Colorado · Nonprofit
CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER
CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER (Colorado) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,659,298 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($13,994,450). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 87% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.2M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $17M
- Net assets
- $34M
What Crow Canyon Archaeological Center does
Mission
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center empowers present and future generations by making the human past accessible and relevant through archaeological research, experiential education, and american indian knowledge.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Archaeological research and education: crow canyon conducts archaeological research focusing on the history of american indian peoples who inhabited the canyons and mesas of the mesa verde region in southwestern colorado. Since 1983, assisted by students and citizen scientists, crow canyon has contributed to important advancements in southwestern archaeology. The organization employs innovative investigative methods, engages indigenous scholars and descendant community members in the research and interpretive process, and shares findings through both print and online publications. The center's current research initiative is the northern chaco outliers project, focused on the haynie site northeast of cortez, colorado. This multi-component ancestral village includes two pueblo ii period (a.d. 950 1150) great houses. Research at the haynie site is contributing to a greater understanding of ancient community life, resource sustainability, environmental impacts, migration patterns, and human-environment relationships in the region.
$2,635,113 spentof which $50,793 as grants$224,366 earned by the program70% of program spendingCampus services: crow canyon provides lodging, food services, transportation, and related campus amenities for participants in its educational and research programs. The center operates a 210-acre rural campus designed to offer a safe, supportive environment for students, scholars, and lifelong learners.
$577,399 spent15% of program spendingCultural explorations: crow canyon offers small-group travel seminars that foster understanding of the connections between contemporary indigenous communities and their ancestors. These programs engage indigenous advisors and scholars, promoting cultural appreciation and stewardship of nonrenewable cultural resources.
$552,404 spent$348,410 earned by the program15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,764,916.
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 2021 to 2022, from $33M to $29M (−14%).
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 0% · 2018 4% · 2019 4% · 2020 3% · 2021 25% · 2022 6% · 2023 3% · 2024 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
53% of CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Board chair
Leslie M Masson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $372k → $2.1M.
13 of 39 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 87% 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 CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER’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
CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 84% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
98% 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 CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 96% · 2019 83% · 2020 88% · 2021 66% · 2022 55% · 2023 83% — 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
32% of CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
87% of CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $2.1M that is directly attributable, 95% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 12 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $15M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.4M on record.
- National Science Foundation$642k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$539k
- Department of the Interior$183k
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 CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL 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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL 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 CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER?
- CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER (Colorado) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,659,298 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($13,994,450). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 87% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $16,659,298 in grants to CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $13,994,450 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL 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.
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