Colorado · Nonprofit
DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES (Colorado) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $217,550 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($140,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $486k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $218k
- Net assets
- $196k
What Downtown Boulder Community Initiatives does
Mission
Downtown Boulder Community Initiatives is a charitable 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to maintaining downtown boulder as the heart and soul of our community. Our staff and volunteers produce over two dozen annual events focused on arts, culture, family entertainment and supporting local business. From fine arts to free concerts on the pearl street mall, dbci events draw nearly 250,000 people downtown every year. We also support other community events that enhance downtown including the boulder international film festival and the pearl street stampedes.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2025 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
World singing day-a community sing-along where people of all ages, backgrounds and singing abilities are invited.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Fall fest - 3-day autumn festival featuring food, brews, music, children's activities and firefly handmade market.
$75,810 spent$50,064 earned by the program16% of program spendingBand on the bricks - from oldies to alternative and everything in between, bands on the bricks is boulder county's premier outdoor summer concert series taking place in the heart of the city on the bricks of the one-and-only pearl street mall. A summer tradition with 10 weeks of free concerts. Enjoy performances from the best local musicians along the front range while dancing under the stars.
$62,535 spent$57,382 earned by the program13% of program spendingPearl street art fair - from whimsical and modern sculptures to traditional watercolors, oils & more, pearl street arts fest is a beautiful outdoor gallery nestled in the heart of downtown boulder on the renowned pearl street mall.
$24,506 spent$83,685 earned by the program5% of program spendingOur staff and volunteers produce over two dozen annual events focused on arts, culture, family entertainment, and supporting local business. From fine arts to free concerts on the pearl street mall, dbci events draw nearly 250,000 people downtown every year. We also support other community events that enhance downtown including the boulder international film festival and pearl street stampedes.world singing day-a community sing-along where people of all ages, backgrounds and singing abilities are invited.
$305,969 spent$78,480 earned by the program65% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $468,820.
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 2017 to 2018, from $65k to $257k (+297%).
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 6% · 2018 3% · 2019 5% · 2020 23% · 2021 5% · 2022 5% · 2023 7% · 2024 12% · 2025 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
45% of DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Dennis Paul
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $2k → $29k.
3 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 90% 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: $35k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Downtown Boulder Partnership). These are real filings, and they are not money DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES raised.
From the IRS filings of DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES’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
DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 64% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
92% 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 DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 46% · 2021 100% · 2022 82% · 2023 88% — 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.
Where its funders are
90% of DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES'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 $22k that is directly attributable, 77% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 2 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $196k 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
DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES's revenue grew 16% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,237 philanthropy nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
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
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES: 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 DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES?
- DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES (Colorado) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $217,550 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($140,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $217,550 in grants to DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES?
- TIDES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $140,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DOWNTOWN BOULDER COMMUNITY INITIATIVES 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 5 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing