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· Public charity

Choose Outdoors Inc

To promote outdoor recreation and active lifestyles through support for public lands and waters; recreation infrastructure; and programs connecting americans to the outdoors.

$353k
Granted FY2024still arriving
15
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$64k
Largest
01What you fund
01FY2024 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 15 grants below total $339,896 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $352,860 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $12,964 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k14 grants · $276k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $64k
$20,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CONIFER ROTARY FOUNDATION$64,300
WILDERNESS RESTORATION VOLUNTEERS$25,000
MOUNTAIN STUDIES INSTITUTE$25,000
PHILMONT SCOUT RANCH$25,000
ADVENTURE WEST COUNCIL$25,000
ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING FOR KIDS$25,000
VENTURA BOTANICAL GARDENS$22,000
ALDO LEOPOLD FOUNDATION$20,000
THE FOREST STEWARDS GUILD$20,000
ECO FORESTERS$19,996
TRAILS GROUP$15,000
SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FORESTERS$15,000
THE WRIGHT OPERA HOUSE$15,000
FRIENDS OF MOUNT EVANS AND LOST$12,000
FIRE ADAPTED BAILEY$11,600
02The need
02

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY24–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 54% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 9%PHILMONT SCOUT RANCH: $25k → 14%THE FOREST STEWARDS GUILD: $20k → 12%SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FORESTERS: $15k → 14%ALDO LEOPOLD FOUNDATION: $20k → 9%THE WRIGHT OPERA HOUSE: $15k → 7%CONIFER ROTARY FOUNDATION: $64k → 7%FIRE ADAPTED BAILEY: $12k → 8%ADVENTURE WEST COUNCIL: $25k → 9%MOUNTAIN STUDIES INSTITUTE: $25k → 12%WILDERNESS RESTORATION VOLUNTEERS: $25k → 12%ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING FOR KIDS: $25k → 12%TRAILS GROUP: $15k → 7%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
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
2
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
3
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
4
Aspen Valley Land Trust

Protecting the open land and special places of the roaring fork and middle colorado river valleys for wildlife, agriculture, and community forever.

Environment
5
Wild Rockies Field Institute Inc

To broaden the nature of a liberal arts education; teach critical thinking about social & environmental issues; foster understanding of & respect for natural & human communities; & cultivate a sense of place that encourages personal,…

Education
6
Wyoming Outdoor Council

The wyoming outdoor council's mission is to protect wyoming's environment and quality of life now and for future generations.

Environment
7
Rocky Mountain Field Institute Inc

Rocky Mountain Field Institute conserves and protects public lands in Southern Colorado through volunteer-based trail and restoration projects, environmental education, and restoration research.

8
Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers

To Promote Stewardship of our public lands by engaging the community in education, conservation and restoration projects.

9
Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado

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

Recreation & Sports
10
Conservation Legacy

Conservation legacy engages future leaders who protect, restore, and enhance our nation's lands through community-based service.in 2024, conservation legacy engaged 2,524 participants who completed over 1.5 million service hours on public…

Youth Development
11
Santa Fe Forest Coalition

Educate the public on forest conservation issues in New Mexico

Environment
12
Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation

we ensure the availability of critical field data that accelerates conservation and climate solutions. we achieve our mission by mobilizing and training outdoor enthusiasts and local communities to collect high-quality scientific data that…

Environment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Wildlands Restoration Volunteers and the most unlike its peers is Fire Adapted Bailey. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

03the grantee network

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

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/15
Grantees still filing
5/15
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

MOUNTAIN STUDIES INSTITUE — $25,000 · EnvironmentMOUNTAIN STUDIES INSTITUEWILDLANDS RESTORATION VOLUNTEERS — $25,000 · EnvironmentWILDLANDS RESTORATION VOLUNTEERSVENTURA BOTANICAL GARDENS INC — $22,000 · EnvironmentVENTURA BOTANICAL GARDENS INCEcoForesters — $19,996 · EnvironmentEcoForestersTRAIL GROUP INC — $15,000 · EnvironmentTRAIL GROUP INCFRIENDS OF MOUNT EVANS & LOST CREEK WILDERNESSES — $12,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF MOUNT EVANS & LOST CREEK WIL…ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING FOR KIDS — $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING …BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA — $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOY SCOUTS OF AMERICATHE FOREST STEWARDS GUILD — $20,000 · Youth DevelopmentTHE FOREST STEWARDS GUI…Conifer Rotary Foundation — $64,300 · PhilanthropyConifer Rotary Founda…ADVENTURE WEST COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA — $25,000 · OtherADVENTURE WEST …ALDO LEOPOLD FOUNDATION INC — $20,000 · OtherALDO LEOPOLD FO…SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FORESTERS — $15,000 · EmploymentFRIENDS OF THE WRIGHT OPERA HOUSE INC — $15,000 · Arts & CultureFIRE ADAPTED BAILEY — $11,600 · Public Safety & Disaster
Environment$118,996Youth Development$70,000Philanthropy$64,300Other$45,000Employment$15,000Arts & Culture$15,000Public Safety & Disaster$11,600

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetMOUNTAIN STUDIES INSTITUE — $25,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetADVENTURE WEST COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA — $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING FOR KIDS — $25,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetBOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWILDLANDS RESTORATION VOLUNTEERS — $25,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetVENTURA BOTANICAL GARDENS INC — $22,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetTHE FOREST STEWARDS GUILD — $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetALDO LEOPOLD FOUNDATION INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetEcoForesters — $19,996 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetSOCIETY OF AMERICAN FORESTERS — $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE WRIGHT OPERA HOUSE INC — $15,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetTRAIL GROUP INC — $15,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetFIRE ADAPTED BAILEY — $11,600 over 1y, 15% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Nature ConservancyVA13× affinity4 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Nature Conservancy · National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · Colorado Gives Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Choose Outdoors Inc funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report 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, FY2025

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Choose Outdoors Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Choose Outdoors Inc 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 15 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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