Skip to content
The Caruso Foundation dba Caruso Entrepreneurship Initiative at a glance

· Private foundation

The Caruso Foundation dba Caruso Entrepreneurship Initiative

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.

$1.5M
Granted FY2024still arriving
32
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$355k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$7.1MCommunity Improvement$1.0MHealth$462kArts & Culture$374kPublic Benefit$359kYouth Development$233kEmployment$224kHuman Services$111kOther$0
02FY2024 · 32 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k10 grants · $26k
  • $10k–50k14 grants · $234k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $618k
  • $250k+2 grants · $605k
$10,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$41M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
University of Colorado Foundation$355,000
University of Chicago Booth School of Business$250,000
University of Illinois$225,000
Boulder Police Foundation$111,000
Greenhouse Scholars$92,700
Individual grant recipient$75,000
Endeavor Colorado$64,473
National Center for Women & Information Technology$50,000
Access Opportunity$40,000
Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau$25,000
Operation Walk Denver$25,000
Evans Scholars Foundation$25,000
Unite America Institute$20,000
Boulder Cancer Fighters$15,000
Colorado Forum Fund Inc$13,500
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 (FY17–24, $222k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Boys Town: $500 → 12%Camp Kesem: $4k → 14%Camp Kesem: $2k → 14%Camp Kesem: $1k → 14%Access Opportunity: $40k → 12%Access Opportunity: $40k → 12%Access Opportunity: $40k → 12%Access Opportunity: $40k → 12%Access Opportunity: $35k → 12%Access Opportunity: $10k → 12%Access Opportunity: $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.

Which US states its grants reach

MN
IL
NY
CA
CO
NE
MD
AZ
NM
TN
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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$9.7M · 39 repeat orgs$873k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +34% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

39 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2024, 19 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

39
30

Total granted

$9.7M
$546k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
0%

Still filing today

69%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $326k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationCommunity ImprovementArts & CultureHealthHuman ServicesYouth 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

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION
    7× · 2017–2024 · $3.1M · revenue +79%
  • University of Chicago
    7× · 2017–2024 · $1.4M · revenue +56%
  • GS
    GREENHOUSE SCHOLARS
    7× · 2017–2024 · $436k · revenue +213%

Funded once

  • UO
    University of Colorado Boulder
    one grant, 2020 · $240k
  • A(
    Anschutz (CU Foundation)
    one grant, 2020 · $60k
  • BC
    BOULDER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +18%
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
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…

—
2
Colorado Business Roundtable Partners

To perform education and research priorities that work to strengthen Colorado's economic viability. COBRT Partners works to improve the business climate in our state by focusing on key pillars for a sustainable, growing, and global…

Education
3
Colorado Health Institute
Health
4
Social Venture Partners Boulder County Inc

To harness the collective power of nonprofits and philanthropic changemakers to accelerate community impact.

Philanthropy
5
Colorado Chamber of Commerce Fka Co Assn of Commerce & Industry

The colorado chamber of commerce mission is to enhance the business climate of the state of colorado by promoting a positive legislative and regulatory environment and providing programs and services for its members, economic education,…

—
6
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
7
Colorado Gives Foundation

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

Philanthropy
8
Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce

The denver metro chamber of commerce is the architect of tomorrow, igniting change and driving progress to build dynamic economies and communities. we champion innovation, forge powerful partnerships, and relentlessly advocate for our…

—
9
The Colorado Health Foundation
Health
10
Colorado Museum of Natural History

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

Arts & Culture
11
Colorado Fiscal Institute

To provide timely, credible and accessible analyses of fiscal and economic issues facing colorado to inform public policy debates and promote economic prosperity

Community Improvement
12
Public Education & Business Coalition

Every child deserves a great educator. pebc works across the nation to prepare outstanding new teachers, help practicing teachers and leaders become exceptional, and shape systems and policies in order to foster vibrant growth and lasting…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Boulder Chamber of Commerce; the most unlike its peers is Father Flanagan's Boys' Home. 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

52 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. 52 of the 82 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
49/52
Grantees still filing
30/52
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $3,102,476 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATIONUniversity of Chicago: $1,445,000 · EducationUniversity of ChicagoGREENHOUSE SCHOLARS: $436,150 · EducationGREENHOUSE SCHOLARS+9 more: $249,800 · EducationUniversity of Illinois: $1,230,000 · OtherUniversity of IllinoisEndeavor Colorado: $775,000 · OtherEndeavor ColoradoCIVICO: $305,000 · OtherCIVICOUniversity of Colorado Boulder: $240,000 · OtherUniversity of Colorado Boulder+47 more: $1,266,800 · Other+47 moreBOULDER COMMUNITY HEALTH FOUNDATION: $170,000 · HealthBOULDER CANCER FIGHTERS: $160,000 · HealthRocky Mountain Adventist Healthcare Foundation: $75,000 · Health+2 more: $18,000 · HealthTHE DAIRY CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $241,667 · Arts & CultureBOULDER HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $95,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $5,000 · Arts & CultureColorado Thrives: $220,893 · Community ImprovementENDEAVOR COLORADO: $64,473 · Community ImprovementDENVER CIVIC VENTURES INC: $18,000 · Community ImprovementGlider: $12,000 · Community Improvement+1 more: $1,000 · Community ImprovementNATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: $183,000 · Youth DevelopmentWatson Institute: $50,000 · Youth DevelopmentACCESS OPPORTUNITY: $215,000 · Human Services+2 more: $6,518 · Human Services
Education$5,233,426Other$3,816,800Health$423,000Arts & Culture$341,667Community Improvement$316,366Youth Development$233,000Human Services$221,518

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $3,102,476 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $1,445,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetGREENHOUSE SCHOLARS: $436,150 over 7y, 3.1% of budgetCIVICO: $305,000 over 3y, 43% of budgetTHE DAIRY CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $241,667 over 5y, 4.6% of budgetColorado Thrives: $220,893 over 4y, 32% of budgetACCESS OPPORTUNITY: $215,000 over 7y, 4.1% of budgetNATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: $183,000 over 6y, 1.2% of budgetBOULDER COMMUNITY HEALTH FOUNDATION: $170,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetBOULDER CANCER FIGHTERS: $160,000 over 7y, 10% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DENVER: $118,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBoulder Police Foundation: $111,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetBreakthrough Alliance of Colorado Inc: $95,100 over 5y, 7.8% of budgetBOULDER HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $95,000 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetRocky Mountain Adventist Healthcare Foundation: $75,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetEL DORADO FOUNDATION INC: $65,000 over 4y, 8.5% of budgetENDEAVOR COLORADO: $64,473 over 1y, 10% of budgetWatson Institute: $50,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetDENVER SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INC: $50,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBOULDER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: $50,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetPRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE: $45,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWomens Leadership Foundation Inc: $40,000 over 4y, 9.8% of budgetUNITE AMERICA INSTITUTE INC: $40,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION BOULDER COUNTY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDENVER METRO CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOULDER COUNTY RSVP BOARD INC dba CULTIVATE: $20,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetDENVER HYBRID COLLEGE: $20,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetDENVER CIVIC VENTURES INC: $18,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budget5430 FOUNDATION: $17,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCOLORADO FORUM FUND INC: $13,500 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetENDEAVOR GLOBAL INC (F/K/A THE ENDEAVOR INITIATIVE INC): $12,750 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGlider: $12,000 over 2y, 8.5% of budgetCOLORADO JAZZ GROUP: $10,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetMAYO CLINIC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH BOULDER LITTLE LEAGUE: $10,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetBENEVOLENT HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION: $8,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIMPACT ON EDUCATION INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSHELTER INC: $7,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCamp Kesem National: $6,018 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNIWOT HIGH SCHOOL BOOSTERS INC: $5,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetDENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBig Green: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMYLIFELINE INC: $4,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCOLORADO WOMEN'S CHAMBER FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 1y, 52% of budgetALMEIDA MOLECULAR IMAGING FOUNDATION CORPORATION: $3,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetJAZZ AT ASPEN-SNOWMASS: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetColorado Drive Foundation Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTARA INSTITUTE OF THE PERFORMING ARTS: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% 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 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds University of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds GREENHOUSE SCHOLARS ↗
  • Who funds CIVICO ↗
  • Who funds THE DAIRY CENTER FOR THE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds Colorado Thrives ↗
  • Who funds ACCESS OPPORTUNITY ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ↗
  • Who funds BOULDER COMMUNITY HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BOULDER CANCER FIGHTERS ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF DENVER ↗
  • Who funds Boulder Police Foundation ↗
  • Who funds Breakthrough Alliance of Colorado Inc ↗
  • Who funds BOULDER HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds Rocky Mountain Adventist Healthcare Foundation ↗
  • Who funds EL DORADO FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ENDEAVOR COLORADO ↗
  • Who funds Watson Institute ↗
  • Who funds DENVER SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INC ↗
  • Who funds BOULDER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ↗
  • Who funds PRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Womens Leadership Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds UNITE AMERICA INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION BOULDER COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds DENVER METRO CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU ↗
  • Who funds BOULDER COUNTY RSVP BOARD INC dba CULTIVATE ↗

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.

Community Foundation …Colorado Gives Founda…The Denver FoundationRose Community Founda…Amg Charitable Gift F…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Thiry-O'Leary Foundat…Gary PhilanthropyThe Anschutz Foundati…Daniels FundImpactassetsincStarting Line Foundat…
Community Foundation Boulder CountyCO35.3× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation Boulder County · Colorado Gives Foundation · The Denver Foundation · Rose Community Foundation · Amg Charitable Gift Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Thiry-O'Leary Foundation · Gary Philanthropy · The Anschutz Foundation · Daniels Fund · Impactassetsinc · Starting Line 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 The Caruso Foundation dba Caruso Entrepreneurship Initiative funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Caruso Foundation dba Caruso Entrepreneurship Initiative. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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 The Caruso Foundation dba Caruso Entrepreneurship Initiative?

    Find your warmest path to The Caruso Foundation dba Caruso Entrepreneurship Initiative 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 82 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 Caruso Foundation dba Caruso Entrepreneurship Initiative’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