Colorado · Nonprofit
DESTA
DESTA (Colorado) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,275,387 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($477,550). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 88% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.4M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $1.3M
- Net assets
- $1.8M
What Desta does
Mission
Our mission is to help communities and individuals flourish by removing barriers to dignity.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Community Development. 12 employees and 4 volunteers served in 10 community development programs in 10 countries in East Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, North and South America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
$947,745 spentof which $94,571 as grants36% of program spendingHealth and Wellness programs: 11 employees and 9 volunteers participated in 8 health & wellness programs in seven locations in Central America, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia.
$831,735 spentof which $93,239 as grants32% of program spendingEducation programs: 5 employees and 5 volunteers participated in education programs in East and South Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
$513,563 spentof which $7,696 as grants20% of program spendingAgriculture programs
$225,000 spentof which $35,988 as grants9% of program spendingAnti-Human Trafficking programs
$104,237 spentof which $3,958 as grants4% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,622,280.
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 2019 to 2020, from $1.3M to $1.6M (+19%).
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 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 6% · 2021 0% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of DESTA’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (16% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Gabrielle Thompson-Brown
President and Chief Executive Officer
Board chair
Larry Lawson
Director, Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $63k → $190k.
10 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 88% 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 DESTA’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
DESTA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
93% 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 DESTA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 31% · 2019 41% · 2020 46% · 2021 37% · 2022 33% · 2023 24% — 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
54% of DESTA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
88% of DESTA'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 $155k that is directly attributable, 92% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 8 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M 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
DESTA runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,060 employment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,060 employment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like DESTA
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
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 27 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Igniting Concepts Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DESTA: 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 DESTA?
- DESTA (Colorado) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,275,387 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($477,550). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 88% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does DESTA have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $1,275,387 in grants to DESTA, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DESTA?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $477,550 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DESTA 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 Desta →
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 24 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