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Colorado · Nonprofit

BLACKPACKERS

BLACKPACKERS (Colorado) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,781,385 to it, the largest being THE COLORADO HEALTH FOUNDATION ($1,374,040). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$555k
Funders on record
17
Grants received
$1.8M
Net assets
$597k
7/17 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Blackpackers does

Mission

To provide gear, outdoor excursions and outdoor education for free or at subsidized cost. To connect participants with volunteer opportunities, internships, jobs, and post-secondary education resources to create a pipeline from outdoor recreation to outdoor industry careers. In these ways, we can create economic equity in outdoor recreation.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Snow sports excursions - through a partnership with arapahoe basin ski area, Blackpackers hosted multiple ski days, bringing participants together for skiing lessons and fellowship.

    $60,631 spent
    75% of program spending
  2. Blackpackers hosted a gear locker, making outdoor equipment available to area residents.

    $8,084 spent
    10% of program spending
  3. Multiple camping and backpacking events. Connecting bipoc individuals and families with public lands is a primary goal of Blackpackers. Executive director, patricia cameron also participated in mountaineering training, increasing the safety and opportunities for participants.

    $12,126 spent
    15% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $80,841.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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.

100 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($4k) Expenses 100 ($4k) Net assets 100 ($2k)2021 Revenue 2252 ($90k) Expenses 1397 ($51k) Net assets 2228 ($40k)2022 Revenue 7851 ($313k) Expenses 5484 ($202k) Net assets 8388 ($151k)2023 Revenue 9870 ($393k) Expenses 7272 ($268k) Net assets 15357 ($276k)2024 Revenue 9985 ($398k) Expenses 7742 ($285k) Net assets 21618 ($388k)2025 Revenue 13936 ($555k) Expenses 9400 ($346k) Net assets 33238 ($597k)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (13936)Expenses (9400)Net assets (33238)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $284k to $1.3M (+344%).

$2k
$40k
$154k
$284k
$1.3M
$1.1M
202020212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2022 3% · 2023 9% · 2024 2% · 2025 72%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

95% of BLACKPACKERS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (18% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 16,168 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$298
’20
$38k
’21
$111k
’22
$125k
’23
$112k
’24
$209k
’25
36
months of
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.

2022202320242025
Listed6666
Joined·+0+2+1
No longer listed·021
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $11k → $1.3M.

3 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% 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 BLACKPACKERS’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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

BLACKPACKERS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 77% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

77%
largest funder
88%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 91% · 2021 84% · 2022 73% · 2023 86% — 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

57% of BLACKPACKERS's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 41% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y

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

88% of BLACKPACKERS's grant income comes from Colorado funders.

IL
NY
MA
OR
CA
CO
DE

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’20
’21
’22
’23
Colorado out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $27k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

BLACKPACKERS runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 10,453 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.

Operating margin38% · top quartile
Months of reserve35.9mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)168% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,453 recreation & sports nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like BLACKPACKERS

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

23% of spending goes to programs.

Program 23%Management 61%Fundraising 15%

Governance

5
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

57%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BLACKPACKERS: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 BLACKPACKERS?
BLACKPACKERS (Colorado) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,781,385 to it, the largest being THE COLORADO HEALTH FOUNDATION ($1,374,040). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does BLACKPACKERS have?
IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $1,781,385 in grants to BLACKPACKERS, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of BLACKPACKERS?
THE COLORADO HEALTH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,374,040 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like BLACKPACKERS 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 Blackpackers →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 17 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing