Skip to content

Colorado · Private foundation

The Esther Foundation

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.

$198k
Granted FY2024(still arriving)
11
Grants FY2024
12
Organizations funded FY2023
33%
First-time grantees FY2023
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2024
$10,000
Largest grant, FY2024
$110,000
Organizations funded a year
2 to 12
FY2017 to FY2023
States reached, FY2024
4
Total assets, FY2024
$2.4M
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2023, 33% of the organizations The Esther Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 50% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 50% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $258k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23
EducationInternationalHuman ServicesReligionPhilanthropyEnvironmentOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2024still arriving11$198k18%
FY202312$513k33%
FY202212$320k58%
FY202110$189k60%
FY202011$211k64%
FY201911$262k73%
FY20185$95k80%
FY20172$550kn/a
80% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Housing & Shelter$878kEducation$719kHuman Services$298kRecreation & Sports$100kInternational$75kReligion$63kPhilanthropy$49kEnvironment$45kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

MT
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
CA
CO
NC
DC
HI
GA
TX
FL

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Alliance for Choice in Education$523,00050%
Jeremiah's Hope Inc$250,000160%
Habitat for Humanity Inc$150,000274%
Azusa Pacific University$130,00040%
Wild Philanthropy Inc$75,000226%
Scholar Leaders International$45,00031%
Hope Without Boundaries$40,000329%
Focus on the Family$27,5002n/a
Family Research Council$20,00020%
Cherry Hills Community Church$12,5002n/a
Show all 20 grantees
All grantees of The Esther Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Alliance for Choice in Education$523,00050%
Jeremiah's Hope Inc$250,000160%
Habitat for Humanity Inc$150,000274%
Azusa Pacific University$130,00040%
Wild Philanthropy Inc$75,000226%
Scholar Leaders International$45,00031%
Hope Without Boundaries$40,000329%
Focus on the Family$27,5002n/a
Family Research Council$20,00020%
Cherry Hills Community Church$12,5002n/a
Michael S Heiser Foundation$10,00014%
Colorado Christian University$10,00010%
Central Wesleyan Church$10,0001n/a
Forte for Children$10,00012%
Vision America Action$10,0001n/a
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association$5,0001n/a
Upper Colorado River Alliance$5,000111%
FND Courage$1,26012%
Point Loma Nazarene University$30010%
Medecins Sans Frontieres USA Inc$22010%

Plus 20 recipients with no EIN on record ($1.0M), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

The Esther Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 4 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 15 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetAlliance for Choice in Education: $523,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetJeremiah's Hope Inc: $250,000 over 1y, 60% of budgetHabitat for Humanity Inc: $150,000 over 2y, 74% of budgetAzusa Pacific University: $130,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWild Philanthropy Inc: $75,000 over 2y, 26% of budgetScholar Leaders International: $45,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetHope Without Boundaries: $40,000 over 3y, 29% of budgetFamily Research Council: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMichael S Heiser Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetColorado Christian University: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetForte for Children: $10,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetUpper Colorado River Alliance: $5,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetFND Courage: $1,260 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetPoint Loma Nazarene University: $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMedecins Sans Frontieres USA Inc: $220 over 1y, 0.0% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 15.

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.

Natl Christian Charitable Fdn IncGA10.3× affinity7 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · 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.

Compare The Esther Foundation with peer funders

About The Esther Foundation

How much does The Esther Foundation give?
The Esther Foundation reported 11 grants totaling $197,800 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 2 and 12 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
What does The Esther Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Housing & Shelter (37%), Education (30%), Human Services (13%).
Who are The Esther Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Alliance for Choice in Education ($523k), Jeremiah's Hope Inc ($250k), Habitat for Humanity Inc ($150k).
Does The Esther Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2023, 33% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does The Esther Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as The Esther Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc, American Endowment Foundation, Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund.
Where is The Esther Foundation based?
The Esther Foundation is based in CO.

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 42 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 Esther’s filings →

More from the funding graph