Colorado · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES
FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES (Colorado) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $85,900 to it, the largest being NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE ASSOCIATION ($25,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $494k
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $86k
- Net assets
- $165k
What Friends of the Front Range Wildlife Refuges does
Mission
To support the rocky mountain arsenal national wildlife refuge and rocky flats national wildlife refuge, to conserve native wildlife, and to provide opportunities for the public to experience nature near a major urban area.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Listening to the community: this grant funded work for several consultants and the generation wild nemc youth council to learn about the community perceptions of the rocky mountain arsenal national wildlife refuge and their expectations. Work included a demographic report, extensive focus groups and interviews with neighbors, and a report on what the communities want and need from the refuge. Many of the recommendations were implemented, including bi-lingual signage, cultural training, and continued outreach into the neighborhoods as well as a gap analysis to explore the current relationship of the refuge and our neighbors and, in particular, to identify barriers. We are continuing work to make the refuge more welcoming, reflecting the diversity of the adjacent neighborhoods.
$173,388 spent$40,227 earned by the program47% of program spendingIncreasing inclusivity in volunteer programs: the project goal is to increase inclusivity in the volunteer program at the rmanwr. We accomplished this by hiring a full-time volunteer coordinator. Through this program we have recruited and trained volunteers at the refuge from our neighboring communities reflecting the demographic diversity of these communities. In 2024 we had regular volunteers logging 6,000 hours and over 300 volunteers attending specific group activities on the refuges.
$92,056 spent25% of program spendingDevelop and manage the natures nest gift shop at rmanwr for the benefit of refuge programs and the general public. Provide other educational support to the refuges - particularly support to school groups and the wheels for wildlife program to provide transport support to local schools. We provide support to the rmanwr to manage on-site events particularly refuge open days as well as black-footed ferret surveys and the annual bison gathering. We engage and support the youth council in all refuge programs.
$104,920 spent28% of program spendingRegional equity analysis: this grant funded work for a consultant - the colorado non-profit development center - to conduct a social science analysis to look at regional equity to gain an improved understanding of issues that may limit access to our outdoor spaces - particularly for children. The objectives of this work are to develop and share a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the equity dynamics in our community as it impacts parks and open spaces. This work is part of multiparter input to the work of the metro denver nature alliance. In 2023 the prototype mapping tool went live and the final draft equity assessment was shared with partners.
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $370,364.
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 $116k to $526k (+353%).
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: 2018 9% · 2022 64% · 2023 59% · 2024 48%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
58% of FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (18% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income fell $25k → $12k.
4 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 51% 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 FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES’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
FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders 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 FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 53% · 2021 49% · 2022 85% · 2023 56% — 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
50% of FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
51% of FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES'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 $42k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $44k 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
FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES has grown faster than three-quarters of the 15,520 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 15,520 recreation & sports nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.6M on record.
- Department of the Interior$1.6M
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 FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES: 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 FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES?
- FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES (Colorado) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $85,900 to it, the largest being NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE ASSOCIATION ($25,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $85,900 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES?
- NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE ASSOCIATION is the largest funder on record, with $25,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE FRONT RANGE WILDLIFE REFUGES 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 Friends of the Front Range Wildlife Refuges →
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 9 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