Colorado · Nonprofit
BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER
BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER (Colorado) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,781,976 to it, the largest being THE DENVER FOUNDATION ($810,250). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.5M
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $13M
What Bluff Lake Nature Center does
Mission
Bluff Lake Nature Center educates individuals to be engaged, resilient, and curious; conserves a natural area in the city; furthers equity in outdoor access; and nurtures the health and well-being of communities and ecosystems.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Bluff Lake Nature Center is free and open to the public 365 days a year from sunrise to sunset. In 2024, over 100,000 visitors came to bluff lake to enjoy a few moments of solace and connection to nature, go for a run, or to enjoy an afternoon exploring with their family. Nearly 6,000 area ece- 12th grade students participated in stem based field trip programs, over 80% of these students from title 1 schools (over 50% free/reduced lunch) and came for free thanks to grant funding and donations. On field trips, students learn about habitats, water quality, and more. In 2024, bluff lake also hosted 10 weeks of summer camp for over 450 campers aged 5-17, providing over 100 full and partial scholarship spots to low-income families. Public programming included monthly family days, after-school programs, special program events such as boo on the bluff, and guided walks (bird walks, mindfulness walks, etc.). Bluff lake also hosts an onsite forest school program for homeschool families that is free for the families, thanks to state funding. Each year bluff lake works with over 700 volunteers (including scouts, corporate groups, families, and other nonprofit organizations) doing site…
$416,688 spent$235,426 earned by the program60% of program spendingIn order to provide the experiences listed above we manage our wildlife refuge, preserving and restoring our 123-acre site which has prairie, wetland, and riparian habitats. Yearly ongoing projects include trail restoration, wildlife studies, invasive species removal, tree planting, seeding disturbed areas, repair and maintenance of fencing, site security and signage, and more.
$277,792 spent40% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $694,480.
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 2022 to 2023, from $7.7M to $11M (+41%).
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 41% · 2018 38% · 2019 41% · 2020 13% · 2021 28% · 2022 26% · 2023 14% · 2024 31%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER’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. 2 of the last 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $32k → $1.2M.
11 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER’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
BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
47% 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 BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 75% · 2018 52% · 2019 41% · 2020 47% · 2021 32% · 2022 32% · 2023 50% — 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
50% of BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
89% of BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER's grant income comes from Colorado funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER
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
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
62%
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 BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER: 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 BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER?
- BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER (Colorado) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,781,976 to it, the largest being THE DENVER FOUNDATION ($810,250). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $2,781,976 in grants to BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER?
- THE DENVER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $810,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BLUFF LAKE NATURE CENTER 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 Bluff Lake Nature Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 26 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