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Foundation for Educational Excellence at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Foundation for Educational Excellence

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.0M
Granted FY2024still arriving
28
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$400k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$2.8MYouth Development$1.2MEmployment$1.0MRecreation & Sports$942kHealth$674kHuman Services$368kCommunity Improvement$315kPhilanthropy$178kOther$0
02FY2024 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $11k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $229k
  • $50k–250k13 grants · $1.3M
  • $250k+1 grant · $400k
$58,815
Median grant
10
States reached
$1.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BREES DREAM FOUNDATION$400,000
BUILDSTRONG ACADEMY$166,379
GREENLIGHT FUND$155,260
BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF METRO DENVER$119,000
BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO$118,880
HOME BUILDERS INSTITUTE$116,445
HOOLA NA PUA- CO CENTRAL UNION CHURCH$116,445
STEAD SCHOOL$100,000
COLORADO OPEN GOLF FOUNDATION$97,630
Individual grant recipient$95,000
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION (TEMPLE GRANDIN EQUINE CENTER)$77,630
DENVER POLICE FOUNDATION$64,408
SPECIAL OLYMPICS OF CO$62,104
TIM TEBOW FOUNDATION$58,815
EAGLE VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$48,815
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 (FY19–24, $383k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 52% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%DENVER POLICE FOUNDATION: $64k → 5%TRUE NORTH: $42k → 7%TRUE NORTH: $29k → 7%TRUE NORTH: $14k → 7%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: $10k → 14%LUBIRD'S LIGHT FOUNDATION: $5k → 7%VICTORY SERVICE DOGS: $10k → 9%FREEDOM SERVICE DOGS: $20k → 8%WARREN VILLAGE INC: $75k → 12%WARREN VILLAGE INC: $64k → 12%WARREN VILLAGE INC: $25k → 12%WARREN VILLAGE INC: $25k → 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

WA
IL
WI
MA
OR
OH
CA
UT
CO
VA
NC
DC
HI
LA
FL
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.

67%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.8M · 36 repeat orgs$2.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +32% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.

36 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2024, 27 since wound down; 17 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

36
49

Total granted

$5.8M
$1.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
+16%

Still filing today

56%
51%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 42% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.1M went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementHealthYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • TS
    The STEAD School
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.1M · revenue ×25
  • CO
    COLORADO OPEN GOLF FOUNDATION INC
    3× · 2021–2024 · $620k · revenue +32% · 32% of their budget
  • CD
    COLORADO DREAM FOUNDATION
    5× · 2017–2023 · $514k · revenue +28%

Funded once

  • DU
    DENVER UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2023 · $526k
  • TO
    The Other Side Academygraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $119k · revenue +40%
  • MH
    MILE HIGH MONTESSORI EARLY LEARNING CENT
    one grant, 2019 · $105k · revenue +14%
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
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
2
Youthbuild Global Inc

With love and respect, we partner with opportunity youth to build the skillsets and mindsets that lead to lifelong learning, livelihood, and leadership. youthbuild strives to create a world where all young people are seen for their…

Employment
3
Colorado Legal Services

To provide meaningful access to high quality, civil legal services in the pursuit of justice for as many low income persons and members of vulnerable populations throughout colorado as possible.

Crime & Legal
4
Ascend College Prep

Ascend College Prep is a public high school for 10-12th grade students in Colorado Springs and the surrounding area. Our Mission is to "Prepare and inspire students to become lifelong learners and responsible citizens through rigorous…

Education
5
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…

—
6
Soar Charter School

Soar charter school was founded in 2010 and is built on the premise that we should "expect more" from our public schools. soar students create full and meaningful lives, enrich our democracy, and contribute to a more just society.

Education
7
Chicago Public Education Fund

The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.

Education
8
Kipp Colorado Schools

Kipp colorado's mission is to equip our students with the academic skills and character strengths necessary to succeed in college and careers.

Education
9
Denver Children's Home

Denver children's home restores hope and health to traumatized children and families through a comprehensive array of therapeutic, educational, and community-based services.

Health
10
Springboard Collaborative

Springboard collaborative combines targeted student instruction with parent training in an incentivized system that closes the literacy gap, by transferring the summer from a barrier into a springboard for financially disadvantaged…

Human Services
11
Denver Academy Inc

Education of students with learning differences

Education
12
Denver Hybrid College

To support college students in innovative, affordable paths to in-demand careers and financial freedom.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Denver Public Schools Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The Challenge Foundation. 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

60 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. 60 of the 105 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
57/60
Grantees still filing
40/60
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

The STEAD School: $1,141,853 · OtherThe STEAD SchoolBuildstrong Academy: $868,825 · OtherBuildstrong AcademyDENVER UNIVERSITY: $525,500 · OtherDENVER UNIVERSITYCOLORADO DREAM FOUNDATION: $513,500 · OtherCOLORADO DREAM FOUNDATIONBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF METRO DENVER INC: $507,500 · OtherBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF METRO DENVER INCIndividual grant recipient: $285,000 · OtherSPECIAL OLYMPICS OF CO: $207,104 · Other+58 more: $1,826,608 · Other+58 moreCOLORADO OPEN GOLF FOUNDATION INC: $620,130 · PhilanthropyCOLORADO OPEN G…BREES DREAM FOUNDATION: $400,000 · PhilanthropyBREES DREAM FOU…TIM TEBOW FOUNDATION INC: $58,815 · PhilanthropyEAGLE VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $48,815 · Philanthropy+4 more: $72,500 · Philanthropy+4 moreWARREN VILLAGE INC: $189,000 · Human ServicesHO'OLA NA PUA: $95,000 · Human ServicesTRUE NORTH INCORPORATED: $85,250 · Human ServicesDENVER POLICE FOUNDATION: $64,408 · Human ServicesFREEDOM SERVICE DOGS INC: $19,500 · Human Services+3 more: $25,000 · Human ServicesGREENLIGHT FUND INC: $220,260 · Community ImprovementTHE COLORADO NONPROFIT DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $50,000 · Community ImprovementFREEDOM COMMUNITIES: $33,500 · Community Improvement+1 more: $10,000 · Community ImprovementSEWALL CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $65,000 · EducationBOOK TRUST: $60,000 · EducationStrive Preparatory Schools: $45,000 · EducationChildren's Literacy Center Inc: $30,667 · EducationDENVER SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INC: $23,000 · EducationExecutives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC): $20,350 · EducationMARINE CORPS SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $16,500 · Education+7 more: $52,040 · EducationThe Other Side Academy: $119,000 · Crime & LegalFields of Hope: $112,000 · Crime & LegalCHILDREN'S ADVOCACY & FAMILY RESOURCES INC: $19,500 · Crime & LegalBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO: $118,880 · Youth DevelopmentINVEST IN KIDS: $81,500 · Youth Development+1 more: $500 · Youth Development
Other$5,875,890Philanthropy$1,200,260Human Services$478,158Community Improvement$313,760Education$312,557Crime & Legal$250,500Youth Development$200,880

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 STEAD School: $1,141,853 over 5y, 12% of budgetCOLORADO OPEN GOLF FOUNDATION INC: $620,130 over 3y, 32% of budgetCOLORADO DREAM FOUNDATION: $513,500 over 5y, 11% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF METRO DENVER INC: $507,500 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetBREES DREAM FOUNDATION: $400,000 over 1y, 37% of budgetGREENLIGHT FUND INC: $220,260 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetWARREN VILLAGE INC: $189,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetThe Other Side Academy: $119,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO: $118,880 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetHOME BUILDERS INSTITUTE: $116,445 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFields of Hope: $112,000 over 2y, 6.4% of budgetMILE HIGH MONTESSORI EARLY LEARNING CENT: $105,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetHERE TOMORROW INC: $100,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetPGA TOUR FIRST TEE FOUNDATION INC: $95,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHO'OLA NA PUA: $95,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetINVEST IN KIDS: $81,500 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetSEWALL CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $65,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetDENVER POLICE FOUNDATION: $64,408 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT-ROCKY MOUNTAIN INC: $60,500 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetBOOK TRUST: $60,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetTIM TEBOW FOUNDATION INC: $58,815 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAmp the Cause: $50,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetBuilding Talent Foundation: $50,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetTHE COLORADO NONPROFIT DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $50,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetEAGLE VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $48,815 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetStrive Preparatory Schools: $45,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetA Sanctuary for Military Families Inc DBA Project Sanctuary: $39,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetFREEDOM COMMUNITIES: $33,500 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetREBUILDING TOGETHER BATON ROUGE INC: $32,500 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetTHE CHALLENGE FOUNDATION: $32,500 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetChildren's Literacy Center Inc: $30,667 over 4y, 2.0% of budgetDENVER SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INC: $23,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetExecutives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC): $20,350 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetRehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCare Ring Inc: $19,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetASCENDIGO AUTISM SERVICES INC: $19,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFREEDOM SERVICE DOGS INC: $19,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCHILDREN'S ADVOCACY & FAMILY RESOURCES INC: $19,500 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetMARINE CORPS SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $16,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetImagination Library of Denver: $10,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetVICTORY SERVICE DOGS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetEVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDENVER BIENNIAL OF THE AMERICAS CORP: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetHEARTHSTONE BUILDER AWARD FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT OUR TOWN: $10,000 over 1y, 6.1% 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.

Colorado Gives Founda…The Denver FoundationRose Community Founda…The Colorado Health F…Mile High United Way …Daniels FundTemple Hoyne Buell Fo…The Anschutz Foundati…Denver Broncos Founda…Boettcher FoundationXcel Energy FoundationThe Connie Burwell Wh…
Colorado Gives FoundationCO45.2× 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 · Rose Community Foundation · The Colorado Health Foundation · Mile High United Way Inc · Daniels Fund · Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation · The Anschutz Foundation · Denver Broncos Foundation · Boettcher Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · The Connie Burwell White and William W White 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 Foundation for Educational Excellence funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Foundation for Educational Excellence. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
21report 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 105 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Foundation for Educational Excellence’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