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Unite for Colorado at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Unite for Colorado

To promote the common good and general welfare of americans by promoting public policy that strengthens the economy, promotes job growth, and supports fair and reasonable business regulations.

$7.0M
Granted FY2022
8
Grants FY2022
1
States reached
$2.7M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2022.

Public Benefit$6.1MEducation$5.5MCivil Rights$4.4MCommunity Improvement$3.6MHealth$100kEmployment$50k
02FY2022 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2022

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
  • $250k+6 grants · $6.9M
$400,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$234k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COLORADO DAWN$2,710,000
UNITE FOR COLORADO ACTION IEC$2,700,000
READY COLORADO$560,000
COLORADO TAXPAYER ADVOCATE FUND$400,000
ACCOUNTABILITY COLORADO ACTION COMMITTEE$250,000
WESTERN CITIZENS PROTECTING OUR CONSTITUTION$250,000
RECALL PRIOLA ACTION COMMITTEE$100,000
RESTORE COLORADO LEADERSHIP FUND IEC$25,000
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 (FY20–22) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 86% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%COMMITTEE FOR SPENDING TRANSPARENCY: $1.3M → 3%COLORADO PRFRS: $200k → 7%DEFEND COLORADO: $2.9M → 8%COLORADO DAWN: $2.7M → 9%COLORADANS FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES: $45k → 9%UNITE FOR COLORADO ACTION IEC: $2.7M → 12%COLORADO NEIGHBORHOOD COALITION: $375k → 12%CUT PROPERTY TAXES: $875k → 3%BETTER JOBS COALITION: $50k → 7%DEFEND COLORADO: $330k → 8%COLORADO DAWN: $250k → 9%UNITE FOR COLORADO ACTION IEC: $1.6M → 12%COLORADO NEIGHBORHOOD COALITION: $50k → 12%COLORADO RISING STATE ACTION: $175k → 3%PUBLIC TRUST INSTITUTE: $310k → 8%PROTECT COLORADO'S VOTE: $250k → 9%UNITE FOR COLORADO ACTION: $126k → 12%ACCOUNTABILITY COLORADO ACTION COMMITTEE: $250k → 12%RECALL PRIOLA ACTION COMMITTEE: $100k → 3%WESTERN CITIZENS PROTECTING OUR CONSTITUTION: $250k → 8%COLORADO OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION: $250k → 12%RESTORE COLORADO LEADERSHIP FUND IEC: $25k → 12%ROCKY MOUNTAIN POLICY GROUP: $250k → 12%INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE: $250k → 12%READY COLORADO: $1.4M → 12%COLORADO TAXPAYER ADVOCATE FUND: $975k → 12%READY COLORADO: $650k → 12%COLORADO TAXPAYER ADVOCATE FUND: $400k → 12%READY COLORADO: $560k → 12%COLORADO TAXPAYER ADVOCATE FUND: $368k → 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.

76%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$15M · 6 repeat orgs$4.7M to everyone else

6 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2022, 2 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
12

Total granted

$15M
$4.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-73%
-49%

Still filing today

67%
42%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $625k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22
Public BenefitCrime & LegalEducationCivil RightsOther
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

  • UF
    UNITE FOR COLORADO ACTION IEC
    2× · 2020–2022 · $4.3M
  • DC
    Defend Colorado
    3× · 2020–2024 · $3.2M · revenue -73% · 86% of their budget
  • CD
    COLORADO DAWN
    4× · 2021–2024 · $3.0M · revenue ×18 · 60% of their budget

Funded once

  • CF
    COMMITTEE FOR SPENDING TRANSPARENCY
    one grant, 2021 · $1.3M
  • CP
    CUT PROPERTY TAXES
    one grant, 2021 · $875k
  • PT
    Public Trust Institute
    one grant, 2020 · $310k · revenue -80% · 41% of their budget
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
Building a Better Colorado

To conduct research, promote community engagement, and provide an amalgamation of information to the citizens of colorado.

Community Improvement
2
Clear Information Colorado

Clear information colorado conducts research, writing, online publication and citizen education on policies that will strengthen the united states of america. these activities will primarily be focused on the following four subject areas:…

Civil Rights
3
The Colorado Trust
Philanthropy
4
Colorado Solar Energy Industries Assoc

Our mission is to expand solar and storage markets and to generate jobs and prosperity for the people of Colorado. Together with hundreds of solar and storage business members we work to advance clean energy policies, remove market…

—
5
The Colorado Parks Foundation Inc
Recreation & Sports
6
The Colorado Health Foundation
Health
7
Colorado Civic Education

Educate the general public about important policy issues.

Civil Rights
8
Colorado Health Institute
Health
9
Colorado People's Action

Colorado people's action (cpa) is a member-driven, racial justice organization dedicated to winning long-lasting progressive public policies in colorado. cpa builds power by mobilizing voters, electing our own people to office, holding…

—
10
Coloradans for Progress

To research and distribute information to citizens concerning the general affordability of life, of the economy, and of the environment and advocating for workers and a strong jobs market in colorado.

—
11
Unite for Colorado

To promote the common good and general welfare of americans by promoting public policy that strengthens the economy, promotes job growth, and supports fair and reasonable business regulations.

—
12
Colorado Energy Foundation

The Colorado Energy Foundation was incorporated in 2019 as a 501(c)(3) supporting organization of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association and seeks to amplify existing philanthropic efforts of the oil and gas industry in Colorado and develop…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Advance Colorado; the most unlike its peers is Western Way Action. 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

17 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2024.

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 2024, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 17 of the 22 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.

10
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/17
Grantees still filing
2/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNITE FOR COLORADO ACTION IEC: $4,250,000 · OtherUNITE FOR COLORADO ACTION IECDefend Colorado: $3,180,000 · OtherDefend ColoradoREADY COLORADO: $2,575,000 · OtherREADY COLORADOCOMMITTEE FOR SPENDING TRANSPARENCY: $1,275,000 · OtherCOMMITTEE FOR SPENDING TRANSPARENCYCUT PROPERTY TAXES: $875,000 · OtherCUT PROPERTY TAXES+12 more: $2,146,000 · Other+12 moreCOLORADO DAWN: $2,960,000 · EducationCOLORADO DAWNCOLORADO TAXPAYERS' ADVOCATE FUND INC: $1,743,000 · Public BenefitCOLORADO TA…INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE: $250,000 · Public BenefitINDEPENDENC…Public Trust Institute: $310,000 · Crime & LegalCOLORADO OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION: $250,000 · Civil Rights
Other$14,301,000Education$2,960,000Public Benefit$1,993,000Crime & Legal$310,000Civil Rights$250,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetDefend Colorado: $3,180,000 over 3y, 86% of budgetCOLORADO DAWN: $2,960,000 over 4y, 60% of budgetREADY COLORADO: $2,575,000 over 5y, 42% of budgetCOLORADO TAXPAYERS' ADVOCATE FUND INC: $1,743,000 over 3y, 100% of budgetCOLORADO NEIGHBORHOOD COALITION: $425,000 over 2y, 97% of budgetPublic Trust Institute: $310,000 over 1y, 41% of budgetROCKY MOUNTAIN POLICY GROUP: $250,000 over 1y, 71% of budgetINDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE: $250,000 over 1y, 9.4% of budgetProtect Colorados Vote: $250,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetWESTERN CITIZENS PROTECTING OUR CONSTITUTION: $250,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetCOLORADO OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 1y, 9.9% of budgetCOLORADO PRFRS: $200,000 over 1y, 93% of budgetColorado Rising State Action: $175,000 over 1y, 26% of budgetBETTER JOBS COALITION: $50,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetCOLORADANS FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES INC: $45,000 over 1y, 15% 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.

Ready ColoradoColorado Opportunity …Our Community Our Fut…
Ready ColoradoCO26.3× affinity10 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ready Colorado · Colorado Opportunity Foundation · Our Community Our Future

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 Unite for Colorado funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Unite for Colorado. Bigger dots raise more.

2022
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY20–24
    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.

    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 22 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2022, released 2022. 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 $5.3M of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2022, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Unite for Colorado’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