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Marion Esser Kaufmann Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Marion Esser Kaufmann Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$875k
Granted FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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$4.1MEducation$1.5MRecreation & Sports$340kEnvironment$215kPhilanthropy$105kCrime & Legal$80kHuman Services$20kOther$0
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k9 grants · $170k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $705k
$50,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$12M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NATIONAL MARROW DONOR PROGRAM$100,000
CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE$100,000
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL COLORADO FOUNDATION$100,000
COLORADO ACADEMY$100,000
ASTRONAUT SCHOLARSHIP FUND$70,000
ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION - COLORADO CHAPTER$65,000
HIGH FIVES FOUNDATION$65,000
MOUNTAIN AREA LAND TRUST$55,000
MOUNT EVANS HOME AND HEALTH CARE INC$50,000
ANGEL FLIGHT WEST$30,000
BOOTSTRAPS$30,000
CASA OF JEFFERSON AND GILPIN COUNTIES$20,000
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER$20,000
ZARLENGO FOUNDATION$20,000
METROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 55% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%BE THE MATCH: $100k → 11%AMERICAN FEDERATION FOR AGING RESEARCH: $110k → 17%ASTRONAUT SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $70k → 13%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF COLORADO: $215k → 10%BE THE MATCH: $100k → 11%AMERICAN FEDERATION FOR AGING RESEARCH: $110k → 17%ASTRONAUT SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $60k → 13%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF COLORADO: $180k → 10%BE THE MATCH: $100k → 11%AMERICAN FEDERATION FOR AGING RESEARCH: $100k → 17%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF COLORADO: $160k → 10%NATIONAL MARROW DONOR PROGRAM: $100k → 11%AMERICAN FEDERATION FOR AGING RESEARCH: $90k → 17%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF COLORADO: $150k → 10%NATIONAL MARROW DONOR PROGRAM: $100k → 11%AMERICAN FEDERATION FOR AGING RESEARCH: $90k → 17%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF COLORADO: $130k → 10%BE THE MATCH: $100k → 11%AMERICAN FEDERATION FOR AGING RESEARCH: $80k → 17%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL COLORADO FOUNDATION: $100k → 10%BE THE MATCH: $80k → 11%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF COLORADO: $90k → 10%BE THE MATCH: $80k → 11%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF COLORADO: $80k → 10%BE THE MATCH: $80k → 11%CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $100k → 17%CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $100k → 17%ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION - COLORADO CHAPTER: $65k → 12%CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $100k → 17%ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION - COLORADO CHAPTER: $65k → 12%CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $100k → 17%ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION - COLORADO CHAPTER: $65k → 12%CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $100k → 17%ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION - COLORADO CHAPTER: $65k → 12%CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $90k → 17%CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $90k → 17%COLORADO ACADEMY: $120k → 7%CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $65k → 17%COLORADO ACADEMY: $100k → 7%CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $65k → 17%COLORADO ACADEMY: $100k → 7%COLORADO ACADEMY: $100k → 7%COLORADO ACADEMY: $100k → 7%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $90k → 12%COLORADO ACADEMY: $90k → 7%COLORADO ACADEMY: $90k → 7%COLORADO ACADEMY: $65k → 7%COLORADO ACADEMY: $65k → 7%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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7.1M · 22 repeat orgs$225k to everyone else

22 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
8

Total granted

$7.1M
$195k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+43%
+60%

Still filing today

68%
25%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k 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
HealthEducationPhilanthropyEnvironmentSocial ScienceCivil 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

  • CH
    Children's Hospital Colorado
    7× · 2018–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +64%
  • CA
    COLORADO ACADEMY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $830k · revenue +54%
  • CR
    CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $810k · revenue +43%

Funded once

  • AA
    ALZHEIMER ASSOCIATION - NATIONAL
    one grant, 2017 · $50k
  • AD
    ALZHEIMER DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC - CO CHAPTER
    one grant, 2017 · $35k
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGOgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $30k · revenue +60%
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
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
2
Colorado State University Foundation

See schedule o colorado state university foundation assists in the promotion, development, and enhancement of facilities and educational programs and enhancements of faculty, students, and alumni of colorado state university (csu). this is…

Education
3
Colorado Gives Foundation

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

Philanthropy
4
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
5
Colorado Museum of Natural History

Be a catalyst! Ignite our community's passion for nature and science.

Arts & Culture
6
Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation Inc

The sarnoff cardiovascular research foundation is dedicated to cultivating the next generation of physician-leaders in cardiovascular medicine by funding and supporting medical students and physicians engaged in transformative research.

Health
7
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

See schedule ouniversity corporation for atmospheric research (ucar), on behalf of, and in cooperation with its member university members, is engaged in the management of long-term atmospheric and related research and educational…

Science & Tech
8
Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation Inc Colorado

Scholarships for scienctific students

Education
9
Denver Scholarship Foundation

Denver scholarship foundation (dsf) inspires and empowers denver public schools (dps) students to enroll in and graduate from postsecondary institutions of higher education by providing the tools, knowledge, and financial resources for…

Education
10
Banner -University Medical Group

Assist banner health complete its mission to make health care easier so life can be better by providing integrated & coordinated care & population health management.

Health
11
Colorado Longitudinal Study

Advancing the health of people through advancing the science of medicine. the colorado longitudinal study (cols) is building the world's most comprehensive longitudinal collection of biological specimens matched with clinical health and…

Education
12
American College of Radiology Foundation

The mission of the acr foundation is to advance the profession and practice of radiology to benefit patients with a specific emphasis on health policy research.

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Angel Eyes. 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

19 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. 19 of the 33 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/19
Grantees still filing
16/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Children's Hospital Colorado: $1,005,000 · HealthChildren's Hospital ColoradoCANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC: $810,000 · HealthCANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE INCNATIONAL MARROW DONOR PROGRAM: $200,000 · HealthNATIONAL MARROW DONOR PROGRAMChildren's Hospital Colorado Foundation: $190,000 · HealthChildren's Hospital Colorado Founda…ANGEL FLIGHT WEST INC: $90,000 · HealthALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION - COLORADO CHAPTER: $460,000 · OtherALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION - COL…HIGH FIVES FOUNDATION: $365,000 · OtherHIGH FIVES FOUNDATIONBootstraps Inc: $315,000 · OtherBootstraps IncMOUNT EVANS HOME AND HEALTH CARE INC: $275,000 · OtherMOUNT EVANS HOME AND HEALTH C…ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION - HUDSON VALLEY NY CHAPTER: $85,000 · OtherMETROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER: $80,000 · Other+13 more: $305,000 · Other+13 moreCOLORADO ACADEMY: $830,000 · EducationCOLORADO ACADEMYASTRONAUT SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $380,000 · EducationASTRONAUT SCHOLARSHI…UNIVERSITY OF DENVER: $120,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF DENVERNMDP FOUNDATION: $640,000 · PhilanthropyNMDP FOUNDA…Zarlengo Foundation: $125,000 · PhilanthropyZarlengo Fo…AMERICAN FEDERATION FOR AGING RESEARCH INC: $650,000 · Social ScienceAMERICAN F…MOUNTAIN AREA LAND TRUST: $270,000 · EnvironmentGOALS: $10,000 · EnvironmentCASA OF JEFFERSON AND GILPIN COUNTIES: $100,000 · Civil Rights
Health$2,295,000Other$1,885,000Education$1,330,000Philanthropy$765,000Social Science$650,000Environment$280,000Civil Rights$100,000

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 budgetChildren's Hospital Colorado: $1,005,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCOLORADO ACADEMY: $830,000 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetCANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC: $810,000 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICAN FEDERATION FOR AGING RESEARCH INC: $650,000 over 8y, 2.6% of budgetNMDP FOUNDATION: $640,000 over 7y, 0.8% of budgetASTRONAUT SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $380,000 over 7y, 5.3% of budgetBootstraps Inc: $315,000 over 9y, 41% of budgetMOUNTAIN AREA LAND TRUST: $270,000 over 6y, 5.2% of budgetNATIONAL MARROW DONOR PROGRAM: $200,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetChildren's Hospital Colorado Foundation: $190,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetZarlengo Foundation: $125,000 over 9y, 7.9% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DENVER: $120,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCASA OF JEFFERSON AND GILPIN COUNTIES: $100,000 over 5y, 2.4% of budgetANGEL FLIGHT WEST INC: $90,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAngel Eyes: $20,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetETM-COLORADO INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetEPIC EXPERIENCE: $10,000 over 1y, 1.4% 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 Children's Hospital Colorado ↗
  • Who funds COLORADO ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN FEDERATION FOR AGING RESEARCH INC ↗
  • Who funds NMDP FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ASTRONAUT SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Bootstraps Inc ↗
  • Who funds MOUNTAIN AREA LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL MARROW DONOR PROGRAM ↗
  • Who funds Children's Hospital Colorado Foundation ↗
  • Who funds Zarlengo Foundation ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF DENVER ↗
  • Who funds CASA OF JEFFERSON AND GILPIN COUNTIES ↗
  • Who funds ANGEL FLIGHT WEST INC ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO ↗
  • Who funds Angel Eyes ↗
  • Who funds GOALS ↗
  • Who funds ETM-COLORADO INC ↗
  • Who funds EPIC EXPERIENCE ↗

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…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Colorado Gives FoundationCO14.9× affinity5 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Colorado Gives Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Marion Esser Kaufmann Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Marion Esser Kaufmann Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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 33 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 Marion Esser Kaufmann’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