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Conservation Colorado at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Conservation Colorado

Our work secures policies and elevates leaders that advance climate action and environmental justice.

$81k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$75k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Environment$2.4MPublic Benefit$1.4MEmployment$136kCivil Rights$46k
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 1 grants below total $75,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $81,000 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $6,000 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$75,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CONSERVATION COLORADO VICTORY FUND$75,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 96% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE ACTION FUND: $40k → 17%LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS: $200k → 14%AMERICAN WHITEWATER: $30k → 18%LOGIC ACTION: $136k → 9%ROCKY MOUNTAIN VALUES: $1.0M → 11%SAVE OUR NEIGHBORHOODS: $1.0M → 12%KEEP DENVER STRONG: $10k → 12%LEAGUE OF OIL AND GAS IMPACTED COLORADANS: $10k → 9%WESTERN COLORADO ALLIANCE: $20k → 11%PROTECT COLORADO'S RECOVERY: $100k → 12%YES ON 2A CLIMATE ACTION NOW: $75k → 12%LEAGUE OF OIL AND GAS IMPACTED COLORADANS: $7k → 9%WESTERN RESOURCE ADVOCATES: $40k → 12%FAIR LINES COLORADO: $6k → 12%WESTERN RESOURCE ADVOCATES: $30k → 12%CONSERVATION COLORADO VICTORY FUND: $100k → 12%CONSERVATION COLORADO VICTORY FUND: $75k → 12%CONSERVATION COLORADO VICTORY FUND: $35k → 12%CONSERVATION COLORADO VICTORY FUND: $399k → 12%CONSERVATION COLORADO VICTORY FUND: $262k → 12%CONSERVATION COLORADO GRASSROOTS ACTION FUND: $100k → 12%UNITED AGAINST THE RECALL: $47k → 12%SIERRA CLUB: $12k → 12%PROGRESSNOW COLORADO: $10k → 12%PROGRESSNOW COLORADO: $10k → 12%PROGRESSNOW COLORADO: $7k → 12%NEW ERA COLORADO ACTION FUND: $32k → 12%COLORADO FOR ALL 2023: $10k → 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.
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.

25%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$985k · 4 repeat orgs$3.0M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +6% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

4 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
18

Total granted

$985k
$3.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+6%
0%

Still filing today

50%
56%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentPublic BenefitCrime & LegalCivil RightsCommunity ImprovementEducationOther
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

  • CC
    CONSERVATION COLORADO VICTORY FUND
    5× · 2018–2024 · $871k
  • WR
    Western Resource Advocates
    2× · 2020–2021 · $70k · revenue +31%
  • PC
    PROGRESSNOW COLORADO
    3× · 2019–2021 · $27k · revenue -46%

Funded once

  • SO
    SAVE OUR NEIGHBORHOODS
    one grant, 2018 · $1.0M
  • RM
    Rocky Mountain Values
    one grant, 2020 · $1.0M · revenue -91% · 36% of their budget
  • LO
    LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $200k · revenue +131%
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
Coloradans for Local Communities

To oppose statewide ballot measures that would restrict local district revenue and support statewide ballot measures that would protect local district revenue.

—
2
Protect Colorados Vote

To oppose a colorado statewide ballot initiative to join the national popular vote compact

—
3
Colorado Rising State Action

The organization is focused on holding special interest networks accountable and advancing conservative principles. We're fighting for limited government, lowering taxes, fighting government over-regulation that stifles freedom, free…

—
4
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…

—
5
Protecting Colorados Environment Economy and Energy Independence

To educate the public about responsible fracking practices and energy development and urging voters to reject state wide ballot initiatives banning enegry development and to support initiatives that promote responsible energy development.

—
6
Defend Colorado

The mission of the organization is to conduct research and analysis of conditions affecting the Colorado state economy and promote policies that strengthen the state economy.

—
7
Colorado League of Responsible Voters

To educate and inform voters

—
8
Colorado Democracy Alliance

The Colorado Democracy Alliance is an organization committed to protecting democracy and expanding Colorados civic engagement ecosystem.

Civil Rights
9
Colorado Values Project

We mobilize coloradans to engage their public officials to protect the colorado way of life. we advocate for public policy that embraces the colorado values of fairness, responsibility, opportunity and freedom.

—
10
Good Business Colorado Association

Elevating our member voices to advocate for a more prosperous, equitable and sustainable Colorado based on our shared values.

Community Improvement
11
Colorado Press Association

Promote the general interest of daily, weekly, and monthly newspapers and online publications, improve editorials and business methods of daily and weekly newspapers, and advance those newspapers' usefulness and influence in the public…

—
12
League of Women Voters of Colorado

Provide education and information regarding elections, public issues and governmental action. Public served equals apprxoimate voter population of Colorado

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Western Colorado Alliance; the most unlike its peers is Save Our Neighborhoods. 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

15 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. 15 of the 22 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/15
Grantees still filing
7/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SAVE OUR NEIGHBORHOODS: $1,037,564 · OtherSAVE OUR NEIGHBORHOODSRocky Mountain Values: $1,020,000 · OtherRocky Mountain ValuesCONSERVATION COLORADO VICTORY FUND: $871,356 · OtherCONSERVATION COLORADO VICTORY FUNDLOGIC ACTION: $136,250 · Other+9 more: $439,852 · Other+9 moreLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INC: $200,000 · Civil RightsENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE ACTION FUND: $40,000 · EnvironmentAmerican Whitewater: $30,000 · EnvironmentSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $12,000 · EnvironmentVOCES UNIDAS DE LAS MONTANAS: $40,000 · Public BenefitNew Era Colorado Action Fund: $31,892 · Public BenefitWestern Resource Advocates: $70,000 · Crime & LegalPROGRESSNOW COLORADO: $27,000 · EducationWESTERN COLORADO ALLIANCE: $20,000 · Community Improvement
Other$3,505,022Civil Rights$200,000Environment$82,000Public Benefit$71,892Crime & Legal$70,000Education$27,000Community Improvement$20,000

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 budgetSAVE OUR NEIGHBORHOODS: $1,037,564 over 1y, 16% of budgetRocky Mountain Values: $1,020,000 over 1y, 36% of budgetLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INC: $200,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPROTECT COLORADOS RECOVERY: $100,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetWestern Resource Advocates: $70,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE ACTION FUND: $40,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVOCES UNIDAS DE LAS MONTANAS: $40,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetNew Era Colorado Action Fund: $31,892 over 1y, 8.2% of budgetAmerican Whitewater: $30,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetPROGRESSNOW COLORADO: $27,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetWESTERN COLORADO ALLIANCE: $20,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetLEAGUE OF OIL & GAS IMPACTED COLORADANS: $16,852 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $12,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOLORADO FOR ALL 2023: $10,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetCOLORADO COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK ACTION: $6,000 over 1y, 5.7% 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.

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.

Sixteen Thirty FundEducation Reform Now …Seiu Colorado State C…Western Conservation …Green Advocacy Project
Sixteen Thirty FundDC19.4× affinity7 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sixteen Thirty Fund · Education Reform Now Advocacy Inc · Seiu Colorado State Council · Western Conservation Action · Green Advocacy Project

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • American Whitewater: 5% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
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 22 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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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