Colorado · Nonprofit
COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT
COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT (Colorado) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,088,304 to it, the largest being THE COLORADO HEALTH FOUNDATION ($1,169,204). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.8M
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $2.1M
- Net assets
- $413k
What Colorado Poverty Law Project does
Mission
The Colorado Poverty Law Project's (cplp) mission is to prevent homelessness through legal representation, education, and advocacy. We believe that no one should become homeless for lack of access to housing justice.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Legal clinic: cplp hosts an in-person legal clinic in denver county court two days a week, on thursdays and fridays, in room 163 from 8 a.m. To 12 p.m. Our legal clinic assists tenants facing evictions.
$147,953 spent8% of program spendingMobile home initiative: cplp provides free legal housing guidance and representation to individuals facing housing insecurity, including eviction legal defense and discrimination in housing. Cplp also does extensive outreach and education for both the community and attorneys by conducting know-your-rights trainings and continuing legal education courses to educate individuals about their housing rights.
$271,437 spent$29,940 earned by the program15% of program spendingHousing advocacy: cplp provides housing advocacy to clients and provides education and supports on wraparound support services where available. Cplp is also responsible for developing and supporting policies to improve the housing security of low-income coloradoans.
$1,414,431 spentof which $98,903 as grants77% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,833,821.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $451k to $657k (+46%).
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: 2020 59% · 2021 86% · 2023 74% · 2024 81% · 2025 93%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (93% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 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
Shannon Mackenzie
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $45k → $404k.
6 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% 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 POVERTY LAW PROJECT’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
COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
42% 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 POVERTY LAW PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 96% · 2021 56% · 2022 55% · 2023 74% — 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
71% of COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 47% 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 COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT's grant income comes from Colorado funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $459k 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.
Against its field
COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT has grown faster than three-quarters of the 852 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 852 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT
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
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
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 COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT: 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 COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT?
- COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT (Colorado) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,088,304 to it, the largest being THE COLORADO HEALTH FOUNDATION ($1,169,204). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $2,088,304 in grants to COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT?
- THE COLORADO HEALTH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,169,204 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COLORADO POVERTY LAW PROJECT 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 Poverty Law Project →
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 15 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