The Trust For Public Land

The Trust For Public Land, a San Francisco–based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is a federal grant recipient operating as a prime grantee across conservation, land acquisition, green infrastructure, and community environmental education initiatives with 33 distinct federal agencies. The organization does not hold federal contracts or compete under set-aside categories; its federal footprint is exclusively grant-funded work as a recipient or sub-recipient.

Trust For Public Land's capability portfolio centers on land conservation, urban park and green schoolyard development, historic preservation planning, community-engaged environmental education, and climate resilience infrastructure. Recent representative grant work includes a $19.96 million Inflation Reduction Act Project Grant from EPA Region 4 for the Clifton Hills Alton Park Thread Trail project in Chattanooga, Tennessee—constructing 2.62 miles of green infrastructure trails with bioswales and stormwater management across reclaimed brownfield sites, paired with youth workforce development and community engagement reaching 830 community members and creating an estimated 238 construction jobs. The organization received an $18.4 million Appalachian Regional Commission Project Grant on May 1, 2025, for conservation, park development, and community environmental initiatives across Appalachian counties through June 30, 2030. A $344,257 USDA Food and Nutrition Service Project Grant awards farm-to-school initiatives in San Francisco with a June 30, 2028 completion date. The organization also serves as a cooperative agreement recipient under the National Park Service for a $2.1 million project establishing technical assistance on Land and Water Conservation Fund grant program awareness across all 50 states, territories, and federally recognized tribes through December 31, 2027.

The portfolio spans 99 awards (73 prime, 26 sub-awards) with $157.3 million in combined obligated dollars. Customer concentration shows modest spread across 33 agencies, with the National Endowment for the Arts leading by award count at 13 awards, followed by the Department of Agriculture Forest Service Washington Office Acquisitions (7 awards, $8 thousand combined potential value), EPA Region 1 (6 awards), NOAA (5 awards), and Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 9 (5 awards). The top five customers account for 36 percent of awards, and the distribution by potential value is similarly dispersed. Activity has grown substantially year over year—three awards in 2022 to twenty in 2024—though 2025 and 2026 show lighter inflow (eleven and three awards respectively). Only two awards face completion within the next twenty-four months, limiting near-term recompete exposure.

As a sub-recipient, Trust For Public Land partners with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation on numerous schoolyard and conservation projects, including green infrastructure schoolyard work at multiple sites in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, waterfront park development, and habitat restoration. The organization also subcontracts under the Institute for Sustainable Communities on climate resilience data visualization and evaluation support, and under the Gulf of Mexico Alliance on Deepwater Horizon Conservation Portal maintenance. Sub-award work focuses on community schoolyard design, nature-based infrastructure, trail construction, and conservation easement support across underserved and disadvantaged communities.

Federal grant programs anchoring the footprint include the USDA Forest Service Forest Legacy Program (CFDA 10.676), the Inflation Reduction Act programs (EPA and USDA), the National Park Service Historic Preservation Fund Grants-in-Aid (CFDA 15.904), NPS Conservation and Protection programs (CFDA 15.954), NEA Promotion of the Arts Grants (CFDA 45.024), the Appalachian Regional Commission Area Development program (CFDA 23.002), and EPA Environmental Education Grants (CFDA 66.951). The organization's expertise in equitable access to green space, climate adaptation, and community-centered conservation positions it within federal funding streams that prioritize environmental justice and climate resilience in historically disadvantaged communities.