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Buck Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Buck Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$667k
Granted FY2025still arriving
36
Grants FY2025still arriving
10
States reached
$35k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Environment$678kHousing & Shelter$532kHuman Services$422kEmployment$329kCivil Rights$307kYouth Development$254kFood & Nutrition$240kCommunity Improvement$170kOther$0
02FY2025 · 36 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $9k
  • $10k–50k32 grants · $658k
$20,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$12M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE$35,000
350 COLORADO$30,760
COLORADO NONPROFIT ASSOCIATION - AGRIVOLTAIC LEARNING CENTER$30,000
COLORADO NONPROFIT ASSOCIATION - NONPROFIT LEGAL RESOURES$30,000
SO ALL MAY EAT DENVER$25,736
BUILDSTRONG ACADEMY$25,000
STREET FRATERNITY$25,000
HOUSEKEYS ACTION NETWORK DENVER$25,000
CULTIVANDO$25,000
9TO5 COLORADO$25,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
DENVER FOOD RESCUE$22,880
GRID ALTERNATIVES COLORADO$20,000
Individual grant recipient$20,000
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 (FY19–25, $403k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 46% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 9%DIGNITY MATTERS: $2k → 8%WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: $20k → 10%IMMIGRANT FREEDOM FUND: $3k → 11%RURAL COMMUNITIES RESOURCE CENTER: $10k → 12%RURAL COMMUNITIES RESOURCE CENTER: $10k → 13%SECOND CHANCE CENTER: $10k → 10%RURAL COMMUNITIES RESOURCE CENTER: $8k → 12%RURAL COMMUNITIES RESOURCE CENTER: $8k → 13%VILLAGE EXCHANGE CENTER LLC: $80k → 8%SECOND CHANCE CENTER: $10k → 10%WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: $10k → 10%VILLAGE EXCHANGE CENTER: $40k → 8%VILLAGE EXCHANGE CENTER: $30k → 8%SYCAMORE SERVICES: $2k → 15%VILLAGE EXCHANGE CENTER: $30k → 8%ATTENTION HOMES: $10k → 12%VILLAGE EXCHANGE CENTER: $20k → 8%VILLAGE EXCHANGE CENTER: $10k → 8%VILLAGE EXCHANGE CENTER LLC: $4k → 8%VILLAGE EXCHANGE CENTER: $1k → 8%SO ALL MAY EAT INC: $20k → 12%SO ALL MAY EAT INC: $20k → 12%SO ALL MAY EAT INC: $20k → 12%COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE (COPA): $10k → 12%COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE (COPA): $10k → 12%COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $5k → 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

MT
MN
WI
NY
MA
OR
IN
PA
CA
CO
AZ
NM
DC
HI
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.

78%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.7M · 49 repeat orgs$771k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +75% since the first grant, against +3% for those funded once.

49 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2025, 27 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

49
54

Total granted

$2.7M
$529k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+75%
+3%

Still filing today

61%
30%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 64% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $242k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentHuman ServicesHousing & ShelterCommunity ImprovementCrime & LegalCivil RightsOther
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

  • VE
    VILLAGE EXCHANGE CENTER INC
    6× · 2019–2025 · $215k · revenue +536%
  • LP
    LA PUENTE HOME INC
    7× · 2019–2025 · $153k · revenue +374%
  • BE
    BAYAUD ENTERPRISES INC
    6× · 2019–2024 · $133k · revenue +50%

Funded once

  • DH
    DENVER HOMELESS OUT LOUD
    one grant, 2020 · $50k
  • WR
    Western Regional Advocacy Projectgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $30k · revenue +153%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $20k
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
Colorado Jobs With Justice Inc

Advance workers rights & social justice through building sustained relationships and taking direct action to create concrete change in the lives of working families

Employment
2
Colorado Center On Law and Policy

Colorado center on law and policy is an antipoverty organization advancing the rights of every coloradan.

Crime & Legal
3
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…

—
4
Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights

Colorado organization for latina opportunity and reproductive rights (color) is a community-rooted nonprofit organization that works to enable latinx individuals and their families lead safe, healthy, self-determined lives.

Health
5
Boulder Watershed Collective

The Boulder Watershed Collective is a 501c3 non-profit stakeholder-driven organization established to address forested watershed health,resiliency and stewardship. We have three program areas: ClimateAdaptation and Resilience Watershed…

Environment
6
Colorado Latino Leadership Advocacy & Research Organization

Empowering Latino communities through leadership development, advocacy, and policy research to strengthen Colorado

—
7
Colorado Food Cluster Inc

Provide opportunities for all to thrive by offering free food resources to communities.

Food & Nutrition
8
Colorado Agricultural Leadership Program

To develop leaders that will become a strong, unified voice for agricultural issues.

Education
9
Colorado People's Action

Colorado people's action (cpa) is a member-driven, racial justice organization dedicated to winning long-lasting progressive public policies in colorado. cpa builds power by mobilizing voters, electing our own people to office, holding…

—
10
Taproot Earth

Taproot Earth works with communities to support strategies around the use of water, energy and land.

Environment
11
Colorado Nonprofit Association

Colorado nonprofit association strengthens colorado's nonprofits through education, connection and advocacy.

Community Improvement
12
Boulder Carshare

To provide and promote alternatives to individual car ownership, thereby reducing the environmental and social impacts associated with motor vehicle use.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc; the most unlike its peers is Buildstrong Academy. 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

56 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. 56 of the 117 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)
22
Early backer (in before they grew)
53/56
Grantees still filing
33/56
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LA PUENTE HOME INC: $153,000 · OtherLA PUENTE HOME INC9TO5 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WORKING WOMEN INC: $131,000 · Other9TO5 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WORKING WOMEN INCST FRANCIS SOCIAL SERVICES THE HOUSE OF WELCOME: $95,000 · OtherWESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT (WRAP): $83,000 · OtherDENVER FOOD RESCUE: $67,880 · Other+78 more: $1,413,807 · Other+78 moreGRID ALTERNATIVES COLORADO INC: $125,000 · EnvironmentGRID ALTERNATIVES CO…The Alliance For Collective Action: $115,000 · EnvironmentThe Alliance For Col…350 COLORADO: $95,760 · Environment350 COLORADOHIGH COUNTRY CONSERVATION CENTER: $65,000 · EnvironmentHIGH COUNTRY CONSERV…NATIONAL TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN: $60,000 · EnvironmentNATIONAL TROPICAL BO…BlueGreen Alliance Inc: $40,000 · EnvironmentBlueGreen Alliance I…QUIVIRA COALITION INC: $30,000 · EnvironmentENERGY SMART COLORADO INC: $25,000 · EnvironmentUrban Seeds Inc: $24,000 · Environment+4 more: $47,000 · Environment+4 moreVILLAGE EXCHANGE CENTER INC: $215,015 · Human ServicesVILLAGE EXCHA…SO ALL MAY EAT INC: $60,000 · Human ServicesSO ALL MAY EA…Rural Communities Resource Center: $36,000 · Human ServicesRural Communi…Western Regional Advocacy Project: $30,000 · Human ServicesWestern Regio…COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $25,000 · Human ServicesCOLORADO PEOP…Second Chance Center Inc: $20,000 · Human Services+5 more: $19,000 · Human ServicesCOLORADO VILLAGE COLLABORATIVE: $61,510 · Housing & ShelterTHE DELORES PROJECT: $45,000 · Housing & ShelterUnited Caring Shelters Inc: $25,000 · Housing & ShelterCOLORADO SAFE PARKING INITIATIVE: $15,000 · Housing & ShelterStreet Fraternity Inc: $125,000 · Crime & LegalHOMIES UNIDOS DENVER: $20,000 · Crime & LegalBAYAUD ENTERPRISES INC: $132,500 · EmploymentCULTIVANDO: $40,000 · Community ImprovementROCKY MOUNTAIN EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP CENTER: $30,000 · Community ImprovementGROUNDWORK DENVER INC: $20,000 · Community Improvement
Other$1,943,687Environment$626,760Human Services$405,015Housing & Shelter$146,510Crime & Legal$145,000Employment$132,500Community Improvement$90,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetVILLAGE EXCHANGE CENTER INC: $215,015 over 6y, 10% of budgetLA PUENTE HOME INC: $153,000 over 7y, 1.1% of budgetBAYAUD ENTERPRISES INC: $132,500 over 6y, 0.3% of budget9TO5 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WORKING WOMEN INC: $131,000 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetStreet Fraternity Inc: $125,000 over 6y, 4.5% of budgetThe Alliance For Collective Action: $115,000 over 5y, 1.8% of budget350 COLORADO: $95,760 over 4y, 4.2% of budgetDENVER FOOD RESCUE: $67,880 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetHIGH COUNTRY CONSERVATION CENTER: $65,000 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetROCKY MOUNTAIN IMMIGRANT ADVOCACY NETWORK: $64,262 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetCOLORADO VILLAGE COLLABORATIVE: $61,510 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetNATIONAL TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN: $60,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSO ALL MAY EAT INC: $60,000 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetHANA ARTS INC: $53,000 over 6y, 3.1% of budgetTHE DELORES PROJECT: $45,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetMA KA HANA KA IKE BUILDING PROGRAM: $42,500 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetCULTIVANDO: $40,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetBlueGreen Alliance Inc: $40,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetRural Communities Resource Center: $36,000 over 4y, 3.0% of budgetProject VOYCE: $32,290 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetWestern Regional Advocacy Project: $30,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetROCKY MOUNTAIN EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP CENTER: $30,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetQUIVIRA COALITION INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetUnited Caring Shelters Inc: $25,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetHousekeys Action Network Denver: $25,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetPLOUGHSHARES FUND INC: $25,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCOLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $25,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetENERGY SMART COLORADO INC: $25,000 over 2y, 5.6% of budgetUrban Seeds Inc: $24,000 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetSecond Chance Center Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetHOMIES UNIDOS DENVER: $20,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetFOOD TO POWER (FKA COLORADO SPRINGS FOOD RESCUE): $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCOLORADO SAFE PARKING INITIATIVE: $15,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetGreenLatinos: $15,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetBARTON INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY ACTION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetATTENTION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCENTRO HUMANITARIO PARA LOS TRABAJADORES: $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetEAGLE VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetDignity Matters Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetJUSTDANE: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALBION FELLOWS BACON CENTER INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSYCAMORE REHABILITATION SERVICES HENDRICKS COUNTY ARC INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCANCER PATHWAYS MIDWEST: $2,000 over 1y, 0.4% 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 VILLAGE EXCHANGE CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds LA PUENTE HOME INC ↗
  • Who funds BAYAUD ENTERPRISES INC ↗
  • Who funds 9TO5 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WORKING WOMEN INC ↗
  • Who funds GRID ALTERNATIVES COLORADO INC ↗
  • Who funds Street Fraternity Inc ↗
  • Who funds The Alliance For Collective Action ↗
  • Who funds 350 COLORADO ↗
  • Who funds DENVER FOOD RESCUE ↗
  • Who funds HIGH COUNTRY CONSERVATION CENTER ↗
  • Who funds ROCKY MOUNTAIN IMMIGRANT ADVOCACY NETWORK ↗
  • Who funds COLORADO VILLAGE COLLABORATIVE ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN ↗
  • Who funds SO ALL MAY EAT INC ↗
  • Who funds HANA ARTS INC ↗
  • Who funds THE DELORES PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds MA KA HANA KA IKE BUILDING PROGRAM ↗
  • Who funds CULTIVANDO ↗
  • Who funds BlueGreen Alliance Inc ↗
  • Who funds Rural Communities Resource Center ↗
  • Who funds Project VOYCE ↗
  • Who funds Western Regional Advocacy Project ↗
  • Who funds ROCKY MOUNTAIN EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP CENTER ↗
  • Who funds QUIVIRA COALITION INC ↗
  • Who funds United Caring Shelters Inc ↗

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.

The Colorado Health F…The Denver FoundationRose Community Founda…Colorado Gives Founda…The Colorado TrustGates Family Foundati…Mile High United Way …Caring for Colorado F…Trailhead InstituteCommunity Foundation …Anschutz Family Found…The Women's Foundatio…
The Colorado Health FoundationCO52.5× affinity26 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Colorado Health Foundation · The Denver Foundation · Rose Community Foundation · Colorado Gives Foundation · The Colorado Trust · Gates Family Foundation · Mile High United Way Inc · Caring for Colorado Foundation · Trailhead Institute · Community Foundation Boulder County · Anschutz Family Foundation · The Women's Foundation of Colorado 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 Buck Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Buck Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    22report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Buck Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Buck 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 117 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

    Play a game based on Buck’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