# National Forest Foundation The **National Forest Foundation (NFF)** is the congressionally chartered nonprofit partner of the U.S. Forest Service — created by the National Forest Foundation Act of 1990, operating since October 1992, headquartered in Missoula, Montana — whose statutory purpose is to raise private money for the 193-million-acre National Forest System. The Forest Service is barred by law from soliciting outside funds; the Foundation exists to do it on the agency's behalf, matching private gifts with congressional appropriations for reforestation, trail and watershed work. ## Why it is in the vault The NFF is the **conduit** in the [[USDA Secretary's Priorities Fund]]. In 2025, staff of Agriculture Secretary [[Brooke Rollins]] solicited corporate sponsors for the Great American Farmers Market on the National Mall and routed the money through the Foundation into a "Secretary's Priorities" fund that the Secretary could spend at her discretion on initiatives "aligned with" the Forest Service mission. Four donors gave in the $100,000–$499,999 band, and each had live business before the federal government: [[Chobani]] (more than $12 million in USDA commodity contracts), [[Visa Inc]] (defending a Justice Department antitrust suit), [[John Deere]] (defending an [[FTC]] antitrust suit) and [[Tractor Supply Company]]. The arrangement surfaced through House Natural Resources Committee Democrats' oversight and was reported in August 2026. A congressionally chartered nonprofit sitting between a corporate donor and a cabinet secretary converts what would be a reportable political contribution into a deductible charitable gift, outside the limits and disclosure that would otherwise apply. Whether prior administrations used the "Secretary's priorities" mechanism the same way is the open question the vault has not resolved. This page takes no position on the NFF's conservation work, which is its principal activity; the KB interest is narrowly in its use as an intermediary. Compare the [[Trump Foundation]] for the same structure in private hands. ## See also - [[USDA Secretary's Priorities Fund]] · [[Brooke Rollins]] · [[Department of Agriculture]] - [[Chobani]] · [[Visa Inc]] · [[John Deere]] · [[Tractor Supply Company]] - [[Influence Peddling]] · [[Dark Money]] · [[Fraud Enforcement Inversion]]