· Private foundation
The Cielo Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
Read this first · the figures below need context
97% of The Cielo Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 3 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k29 grants · $108k
- $10k–50k3 grants · $74k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $54k
- $250k+1 grant · $8.5M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND | $8,525,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $53,800 |
| CDL SCHOOL - UNITED STATES TRUCK DRIVING | $39,805 |
| ACCENT BEAUTY | $23,250 |
| GALS INC | $10,861 |
| Individual grant recipient | $9,295 |
| SCHOOL OF BOTANICAL & MEDICAL AESTHETICS | $8,590 |
| IBMC COLLEGE | $8,590 |
| ATI HOME IMPROVEMENT | $7,860 |
| I HAVE A DREAM | $7,348 |
| FRONT RANGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE | $7,207 |
| Individual grant recipient | $6,980 |
| EMILY GRIFFITH TECHNICAL COLLEGE | $6,908 |
| LASH & CO LASH COMPANY EDUCATION | $6,760 |
| CORNELL UNIVERSITY | $5,460 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY19–20, $17k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +458% since the first grant, against +22% for those funded once.
18 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 23 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 44% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $132k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- ICIBMC COLLEGE6× · 2019–2024 · $216k
- TGTECHTONIC GROUP INC3× · 2019–2021 · $120k
- IGIndividual grant recipient2× · 2023–2024 · $62k
Funded once
- WMWEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELLone grant, 2020 · $250k
- MFMAYORS FUND TO ADVANCE NYCone grant, 2020 · $150k
- UOUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue +76%
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.
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.
The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
Golden gate university prepares individuals to lead and serve by providing high quality, practice-based educational programs in law, taxation, business and related professions - as a nonprofit institution - in an innovative and challenging…
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…
The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.
We provide exemplary interdisciplinary programs for a community of scholar-practitioners within a distributed learning model grounded in student-driven inquiry and leading to enhanced knowledge.
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.
The organization's primary exempt purpose is to provide access to and conduct activities in furtherance of higher education.
Benedictine University is an inclusive academic community dedicated to teaching and learning, scholarship and service, truth and justice, as inspired by the Catholic intellectual tradition, the social teaching of the Church, and the…
Columbia college improves lives by providing quality education to both traditional and nontraditional students, helping them achieve their true potential.
As a christian university, we provide education and research opportunities preparing global leaders to partner with local communities.
Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…
How this is measured
11 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. 11 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
Open a dossier: Rose Community Foundation · The Denver Foundation · Colorado Gives Foundation · Mile High United Way Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Cielo Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Cielo Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Cielo’s filings →