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· Private foundation

Borgen Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$1.8M
Granted FY2025still arriving
42
Grants FY2025still arriving
9
States reached
$650k
Largest
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Health$2.0MEducation$2.0MEnvironment$2.0MRecreation & Sports$1.6MYouth Development$686kPhilanthropy$477kCommunity Improvement$372kArts & Culture$111kOther$0
02FY2025 · 42 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k9 grants · $37k
  • $10k–50k24 grants · $489k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $597k
  • $250k+1 grant · $650k
$20,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$17M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
VAIL HEALTH FOUNDATION$650,000
SKI AND SNOWBOARD CLUB VAIL$132,500
DENVER BOTANIC GARDENS$125,000
WALKING MOUNTAINS SCIENCE CENTER$67,000
NORWEGIAN AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION$65,000
THE CYCLE EFFECT$55,000
STUDENTS SHOULDER TO SHOULDER$52,000
COLORADO MOUNTAIN COLLEGE$50,000
BETTY FORD ALPINE GARDENS$50,000
GRALAND COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL$35,000
SCHOOL DISTRICT OF ELEVA-STRUM$34,000
VAIL MOUNTAIN SCHOOL$32,500
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY$30,000
VAIL VALLEY FOUNDATION$30,000
ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAND LIBRARY$30,000
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 (FY21–21, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, 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%LOVE LIGHT & MELODY: $3k → 12%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.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
NH
IL
WI
MA
OR
CA
UT
CO
VA
AZ
NC
DC
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$10M · 50 repeat orgs$554k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +47% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

50 repeat relationships: 36 still active in FY2025, 14 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

50
29

Total granted

$10M
$469k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+47%
0%

Still filing today

74%
34%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $85k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationRecreation & SportsEnvironmentArts & CultureHealthPhilanthropyOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • VH
    VAIL HEALTH SERVICES FOUNDATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.6M · revenue +394%
  • SA
    Ski and Snowboard Club Vail
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.2M · revenue +84%
  • TC
    The Cycle Effect
    9× · 2017–2025 · $538k · revenue +191%

Funded once

  • SA
    SKI AND SNOWBOARD CLUB VAIL GOLD PEAK
    one grant, 2021 · $300k
  • EC
    ELEVA-STRUM CARDINAL MANUFACTURING
    one grant, 2021 · $50k
  • VY
    VVF YOUTH FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $35k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its 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
Fountain Valley School of Colorado

Fountain valley school of colorado provides a transformative curriculum in a supportive environment where students are challenged to think critically, become leaders, and live by our core values: courage, compassion, curiosity,…

Education
2
Colo Foundation for Water Education

Water education colorado ensures coloradans are informed on water issues and equipped to make decisions that guide our state to a sustainable water future.

Environment
3
Colorado Academy

Creating curious, kind, courageous, and adventurous learners and leaders.

Education
4
Aia Colorado

AIA Colorado,is the voice of the architecture profession in Colorado. Through advocacy, leadership development, education and resources for architects, the organization supports architecture professionals in designing a better world where…

—
5
The Peak School

The peak school seeks to ignite a passion for learning, to develop students of diverse talents and backgrounds who think critically and act with integrity, and to graduate compassionate, confident, capable students who will embrace their…

Education
6
Mountain Area Land Trust

Mountain area land trust's mission is to save natural areas, wildlife habitat, streams and rivers, working ranches and historic lands, for the benefit of the community and as a legacy for future generations.

Environment
7
Education Commission of the States

The mission of education commission of the states is to advocate for attaining educational excellence for all and to help state leaders identify, develop and implement public policy for education that addresses current and future needs of…

Education
8
Alexander Dawson Foundation

The mission of the alexander dawson foundation is to establish, operate and maintain an educational organization that will provide students with the highest quality education, nurture future leaders, prepare young adults to excel in…

Education
9
The Keystone Science School Inc

With the outdoors as backdrop for learning, keystone science school inspires curiosity and critical thinking through the lens of science to change lives and strengthen communities.

Education
10
Denver Zoological Foundation

Inspiring communities to save wildlife for future generations.

Animals
11
Rocky Mountain Wild

Rocky mountain wild works to protect, connect, and restore wildlife and wild lands in the southern rocky mountain region. we work to secure the biodiversity of the mountains, plains, and desert ecosystems of colorado, wyoming, utah, and…

Environment
12
Colorado Gives Foundation

We connect people, ideas, and nonprofits to make good happen. our vision is that all of jeffco is thriving.

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Sos Outreach; the most unlike its peers is Morgans Message Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

57 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 57 of the 88 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)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
56/57
Grantees still filing
41/57
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Ski and Snowboard Club Vail: $1,189,500 · OtherSki and Snowboard Club VailCOLORADO MOUNTAIN COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $350,000 · OtherCOLORADO MOUNTAIN COLLEGE FOUNDATION IN…SKI AND SNOWBOARD CLUB VAIL GOLD PEAK: $300,000 · OtherSKI AND SNOWBOARD CLUB VAIL GOLD PEAKDENVER BOTANIC GARDENS - CHATFIELD: $250,000 · OtherDENVER BOTANIC GARDENS - CHATFIELDTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $227,500 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN: $200,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $170,000 · OtherELEVA-STRUM SCHOOL DISTRICT: $169,000 · Other+41 more: $1,055,500 · Other+41 moreVAIL HEALTH SERVICES FOUNDATION: $2,650,000 · HealthVAIL HEALTH SERVICES FOUND…+2 more: $40,750 · HealthGRALAND COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $515,000 · EducationGRALAND COUNTRY D…WALKING MOUNTAINS: $397,100 · EducationWALKING MOUNTAINSVAIL MOUNTAIN SCHOOL: $370,867 · EducationVAIL MOUNTAIN SCH…Teach for America Inc: $110,000 · EducationTeach for America…KIPP Colorado Schools: $90,000 · EducationColorado Succeeds: $75,000 · EducationTHE SONORAN INSTITUTE INC: $60,000 · Education+6 more: $119,250 · Education+6 moreEAGLE VALLEY LAND TRUST: $372,000 · EnvironmentEAGLE VALLEY L…Betty Ford Alpine Gardens: $305,000 · EnvironmentBetty Ford Alp…DENVER BOTANIC GARDENS INC: $250,500 · EnvironmentDENVER BOTANIC…AMERICAN RIVERS INC: $225,000 · EnvironmentAMERICAN RIVER…ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAND LIBRARY: $190,000 · EnvironmentROCKY MOUNTAIN…HIGH COUNTRY NEWS: $85,000 · EnvironmentHIGH COUNTRY N…+2 more: $12,500 · EnvironmentThe Cycle Effect: $537,500 · Recreation & SportsROUNDUP RIVER RANCH: $97,500 · Recreation & Sports+6 more: $24,500 · Recreation & SportsSTUDENTS SHOULDER-TO-SHOULDER: $443,166 · PhilanthropyYOUTHPOWER365: $28,850 · PhilanthropyWESTERN COLORADO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · Philanthropy+2 more: $5,000 · PhilanthropyVAIL VALLEY FOUNDATION: $271,600 · Community ImprovementCOMMUNITY BUILDERS: $105,000 · Community Improvement
Other$3,911,500Health$2,690,750Education$1,737,217Environment$1,440,000Recreation & Sports$659,500Philanthropy$502,016Community Improvement$376,600

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 budgetVAIL HEALTH SERVICES FOUNDATION: $2,650,000 over 9y, 8.6% of budgetSki and Snowboard Club Vail: $1,189,500 over 9y, 2.8% of budgetThe Cycle Effect: $537,500 over 9y, 6.1% of budgetGRALAND COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $515,000 over 9y, 0.5% of budgetSTUDENTS SHOULDER-TO-SHOULDER: $443,166 over 9y, 23% of budgetWALKING MOUNTAINS: $397,100 over 9y, 1.5% of budgetEAGLE VALLEY LAND TRUST: $372,000 over 9y, 10.0% of budgetVAIL MOUNTAIN SCHOOL: $370,867 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetCOLORADO MOUNTAIN COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $350,000 over 7y, 1.2% of budgetBetty Ford Alpine Gardens: $305,000 over 6y, 4.1% of budgetVAIL VALLEY FOUNDATION: $271,600 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetDENVER BOTANIC GARDENS INC: $250,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $227,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN RIVERS INC: $225,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetROCKY MOUNTAIN LAND LIBRARY: $190,000 over 9y, 22% of budgetYOUTH ON RECORD: $130,000 over 9y, 3.0% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $110,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY BUILDERS: $105,000 over 9y, 4.1% of budgetROUNDUP RIVER RANCH: $97,500 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetRACHEL'S NETWORK INC: $90,000 over 9y, 1.2% of budgetKIPP Colorado Schools: $90,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetVAIL VETERANS FOUNDATION INC: $90,000 over 9y, 0.7% of budgetHIGH COUNTRY NEWS: $85,000 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetColorado Succeeds: $75,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetColorado Ski Museum Inc: $60,000 over 2y, 6.7% of budgetTHE SONORAN INSTITUTE INC: $60,000 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetROCKY MOUNTAIN REPERTORY THEATRE: $51,000 over 9y, 1.7% of budgetDENVER CHILDREN'S HOME: $40,500 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetPROCTOR ACADEMY: $35,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF DEERFIELD ACADEMY: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetYOUTHPOWER365: $28,850 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Middlebury College: $25,250 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetWESTERN COLORADO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetChildrens Garden Montessori School: $15,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetVAIL VALLEY LACROSSE CLUB: $12,000 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetKENT DENVER COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOLORADO OPEN LANDS: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF OREGON FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFOOD BANK OF THE ROCKIES: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVail Centre: $10,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetColorado Sun: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DENVER: $9,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGRAND LAKE YACHT CLUB SAILING FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetRose Community Foundation: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART DENVER: $4,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGirls Leadership Institute Inc dba Girls Leadership: $4,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPROTECT OUR WINTERS: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLOVE LIGHT AND MELODY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.7% 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.

  • Who funds VAIL HEALTH SERVICES FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Ski and Snowboard Club Vail ↗
  • Who funds The Cycle Effect ↗
  • Who funds GRALAND COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds STUDENTS SHOULDER-TO-SHOULDER ↗
  • Who funds WALKING MOUNTAINS ↗
  • Who funds EAGLE VALLEY LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds VAIL MOUNTAIN SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds COLORADO MOUNTAIN COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Betty Ford Alpine Gardens ↗
  • Who funds VAIL VALLEY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds DENVER BOTANIC GARDENS INC ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN RIVERS INC ↗
  • Who funds ROCKY MOUNTAIN LAND LIBRARY ↗
  • Who funds YOUTH ON RECORD ↗
  • Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY BUILDERS ↗
  • Who funds ROUNDUP RIVER RANCH ↗
  • Who funds RACHEL'S NETWORK INC ↗
  • Who funds KIPP Colorado Schools ↗
  • Who funds VAIL VETERANS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds HIGH COUNTRY NEWS ↗
  • Who funds Colorado Succeeds ↗
  • Who funds NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOC ↗
  • Who funds Colorado Ski Museum Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE SONORAN INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds ROCKY MOUNTAIN REPERTORY THEATRE ↗
  • Who funds DENVER CHILDREN'S HOME ↗

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.

Colorado Gives FoundationCO48.1× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Colorado Gives Foundation · The Denver Foundation · Gates Family Foundation · Rose Community Foundation · The Colorado Health Foundation · Kelton Family Foundation · The Precourt Foundation · Mile High United Way Inc · El Pomar Foundation · The Winmax Foundation Inc · The VF Foundation · The Anschutz Foundation

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 Borgen Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Borgen Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • President and Fellows of Middlebury College: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
16report 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.

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 88 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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