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Colorado · Nonprofit

COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE

COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE (Colorado) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,566,159 to it, the largest being Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ($3,391,500). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$2.6M
Funders on record
39
Grants received
$9.6M
Net assets
$2.7M
24/39 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 92%
01What it does

What Colorado Fiscal Institute does

Mission

To provide timely, credible and accessible analyses of fiscal and economic issues facing colorado to inform public policy debates and promote economic prosperity

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Research, analysis and reporting regarding state taxes that are fair and sustainable and that can support investments in a thriving economy and broadly shared prosperity, analysis of how federal tax and budget decisions affect colorado, analysis of the role of immigrants in the colorado economy, and other analysis and research projects including education funding, family leave, and economic prosperity in colorado.

    $1,391,298 spent$17,580 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,391,298.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($917k) Expenses 100 ($833k) Net assets 100 ($648k)2018 Revenue 133 ($1.2M) Expenses 126 ($1.0M) Net assets 126 ($814k)2019 Revenue 115 ($1.1M) Expenses 135 ($1.1M) Net assets 115 ($743k)2020 Revenue 152 ($1.4M) Expenses 155 ($1.3M) Net assets 131 ($845k)2021 Revenue 183 ($1.7M) Expenses 165 ($1.4M) Net assets 177 ($1.1M)2022 Revenue 204 ($1.9M) Expenses 162 ($1.3M) Net assets 258 ($1.7M)2023 Revenue 149 ($1.4M) Expenses 162 ($1.3M) Net assets 261 ($1.7M)2024 Revenue 282 ($2.6M) Expenses 186 ($1.6M) Net assets 421 ($2.7M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (282)Expenses (186)Net assets (421)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 $1.8M to $2.8M (+52%).

$678k
$876k
$813k
$932k
$1.3M
$1.8M
$1.8M
$2.8M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

96% of COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (60% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,444 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$84k
’17
$166k
’18
−$71k
’19
$103k
’20
$299k
’21
$526k
’22
$21k
’23
$1.0M
’24
19
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

Kathy A White

Executive director

Board chair

Tiana Patterson

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed978889912
Joined·+0+1+0+0+3+3+5
No longer listed·2000232
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $488k → $1.3M.

14 of 39 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 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

COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 35% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

81% 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 COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE.

35%
largest funder
55%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 66% · 2018 52% · 2019 56% · 2020 49% · 2021 30% · 2022 37% · 2023 26% — 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

64% of COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE draws 72% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 7 states in all.

NH
NY
CA
CO
DC
HI
GA

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Colorado out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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

COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 4,206 community improvement nonprofits its size.

Operating margin40% · top quartile
Months of reserve19.2mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)16% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,206 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE

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

90% of spending goes to programs.

Program 90%Management 9%Fundraising 1%

Governance

11
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

98%

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 COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE: 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 COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE?
COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE (Colorado) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,566,159 to it, the largest being Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ($3,391,500). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE have?
IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $9,566,159 in grants to COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE?
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is the largest funder on record, with $3,391,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like COLORADO FISCAL INSTITUTE 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 Colorado Fiscal Institute →

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 39 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