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Mary Elizabeth Bates Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Private foundation

Mary Elizabeth Bates Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$281k
Granted FY2025still arriving
46
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$40k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 2025.

Animals$2.0MHealth$162kHuman Services$68kEducation$6kOther$0
02FY2025 · 46 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k40 grants · $186k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $95k
$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Humane Colorado$39,500
Ark Valley Humane Society-Sunshine Shelter$12,200
Larimer Humane Society$12,000
Upper Rio Grande Animal SocietyConour Shelter$10,700
Teller County Regional Animal Center$10,500
Humane Society Pikes Peak Region$10,400
Humane Society South Platte Valley$9,900
Humane Society Pagosa Springs$9,900
Foothills Animal Shelter$8,800
Hamlett Spay & Neuter Clinic Inc$8,800
Freedom Service Dogs$8,500
Montrose Animal Protective Agency$8,500
Second Chance Humane Society Ridgeway$8,125
Longmont Humane Society$8,000
Individual grant recipient$7,150
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 (FY17–25, $151k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%Freedom Service Dogs: $11k → 8%Canine Partners of The Rockies: $4k → 10%Freedom Service Dogs: $10k → 8%Canine Partners of the Rockies: $3k → 10%Freedom Service Dogs: $9k → 8%Canine Partners of The Rockies: $2k → 10%Freedom Service Dogs: $9k → 8%Canine Partners of the Rockies: $2k → 10%Freedom Service Dogs: $9k → 8%Canine Partners of the Rockies: $1k → 10%Freedom Service Dogs: $5k → 8%International Hearing Dog Inc: $12k → 10%Freedom Service Dogs: $5k → 8%International Hearing Dog Inc: $11k → 10%Freedom Service Dogs: $5k → 8%International Hearing Dog Inc: $11k → 10%Freedom Service Dogs: $5k → 8%International Hearing Dog Inc: $10k → 10%International Hearing Dog Inc: $6k → 10%International Hearing Dog Inc: $6k → 10%International Hearing Dog Inc: $6k → 10%International Hearing Dog Inc: $5k → 10%International Hearing Dog Inc: $5k → 10%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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.2M · 52 repeat orgs$145k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.

52 repeat relationships: 45 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

52
9

Total granted

$2.2M
$142k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+5%

Still filing today

54%
22%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k 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
AnimalsHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsHealthOther
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

  • DD
    DENVER DUMB FRIENDS LEAGUE
    9× · 2017–2025 · $311k · revenue +254%
  • NH
    Noco Humane
    9× · 2017–2025 · $78k · revenue +138%
  • TC
    TELLER COUNTY REGIONAL ANIMAL SHELT
    9× · 2017–2025 · $78k · revenue +36%

Funded once

  • ME
    Mary E Bates Trust
    one grant, 2023 · $58k
  • DM
    Dr Mary E Bates Trust
    one grant, 2021 · $35k
  • DB
    DR BATES TRUST
    one grant, 2022 · $34k
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
Hope Fur Paws Rescue

To help injured, abandoned and unwanted animals. We provide food, vet care that includes heartworm prevention and spay or neuter services, shelter and anything else needed.

Animals
2
Beaverhead Animal Shelter

The mission is to protect and care for homeless animals in the Dillon and Beaverhead county area.

Animals
3
Safe Haven Inc
Animals
4
Claws and Paws for a Cause

For our community we provide high quality low cost spay and neuter services as well as low cost vaccinations. we do have programs that allows us to help the families that have pets but are in financial strain and not able to have their…

Religion
5
Pound Pets Inc

Animal Rescue - finding homes for abandoned animals in Granite City, spaying and neutering stray animals and feral cats

Animals
6
Operation Pawpulation

The mission of Operation Pawpulation is to offer support and resources, including low-cost and no-cost spay/neuter, vaccinations and microchips in order to save lives by reducing the number of homeless pets in our community. Spaying and…

Animals
7
Jet Wag Animal Rescue Inc

Our mission is to move adoptable dogs and cats primarily from heavily-burdened areas to loving homes. We work with trusted partners throughout the country and around the world and facilitate vet care, transport, and adoptions to help…

Animals
8
Pets Without Partners

Find homes for homeless/abandoned dogs. Provide full vet car and housing while awaiting adoption,

Animals
9
Scroungy Dogs and Pretty Pups Rescue Inc

We rescue dogs and cats from high kill and high volume shelters, as well as intake local animals in need, transport them (if needed) to Colorado, house them in foster homes while we provide all required veterinary services, including…

Animals
10
Dogs Unbroken

Dog Rescue Dogs Unbroken supports Colorado dogs at higher risk for euthanasia evaluating their behavioral stability and applying training methods appropriate for their needs. The goal of helping each dog learn to make good choices in…

Animals
11
Sos Lost Pet Rescue Nw Inc

Decrease over population of feral cats by trapping and doing spay or neuter. Provide veterinarian care to kittens. Take owner relinquishments of pets they can no longer care for. Taking in abandoned animals and providing veterinary care.…

Animals
12
Realtors to the Rescue

Animal Rescue

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Maxfund Inc; the most unlike its peers is National Mill Dog Rescue. 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

31 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. 31 of the 62 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
31/31
Grantees still filing
25/31
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DENVER DUMB FRIENDS LEAGUE: $310,900 · AnimalsDENVER DUMB FRIENDS LEAGUENoco Humane: $77,900 · AnimalsNoco HumaneTELLER COUNTY REGIONAL ANIMAL SHELT: $77,723 · AnimalsTELLER COUNTY REGIONAL ANIMAL SHELTUPPER RIO GRANDE ANIMAL SOCIETY: $74,900 · AnimalsUPPER RIO GRANDE ANIMAL SOCIETYHUMANE SOCIETY OF PAGOSA SPRINGS: $67,400 · AnimalsHUMANE SOCIETY OF PAGOSA SPRINGSHamlett Spay & Neuter Clinic Inc: $63,800 · AnimalsHamlett Spay & Neuter Clinic IncLONGMONT HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $60,200 · AnimalsLONGMONT HUMANE SOCIETY INCTHE MAXFUND INC: $52,425 · AnimalsSouthern Colorado Spay & Neuter Association: $43,900 · AnimalsMorgan Humane Society: $41,000 · AnimalsEVERGREEN ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEAGUE: $36,700 · Animals+13 more: $182,100 · Animals+13 moreArk Valley Humane Society-Sunshine Shelter: $89,100 · OtherArk Valley Humane Society-Sunshine ShelterHumane Society Pikes Peak Region: $79,600 · OtherHumane Society Pikes Peak RegionHumane Society South Platte Valley: $71,900 · OtherHumane Society South Platte ValleyFoothills Animal Shelter: $62,100 · OtherFoothills Animal ShelterMary E Bates Trust: $58,464 · OtherMary E Bates TrustSecond Chance Humane Society Ridgeway: $58,225 · OtherSecond Chance Humane Society RidgewayBoulder Valley Humane Society: $57,550 · OtherBoulder Valley Humane SocietyMontrose Animal Protection Agency: $49,000 · OtherPAWS for Life Animal Welfare & Protective Society: $46,500 · OtherINTER-MOUNTAIN HUMANE SOCIETY: $45,500 · OtherColorado Humane Society SPCA Inc: $41,400 · Other+22 more: $394,475 · Other+22 morePARAGON SERVICE DOGS: $71,500 · Human ServicesFREEDOM SERVICE DOGS INC: $67,650 · Human ServicesCANINE PARTNERS OF THE ROCKIES INC: $12,125 · Human ServicesNational Mill Dog Rescue: $35,425 · Recreation & SportsPAWsitive Recovery: $2,000 · Health
Animals$1,088,948Other$1,053,814Human Services$151,275Recreation & Sports$35,425Health$2,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetDENVER DUMB FRIENDS LEAGUE: $310,900 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetNoco Humane: $77,900 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetTELLER COUNTY REGIONAL ANIMAL SHELT: $77,723 over 9y, 2.2% of budgetUPPER RIO GRANDE ANIMAL SOCIETY: $74,900 over 9y, 7.8% of budgetPARAGON SERVICE DOGS: $71,500 over 9y, 1.6% of budgetFREEDOM SERVICE DOGS INC: $67,650 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF PAGOSA SPRINGS: $67,400 over 9y, 0.8% of budgetHamlett Spay & Neuter Clinic Inc: $63,800 over 9y, 0.7% of budgetLONGMONT HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $60,200 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetTHE MAXFUND INC: $52,425 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetMontrose Animal Protection Agency: $49,000 over 9y, 15% of budgetINTER-MOUNTAIN HUMANE SOCIETY: $45,500 over 8y, 2.6% of budgetSouthern Colorado Spay & Neuter Association: $43,900 over 9y, 1.4% of budgetMorgan Humane Society: $41,000 over 9y, 5.0% of budgetEVERGREEN ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEAGUE: $36,700 over 9y, 0.8% of budgetNational Mill Dog Rescue: $35,425 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetEAGLE VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $30,000 over 9y, 2.8% of budgetALMOST HOME ADOPTIONS: $25,750 over 9y, 1.5% of budgetANIMAL RESCUE OF THE ROCKIES: $25,600 over 9y, 0.7% of budgetFELINE RESCUE NETWORK: $23,150 over 9y, 4.0% of budgetANIMAL FRIENDS ALLIANCE: $17,200 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFront-Porch Felines: $12,550 over 5y, 6.6% of budgetCANINE PARTNERS OF THE ROCKIES INC: $12,125 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetPROJECT ANIMALAID: $10,400 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetThe Street Dog Coalition: $9,900 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetROCKY MOUNTAIN FELINE RESCUE INC: $9,525 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetFRONT RANGE FREEDOM RESCUE INC: $7,900 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetNORTHERN COLORADO FRIENDS OF FERALS: $5,125 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetLITTLE RESCUE ON THE PRAIRIE: $3,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetSLV Spay and Neuter Alliance: $2,000 over 1y, 1.1% 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.

  • Who funds DENVER DUMB FRIENDS LEAGUE ↗
  • Who funds Noco Humane ↗
  • Who funds TELLER COUNTY REGIONAL ANIMAL SHELT ↗
  • Who funds UPPER RIO GRANDE ANIMAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds PARAGON SERVICE DOGS ↗
  • Who funds FREEDOM SERVICE DOGS INC ↗
  • Who funds HUMANE SOCIETY OF PAGOSA SPRINGS ↗
  • Who funds Hamlett Spay & Neuter Clinic Inc ↗
  • Who funds LONGMONT HUMANE SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds THE MAXFUND INC ↗
  • Who funds Montrose Animal Protection Agency ↗
  • Who funds INTER-MOUNTAIN HUMANE SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds Southern Colorado Spay & Neuter Association ↗
  • Who funds Morgan Humane Society ↗
  • Who funds EVERGREEN ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEAGUE ↗
  • Who funds National Mill Dog Rescue ↗
  • Who funds EAGLE VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds ALMOST HOME ADOPTIONS ↗
  • Who funds ANIMAL RESCUE OF THE ROCKIES ↗
  • Who funds FELINE RESCUE NETWORK ↗

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…Dr Mary Bates Trust F…Animal Assistance Fou…El Pomar FoundationXcel Energy FoundationLucile Drinkwater All…Alice Jenkins Foundat…Corrales Friends of A…Petsmart Charities IncOtter Cares Foundatio…Petco LoveBISSELL Pet Foundation
Colorado Gives FoundationCO42.2× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Colorado Gives Foundation · Dr Mary Bates Trust Fund · Animal Assistance Foundation · El Pomar Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · Lucile Drinkwater Allen Trust · Alice Jenkins Foundation · Corrales Friends of Animals Foundation Dba Dennis Friends Foundation · Petsmart Charities Inc · Otter Cares Foundation AKA OTTERCARES FOUNDATION · Petco Love · BISSELL Pet 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 Mary Elizabeth Bates Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Mary Elizabeth Bates Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Mary Elizabeth Bates Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Mary Elizabeth Bates 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 62 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

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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