Colorado · Nonprofit
DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION
DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION (Colorado) receives grants from 119 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,719,833 to it, the largest being PROSPERITY DENVER FUND ($25,643,789). 68 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $30M
- Funders on record
- 119
- Grants received
- $41M
- Net assets
- $43M
What Denver Scholarship Foundation does
Mission
Denver Scholarship Foundation (dsf) inspires and empowers denver public schools (dps) students to enroll in and graduate from postsecondary institutions of higher education by providing the tools, knowledge, and financial resources for success.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Scholarships: Denver Scholarship Foundation (dsf) awards up to five years of scholarships to dps graduates with significant financial need, who qualify to attend one of dsf's 30 college partners in colorado, including universities, technical and/or community colleges. In fy25, dsf awarded scholarships to 2,504 qualifying students with 82% of the most recent 6- year cohort having graduated or continuing to persist in their postsecondary education. The demographics of dsf scholars are among the most under-represented in college; 87% are first-generation college students, all were raised in limited-income households, and 93% are students of color. (continued on schedule o)
$9,259,849 spentof which $8,624,992 as grants59% of program spendingCollege access: dsf provides free career and college advisement services for over 14,000 9th-12th grade students at its 15 dsf future centers, which are dsf-staffed resource centers located in dps high schools. The majority of students served through dsf future centers demonstrate financial need and are first in their families to attend college; coaching these students and their families through the complexities of planning, applying, enrolling, and paying for college are the core functions of this much- needed program. (continued on schedule o)
$4,079,488 spent26% of program spendingCollege success: dsf, in collaboration with its 30 college partners throughout colorado, provides critical wraparound services to all dsf scholars, ensuring each receives additional career exploration and guidance, financial aid, academic, and social support to help them persist and graduate from college. Dsf has agreements in place with each college partner, including additional gift aid, which ensure dsf scholars receive all success services through designated campus and financial aid contacts at each institution. (continued on schedule o)
$2,336,836 spent$86,585 earned by the program15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $15,676,173.
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 2020 to 2021, from $28M to $37M (+33%).
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 15% · 2018 18% · 2019 23% · 2020 15% · 2021 13% · 2022 24% · 2023 25% · 2024 28% · 2025 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
74% of DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
Lorii Rabinowitz
CEO
Board chair
Luella Chavez Dangelo
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 22 funders to 49 funders, grant income rose $1.9M → $8.9M.
20 of 119 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.9M from 6 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Denver Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 119 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
DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
80% 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 DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 32% · 2019 19% · 2020 15% · 2021 70% · 2022 61% · 2023 76% — 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
44% of DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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 DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Colorado funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $6.1M on record.
- Department of Education$6.1M
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 DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION
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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION: 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 DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION?
- DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION (Colorado) receives grants from 119 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,719,833 to it, the largest being PROSPERITY DENVER FUND ($25,643,789). 68 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 119 organizations giving $40,719,833 in grants to DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION, 68 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION?
- PROSPERITY DENVER FUND is the largest funder on record, with $25,643,789 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DENVER SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION 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 Denver Scholarship →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 119 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