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Colorado · Nonprofit

Cherokee Ranch & Castle

Cherokee Ranch & Castle (Colorado) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $144,500 to it, the largest being LARRK Foundation ($55,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$2.3M
Funders on record
8
Grants received
$145k
Net assets
$34M
3/8 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 1%
01What it does

What Cherokee Ranch & Castle does

Mission

The Cherokee Ranch & Castle Foundation is committed to preserving the natural environment, enhancing cultural life in Colorado and providing education opportunities devoted to western heritage, wildlife and the arts.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Maintain historic working ranch, Santa Gertrudis cattle herd, and rare art collection.

    $512,211 spent$94,340 earned by the program
    33% of program spending
  2. Education on the local natural environment and historic culture.

    $1,021,392 spent$1,275,451 earned by the program
    67% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,533,603.

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 ($1.1M) Expenses 100 ($1.5M) Net assets 100 ($32M)2021 Revenue 189 ($2.0M) Expenses 104 ($1.5M) Net assets 102 ($33M)2022 Revenue 184 ($2.0M) Expenses 115 ($1.7M) Net assets 101 ($32M)2023 Revenue 167 ($1.8M) Expenses 132 ($1.9M) Net assets 102 ($33M)2024 Revenue 216 ($2.3M) Expenses 138 ($2.0M) Net assets 105 ($34M)
20202021202220232024
Revenue (216)Expenses (138)Net assets (105)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 $33M to $34M (+3%).

$33M
$33M
$33M
$33M
$34M
20202021202220232024
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 26% · 2021 32% · 2022 20% · 2023 16% · 2024 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

27% of Cherokee Ranch & Castle’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,303 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

−$391k
’20
$505k
’21
$294k
’22
−$140k
’23
$301k
’24
5.7
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.

Chief executive

James A Holmes

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

20202021202220232024
Listed77899
Joined·+0+2+1+0
No longer listed·0100
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $62k → $10k.

3 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 Cherokee Ranch & Castle’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

Cherokee Ranch & Castle leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

43% 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 Cherokee Ranch & Castle.

38%
largest funder
71%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 89% · 2019 63% · 2020 100% · 2021 52% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.

“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

0% of Cherokee Ranch & Castle's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 38% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y

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

69% of Cherokee Ranch & Castle's grant income comes from Colorado funders.

WI
CO
DC

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

’18
’19
’20
’21
’23
Colorado out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $36k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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

Cherokee Ranch & Castle runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,187 environment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin13% · above the median
Months of reserve5.7mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)21% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,187 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Government funding Cherokee Ranch & Castle receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $10k on record.

Federal$10k
grants $10kcontracts $0
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$10k

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 Cherokee Ranch & Castle

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

76% of spending goes to programs.

Program 76%Management 19%Fundraising 5%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

65%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CO

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Cherokee Ranch & Castle: 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 Cherokee Ranch & Castle?
Cherokee Ranch & Castle (Colorado) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $144,500 to it, the largest being LARRK Foundation ($55,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Cherokee Ranch & Castle have?
IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $144,500 in grants to Cherokee Ranch & Castle, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Cherokee Ranch & Castle?
LARRK Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $55,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Cherokee Ranch & Castle 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 Cherokee Ranch & Castle →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 8 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