· Private foundation
Wayne Swanson Charitable Fund
Its FY2021 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2021.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2021
- Under $10k2 grants · $7k
- $10k–50k8 grants · $137k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $75k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| EARTH JUSTICE | $75,000 |
| TROUT UNLIMITED | $45,000 |
| STEAMBOAT ART MUSEUM | $20,000 |
| NATURE CONSERVANCY | $15,000 |
| OPERA STEAMBOAT | $15,000 |
| KUNC | $12,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $10,000 |
| ROCKY MOUNTAIN YOUTH CORPS | $10,000 |
| COLORADO CATTLEMAN'S LAND TRUST | $10,000 |
| BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB | $5,000 |
| LIFT UP OF ROUTT COUNTY | $2,000 |
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 (FY17–21, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 6%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
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 +82% since the first grant, against +6% for those funded once.
8 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2021, 1 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (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 FY2021, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $25k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
EARTHJUSTICE4× · 2017–2021 · $150k · revenue +82%- TUTROUT UNLIMITED INC4× · 2017–2021 · $90k · revenue +133%
- CRCOMMUNITY RADIO FOR NORTHERN COLORADO4× · 2017–2021 · $25k · revenue +55%
Funded once
- RMROCKY MOUNTAIN PUBLIC MEDIA INCone grant, 2017 · $3k · revenue -11%
- BABOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF NW COLORADOone grant, 2017 · $3k
- FOFRIENDS OF THE ORCHESTRAone grant, 2017 · $2k · revenue +6%
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.
Living rivers promotes river restoration through mobilization by articulating conservation and alternative management strategies to the public. seeking to revive the natural habitat and spirit of rivers by undoing the extensive damage done…
Colorado open lands' mission is to preserve the significant open lands and natural heritage of colorado through private and public partnerships, innovative land conservation, and strategic leadership.
To conserve, protect and restore colorado's coldwater fisheries and their watersheds.
Vision: a healthy and resilient big thompson watershed benefitting fish, wildlife, and the people itserves through collaborative efforts for current and future generations. mission: working with others to take action that protects and…
To restore water to colorado's rivers.
Public interest law firm - the western environmental law center uses the power of the law to foster thriving, resilient western u.s. lands, waters, wildlife, and communities in the face of a changing climate. we envision a thriving west,…
Rocky mountain wild works to protect, connect, and restore wildlife and wild lands in the southern rocky mountain region. we work to secure the biodiversity of the mountains, plains, and desert ecosystems of colorado, wyoming, utah, and…
Caltrout's mission is ensuring healthy water and resilient wild fish for a better california. we share a common vision of a california where healthy waters flow from headwaters to sea. where the diversity and resilience of our waters and…
To conserve functioning salmon/steelhead eco-system at watershed levels, integrate angling activities with basic scientific research, collect raw data, monitor environmental functions, salmon/steelhead population dynamics, public…
How this is measured
10 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. 10 of the 15 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.
- Who funds EARTHJUSTICE ↗
- Who funds TROUT UNLIMITED INC ↗
- Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
- Who funds STEAMBOAT ART MUSEUM ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY RADIO FOR NORTHERN COLORADO ↗
- Who funds OPERA STEAMBOAT ↗
- Who funds ROCKY MOUNTAIN YOUTH CORPS ↗
- Who funds Lift Up of Routt County ↗
- Who funds ROCKY MOUNTAIN PUBLIC MEDIA INC ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF THE ORCHESTRA ↗
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: Colorado Gives Foundation · Craig-Scheckman Family Foundation · The Duffey Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Wayne Swanson Charitable Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Wayne Swanson Charitable Fund. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Wayne Swanson Charitable Fund?
Find your warmest path to Wayne Swanson Charitable Fund 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.
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