too, the matchmaker will find your way in.
Find your way inThe filings
14 years of filings
Total revenue by fiscal year as filed. Point at or tap the line for any year.
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2011 | $2,735,417 |
| 2012 | $2,675,683 |
| 2013 | $2,366,915 |
| 2014 | $2,620,932 |
| 2015 | $2,721,819 |
| 2016 | $5,430,854 |
| 2017 | $4,028,075 |
| 2018 | $3,812,121 |
| 2019 | $4,568,765 |
| 2020 | $4,273,468 |
| 2021 | $4,762,551 |
| 2022 | $8,430,227 |
| 2023 | $5,859,494 |
| 2025 | $7,753,428 |
From $2.7M in 2011 to $7.8M in FY25, across 14 public filings (none on record for 2024). 2022, at $8.4M, stands well above the other years on file.
The returns as e-filed with the IRS, 3 years:
- FY2025Download the return
- FY2024Download the return
- FY2023Download the return
Source: IRS Form 990 e-file data, each return by its IRS object id, served by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. A year in the chart without a link here is read from a later return’s own history table; its return is on ProPublica’s page for the group.
Their ground
Friends of the Smokies is not on our editors’ record for a threatened place yet. See every threatened place on one map, and who stands for each.
The Tennessee congressional delegation averages 8 of 100 on public lands. See the full scorecard
The North Carolina congressional delegation averages 24 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 ↗FollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapStand with Friends of the Smokies
The mission is theirs. The backing is yours.