Colorado · Nonprofit
ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES (Colorado) receives grants from 166 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,644,714 to it, the largest being ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES ENDOWMENT FUND ($3,811,721). 114 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.3M
- Funders on record
- 166
- Grants received
- $24M
- Net assets
- $39M
What Aspen Center for Environmental Studies does
Mission
Aces' mission is to inspire a life-long commitment to the earth by providing innovative and immersive programming for all ages.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (aces) is a nonprofit environmental science education organization.aces inspires a life-long commitment to the earth by providing innovative and immersive educational programming for all ages. We have three locations: hallam lake, rock bottom ranch, and catto center at toklat. Our education programs focus on ecological literacy, regenerative agriculture, forest and ecosystem health, land restoration, and environmental civic leadership and they reach over 140,000 individuals every year. In partnership with 60 plus partner organizations, aces teaches environmental science daily in schools from aspen to rifle colorado, provides day camps for children in the summer and over select holidays, guides adults and youths of all ages on outdoor nature classes, guided hikes and field programs. We also engage our community by hosting public lectures and events about cutting edge environmental science. Through collaborations with land trusts, public agencies and other nonprofit organizations; aces carries out its mission "educating for environmental responsibility."
$3,687,710 spent$1,214,323 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,687,710.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $20M to $29M (+39%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 0% · 2020 3% · 2021 0% · 2022 1% · 2023 1% · 2024 0% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Chris Lane
CEO
Board chair
Diane Moore
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 45 funders to 79 funders, grant income rose $1.1M → $2.8M.
28 of 166 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 166 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
41% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 36% · 2019 35% · 2020 16% · 2021 13% · 2022 11% · 2023 14% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
59% of ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES draws 56% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 30 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$20k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Aspen Center for Environmental Studies Endowment Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES?
- ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES (Colorado) receives grants from 166 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,644,714 to it, the largest being ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES ENDOWMENT FUND ($3,811,721). 114 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES have?
- IRS filings report 166 organizations giving $23,644,714 in grants to ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, 114 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES?
- ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES ENDOWMENT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $3,811,721 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Aspen Center for Environmental Studies →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 166 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing