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Blue Ocean Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Blue Ocean Foundation

Its FY2021 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$80k
Granted FY2021
1
Grants FY2021
1
States reached
$80k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2021.

Community Improvement$190kHuman Services$2kAnimals$2kHealth$1kYouth Development$1kHousing & Shelter$750Environment$500Food & Nutrition$500Other$0
02FY2021 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$80,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COLORADO NONPROFIT DEVELOPMENT CENT$80,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY20–20, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%SOUTHWEST YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES: $250 → 9%WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS FOUNDATION: $250 → 10%INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $250 → 17%HEALING WARRIORS PROGRAM: $500 → 11%THE FAMILY CENTER - LA FAMILIA: $500 → 11%LIVE THE VICTORY INC: $250 → 11%RESPITE CARE INC: $1k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 55% of Blue Ocean Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Blue Ocean Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Lutheran Social Services of Colorado

Rooted in the values of kindness, dignity and social justice, lfsrm strenghtens communities by providing support, guidance, and resource coordination to individuals and families throughout the rocky mountain region.

—
2
Family Housing Network of Fort Collins Inc

Faith Family Hospitality's mission is to support families experiencing homelessness to achieve sustainable self-sufficiency in a timely and dignified manner. This interfaith volunteer effort coordinates the work of 30 diverse Fort Collins…

Human Services
3
Invest in Kids

Invest in kids partners with local communities to ensure the success of evidence-based programs that improve the health and well-being of colorado's youngest children and their families.

Youth Development
4
Northern Colorado Wildlife Center

The mission of Northern Colorado Wildlife Center a 501c3 independent nonprofit is to protect wildlife and the places they call home through wildlife rescue wildlife rehabilitation education and advocacy.

Animals
5
Center for Improving Value in Health Care

To equip partners and communities in colorado and across the nation with the resources, services and unbiased data needed to improve health and health care. we help communities, organizations and individuals identify opportunities to…

Health
6
Safehouse Denver Inc

Safehouse denver assists adult, children, and youth in reclaiming their right to a life free from domestic violence. the agency provides a broad spectrum of culturally competent, trauma-informed services, including but not limited to,…

Human Services
7
Vail Clinic Inc % Vhh Accounting Department

Elevating health across our mountain communities.

Health
8
Colorado Health Institute
Health
9
Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado

Motivate and enable people to be active stewards of colorado's natural resources.

Recreation & Sports
10
Poudre Wilderness Volunteers

Poudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV) is a Larimer County, Colorado, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1996. The mission of PWV is to assist the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the United States Forest Service in managing and…

Environment
11
Humane Society of Fremontcounty Inc

Operate as an open-admission animal shelter dedicated to helping every animal in need. provide animals in need with a safe and loving home until they find their forever home.

Animals
12
Summitstone Health Partners

SummitStone provides comprehensive behavioral health services across all care levels: 24/7 crisis services, inpatient and outpatient treatment, housing, residential care, and peer support. We partner with law enforcement, schools, and…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Fort Collins Habitat for Humanity; the most unlike its peers is Animal House Pets & Grooming Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

21 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 21 of the 23 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/21
Grantees still filing
20/21
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE COLORADO NONPROFIT DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $190,000 · Community ImprovementTHE COLORADO NONPROFIT DEVELOPMENT CENTERRESPITE CARE INC: $1,250 · Human ServicesTHE FAMILY CENTERLA FAMILIA: $500 · Human ServicesHEALING WARRIORS PROGRAM: $500 · Human ServicesTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $250 · Human ServicesTHE MATTHEWS HOUSE: $250 · Human ServicesHOMEWARD ALLIANCE INC: $250 · Human ServicesSouthwest Youth And Family Services: $250 · Human ServicesWITH MY OWN TWO HANDS FOUNDATION: $250 · Human ServicesAnimal House Pets & Grooming Inc: $750 · OtherCOVENANT HARBOR BIBLE CAMP: $250 · OtherROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL: $250 · OtherFORT COLLINS HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $500 · OtherTREES WATER AND PEOPLE: $250 · OtherWILDLANDS RESTORATION VOLUNTEERS: $250 · OtherTOGETHER WE RISE: $250 · OtherUNITED WAY OF LARIMER COUNTY: $250 · OtherNoco Humane: $1,000 · AnimalsWELD COUNTY 4-H FOUNDATION: $500 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF LARIMER COUNTY: $250 · Youth DevelopmentChildren's Hospital Colorado: $500 · HealthAMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION: $250 · HealthMEALS ON WHEELS FOR FORT COLLINS COLORADO INC: $500 · Food & Nutrition
Community Improvement$190,000Human Services$3,500Other$2,750Animals$1,000Youth Development$750Health$750Food & Nutrition$500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE COLORADO NONPROFIT DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $190,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetRESPITE CARE INC: $1,250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNoco Humane: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWELD COUNTY 4-H FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS FOR FORT COLLINS COLORADO INC: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FAMILY CENTERLA FAMILIA: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChildren's Hospital Colorado: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFORT COLLINS HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHEALING WARRIORS PROGRAM: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTOGETHER WE RISE: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTREES WATER AND PEOPLE: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MATTHEWS HOUSE: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOMEWARD ALLIANCE INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF LARIMER COUNTY: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSouthwest Youth And Family Services: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWITH MY OWN TWO HANDS FOUNDATION: $250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWILDLANDS RESTORATION VOLUNTEERS: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF LARIMER COUNTY: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Community Foundation …Otter Cares Foundatio…Colorado Gives Founda…The Nordson Corporati…Woodward Governor Cha…United Way of Larimer…Anschutz Family Found…Northern Colorado Uni…Nebraska Community Fo…The Colorado Health F…The Poudre Sand FundPoudre Valley Health …
Community Foundation of Northern ColoradoCO28× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Northern Colorado · Otter Cares Foundation AKA OTTERCARES FOUNDATION · Colorado Gives Foundation · The Nordson Corporation Foundation · Woodward Governor Charitable Trust · United Way of Larimer County · Anschutz Family Foundation · Northern Colorado United for Youth · Nebraska Community Foundation · The Colorado Health Foundation · The Poudre Sand Fund · Poudre Valley Health Care Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Blue Ocean Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Blue Ocean Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Blue Ocean Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Blue Ocean Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 23 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Blue Ocean’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home