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Sprout Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Sprout Foundation Inc

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$1.2M
Granted FY2021
4
Grants FY2021
2
States reached
$787k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0174% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2021.

Environment$20MEducation$3.5MHuman Services$173kYouth Development$100kPhilanthropy$78kCivil Rights$55kCommunity Improvement$35kHealth$33kOther$0
02FY2021 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2021

  • Under $10k1 grant · $144
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $250k+2 grants · $1.2M
$400,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$4.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION$786,666
HEADWATERS ECOLOGY AND COMMUNITY CENTER$400,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
Individual grant recipient$144
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 (FY17–21) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 0% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%THIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND: $10k → 16%CP FALCON AIV: $340 → 17%ENERGY PARTNERS: $422 → 14%WORLD WILDLIFE FUND: $5k → 14%CO OPEN LANDS: $10k → 7%GRAND BEGINNINGS: $25k → 7%ABILITY CONNECTION: $33k → 12%CCP II AIV II: $43 → 17%ENERGY PARTNERS: $341 → 14%CO OPEN LANDS: $10k → 7%COZENS RANCH MUSEUM: $2k → 7%RAFT COLORADO: $20k → 12%CP FALCON AIV: $39 → 17%ENERGY PARTNERS: $274 → 14%CO OPEN LANDS: $10k → 7%MPSH POST PROM: $2k → 7%DENVER WALDOFF SCHOOL: $425k → 12%CCP II AIV II: $38 → 17%ENERGY PARTNERS: $236 → 14%CO OPEN LANDS: $10k → 7%GRAND FOUNDATION: $78k → 7%JUDI'S HOUSE: $81k → 12%CCP II PWD TRF AIV: $29 → 17%ENERGY PARTNERS: $144 → 14%FRASER VALLEY LIONS CLUB: $3k → 7%JUDI'S HOUSE: $81k → 12%CCP II PWD TRF AIV: $4 → 17%HISTORIC FRASER: $5k → 7%SEWALL CAHILL DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $25k → 12%JUDI'S HOUSE: $5k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $857k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $857k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $787k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $200k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $200k → 12%INVEST IN KIDS: $100k → 12%CITY YEAR DENVER: $3k → 12%FLORENCE CRITTENTON: $10k → 12%HEADWATERS ECOLOGY ADN COMMUNITY CENTER: $7.1M → 12%HEADWATERS ECOLOGY ADN COMMUNITY CENTER: $7.0M → 12%HEADWATERS ECOLOGY ADN COMMUNITY CENTER: $4.4M → 12%HEADWATERS ECOLOGY AND COMMUNITY CENTER: $655k → 12%HEADWATERS ECOLOGY AND COMMUNITY CENTER: $400k → 12%DENVER ZOO: $10k → 12%ANTIDEFAMATION LEAGUE: $5k → 12%COLORADO WATER TRUST: $20k → 12%DENVER KIDS: $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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$23M · 10 repeat orgs$772k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +79% since the first grant, against +33% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2021, 6 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
21

Total granted

$23M
$772k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+79%
+33%

Still filing today

30%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21
EducationPhilanthropyEnvironmentYouth DevelopmentHealthAnimalsOther
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

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION
    5× · 2017–2021 · $2.9M · revenue +79%
  • JH
    JUDI'S HOUSE INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $168k · revenue +59%
  • MS
    METROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2017–2020 · $160k · revenue +129%

Funded once

  • DW
    DENVER WALDOFF SCHOOL
    one grant, 2017 · $425k
  • II
    INVEST IN KIDSgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $100k · revenue +76%
  • BP
    BRIDGE PROJECT
    one grant, 2017 · $50k
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
Colorado Open Lands

Colorado open lands' mission is to preserve the significant open lands and natural heritage of colorado through private and public partnerships, innovative land conservation, and strategic leadership.

Environment
2
Colo Foundation for Water Education

Water education colorado ensures coloradans are informed on water issues and equipped to make decisions that guide our state to a sustainable water future.

Environment
3
Confluence Center of Colorado Inc

The Center brings together mission-focused, nonpolitical organizations working at the confluence of land and water science, education, and stewardship to magnify our impact and ensure the longevity of our natural resources for future…

Environment
4
Property and Environment Research Center

Perc is dedicated to advancing conservation through markets, incentives, property rights, and partnerships.

Public Benefit
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
Center for Improving Value in Health Care

To equip partners and communities in colorado and across the nation with the resources, services and unbiased data needed to improve health and health care. we help communities, organizations and individuals identify opportunities to…

Health
7
Uviation World Water

To leverage education, technology, and innovative solutions to improve river health.

Environment
8
Colorado Ag Water Alliance

Works with farmers and ranchers to address water issues around the state impacting agriculture.

Environment
9
Greater Yellowstone Coalition

Greater yellowstone coalition works with all people to protect the lands, waters, and wildlife of the greater yellowstone ecosystem, now and for future generations.

Environment
10
Upper Colorado River Alliance
Environment
11
Colorado Center On Law and Policy

Colorado center on law and policy is an antipoverty organization advancing the rights of every coloradan.

Crime & Legal
12
Education Commission of the States

The mission of education commission of the states is to advocate for attaining educational excellence for all and to help state leaders identify, develop and implement public policy for education that addresses current and future needs of…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Metropolitan State University of Denver Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Headwaters Ecology and Community Centers. 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

18 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. 18 of the 32 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/18
Grantees still filing
15/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HEADWATERS ECOLOGY ADN COMMUNITY CENTER: $18,554,733 · OtherHEADWATERS ECOLOGY ADN COMMUNITY CENTER+19 more: $610,410 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $2,900,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF …METROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER FOUNDATION INC: $160,000 · Education+2 more: $35,000 · EducationHEADWATERS ECOLOGY AND COMMUNITY CENTERS: $1,055,000 · PhilanthropyJUDI'S HOUSE INC: $167,500 · PhilanthropyColumbine Community Foundation: $78,000 · PhilanthropyINVEST IN KIDS: $100,000 · Youth DevelopmentABILITY CONNECTION COLORADO INC: $33,333 · HealthCOLORADO WATER TRUST: $20,000 · EnvironmentWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $5,000 · EnvironmentDENVER ZOOLOGICAL FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Animals
Other$19,165,143Education$3,095,000Philanthropy$1,300,500Youth Development$100,000Health$33,333Environment$25,000Animals$10,000

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 budgetUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $2,900,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetHEADWATERS ECOLOGY AND COMMUNITY CENTERS: $1,055,000 over 2y, 74% of budgetJUDI'S HOUSE INC: $167,500 over 3y, 2.7% of budgetMETROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER FOUNDATION INC: $160,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetColumbine Community Foundation: $78,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetABILITY CONNECTION COLORADO INC: $33,333 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGRAND BEGINNINGS: $25,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetRAFT(RESOURCE AREA FOR TEACHING)COLORADO: $20,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetCOLORADO WATER TRUST: $20,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetDENVER ZOOLOGICAL FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCITY YEAR INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% 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…Rose Community Founda…Caring for Colorado F…The Colorado Health F…Mile High United Way …The Bank of America C…National Philanthropi…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Colorado Gives FoundationCO16.9× affinity6 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Colorado Gives Foundation · Rose Community Foundation · Caring for Colorado Foundation · The Colorado Health Foundation · Mile High United Way Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · 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 Sprout Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sprout Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Third Sector New England Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 Sprout Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Sprout Foundation 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 32 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 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2021, the most recent year this funder made grants.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Sprout’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