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Thrivers Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Thrivers Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$169k
Granted FY2025still arriving
15
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2022 to 2024.

Community Improvement$107kEducation$47kHuman Services$35kReligion$32kYouth Development$11kArts & Culture$2kPhilanthropy$2k
02FY2025 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k6 grants · $24k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $95k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$4.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY$50,000
CENTER FOR ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION INC$25,000
IGLESIA PRESBITERIANA EMANUEL$10,000
JUSTICEMATTERS INC$10,000
NORTH CAROLINA BAR FOUNDATION$10,000
EMANUEL FOOD PANTRY$10,000
DREAM CENTERS OF COLORADO SPRINGS$10,000
FOUNDATION FOR COLORADO SPRINGS FUTURE INC$10,000
EXPONENTIAL IMPACT$10,000
PIKES PEAK HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE CARE INC$5,500
CRISTO REY RESEARCH TRIANGLE HIGH SCHOOL INC$5,000
PARENTS CHALLENGE$5,000
DURHAMCARES INC$3,000
HIGHTS INC$2,500
WE HELP CHILDREN INC$2,500
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 (FY23–24, $27k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%COLORADO SPRINGS CHILD NURSERY CENTERS INC: $5k → 9%SOLID ROCK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTCORPORATION: $20k → 9%SOLID ROCK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTCORPORATION: $2k → 9%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.

65%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$261k · 7 repeat orgs$138k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +28% since the first grant, against +11% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
6

Total granted

$261k
$29k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+11%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 36% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $109k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24’25
EducationCommunity ImprovementArts & CultureHuman ServicesPhilanthropyFood & NutritionOther
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

  • EI
    Exponential Impact
    3× · 2023–2025 · $75k · revenue +28%
  • CENTER FOR ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION
    3× · 2023–2025 · $52k · revenue +41%
  • DC
    DREAM CENTERS OF COLORADO SPRINGS
    4× · 2022–2025 · $40k · revenue +15%

Funded once

  • CS
    COLORADO SPRINGS SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY
    one grant, 2024 · $10k
  • HC
    Hillside Connection
    one grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue +10%
  • CS
    COLORADO SPRINGS CHILD NURSERY CENTERS INC
    one grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue 0%
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
Center for Nonprofit Excellence

The Center for Nonprofit Excellence strengthens Southern Colorado's nonprofit sector through leadership and resource development, advocacy and collaboration. Together, with our partners, we are co-creating a vibrant community in the Pikes…

—
2
Ascend College Prep

Ascend College Prep is a public high school for 10-12th grade students in Colorado Springs and the surrounding area. Our Mission is to "Prepare and inspire students to become lifelong learners and responsible citizens through rigorous…

Education
3
Data-Driven Economic Strategies Inc

To enhance economic opportunities with data-driven strategies that inform community and workforce development initiatives.

Science & Tech
4
Colorado Thrives

Colorado Thrives exists to support Coloradans to achieve economic mobility through access to good jobs.

Community Improvement
5
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
6
Womens Comm Leadership Initiative

WCLI empowers women in Colorado Springs to realize their full leadership potential, breakdown barriers to advancement, create a more inclusive and equitable community for all.

Employment
7
The Downtown Partnership of Colorado Springs

Working to ensure that Downtown Colorado Springs serves as the economic, civic, and cultural heart of Colorado Springs.

Community Improvement
8
Peak Partnership

Peak partnership shall be operated exclusively for: (i) the promotion of social welfare by developing and advocating for legislation, regulations, and government programs to improve the environment, ...see continuation on schedule o

Human Services
9
Communities in Schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Inc

The mission of Communities In Schools is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.

Education
10
Startup Colorado

Startup colorado serves to help both entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders access the human, social, and financial capital they need to build thriving businesses.

Human Services
11
Colorado Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau

Colorado Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau's, now doing business as Visit Colorado Springs (VCOS), primary exempt purpose is promotion of the Pikes Peak Region. VCOS is designed to stimulate the visitor industry in the Pikes Peak…

—
12
Endeavor Colorado

Endeavor colorado is a not-for-profit leading the high-impact entrepreneurship movement in colorado to catalyze long-term economic growth by selecting, mentoring, and supporting the best high-impact entrepreneurs in our region. high-impact…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Joint Initiatives for Youth and Families; the most unlike its peers is Wake Forest University. 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

23 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. 23 of the 24 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
22/23
Grantees still filing
12/23
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY: $50,000 · EducationWAKE FOREST UNIVERSITYPARENTS CHALLENGE: $35,000 · EducationPARENTS CHALLENGECOLORADO SPRINGS SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY: $10,000 · EducationCOLORADO SPRINGS SCHOOL OF TEC…Peak Education: $7,000 · EducationPeak EducationCRISTO REY RESEARCH TRIANGLE HIGH SCHOOL INC: $5,000 · EducationExponential Impact: $75,000 · Community ImprovementExponential ImpactFOUNDATION FOR COLORADO SPRINGS FUTURE: $30,000 · Community ImprovementFOUNDATION FOR COLORADO SPRIN…CENTER FOR ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION: $52,000 · Arts & CultureCENTER FOR ACTI…+1 more: $1,500 · Arts & CultureDREAM CENTERS OF COLORADO SPRINGS: $40,000 · HealthDREAM CENTE…SOLID ROCK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTCORPORATION: $22,000 · Human ServicesCOLORADO SPRINGS CHILD NURSERY CENTERS INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesIglesia Presbiteriana Emanuel: $10,000 · OtherIglesia Presbiter…NORTH CAROLINA BAR FOUNDATION: $10,000 · OtherNORTH CAROLINA BA…PIKES PEAK HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE CARE INC: $5,500 · OtherPIKES PEAK HOSPIC…JUSTICEMATTERS INC: $10,000 · OtherJUSTICEMATTERS IN…Hillside Connection: $10,000 · OtherHillside Connecti…FOUNDATION OF THE HEART: $5,000 · OtherFOUNDATION OF THE…DURHAMCARES INC: $3,000 · OtherHIGHTS Inc: $2,500 · OtherWE HELP CHILDREN AND FAMILIES INC: $2,500 · Other+2 more: $2,500 · OtherEMANUEL FOOD PANTRY: $10,000 · Food & Nutrition
Education$107,000Community Improvement$105,000Arts & Culture$53,500Health$40,000Human Services$27,000Other$61,000Food & Nutrition$10,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetExponential Impact: $75,000 over 3y, 7.7% of budgetCENTER FOR ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION: $52,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetWAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDREAM CENTERS OF COLORADO SPRINGS: $40,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetPARENTS CHALLENGE: $35,000 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR COLORADO SPRINGS FUTURE: $30,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetSOLID ROCK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTCORPORATION: $22,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetEMANUEL FOOD PANTRY: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetCOLORADO SPRINGS SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY: $10,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetHillside Connection: $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA BAR FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPeak Education: $7,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCRISTO REY RESEARCH TRIANGLE HIGH SCHOOL INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOLORADO SPRINGS CHILD NURSERY CENTERS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDURHAMCARES INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetHIGHTS Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGAZETTE CHARITIES: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetColorado Springs Community Ventures Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetJOINT INITIATIVES FOR YOUTH AND FAMILIES: $1,000 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.

El Pomar FoundationPikes Peak Community …The Myron Stratton Ho…Colorado Springs Heal…The John E and Margar…Luther T McCauley Cha…Pikes Peak United WayINDYGIVE DBA Give Pik…The Joseph Henry Edmo…Dusty and Katherine L…The Moniker FoundationEnt Credit Union
El Pomar FoundationCO25.6× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: El Pomar Foundation · Pikes Peak Community Foundation · The Myron Stratton Home · Colorado Springs Health Foundation · The John E and Margaret L Lane Foundation · Luther T McCauley Charitable Trust Xxxxx3001 · Pikes Peak United Way · INDYGIVE DBA Give Pikes Peak · The Joseph Henry Edmondson Foundation · Dusty and Katherine Loo Foundation Dba Bloom Foundation · The Moniker Foundation · Ent Credit Union

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 Thrivers Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Thrivers 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%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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 Thrivers Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Thrivers 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 24 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

    Play a game based on Thrivers’ 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