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Colorado · Nonprofit

Highwater Farm

Highwater Farm (Colorado) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $398,264 to it, the largest being ASPEN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($70,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$481k
Funders on record
14
Grants received
$398k
Net assets
$314k
7/14 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 15%
01What it does

What Highwater Farm does

Mission

We use sustainable agriculture to transform the lives of young people and increase access to healthy food in Garfield County.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Highwater Farm connects the community back to the land through sustainable agricultural practices, stewardship, and youth development. We grow about 30,000 pounds of diversified vegetables on 5 acres annually and train young farmers in crop production. In addition to growing produce for our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program we route 15% of total produce to local food access programs.

    $299,306 spent
    100% of program spending
  2. Positive youth development is a cornerstone of Highwater Farm's mission. With support from public donations and key community partners, 10 young people are served annually through our job-training programs. Programs include an introductory 7-week Summer Youth Program and a next level Fall Internship. Teens complete the programs with an understanding of local agriculture, respect for the land and the labor of growing food, and improved communication and job skills. By applying high standards and healthy methods of communication and team building, we bridge communities and better equip the next generation of leaders in our local community.

  3. Highwater Farm serves approximately 700 community members, including youth and families, across Garfield County annually. In 2024 the approximate number of individuals and families groups served in Garfield County were 120 CSA member households, 130 volunteers, 14 teens ages 14-17 in summer and academic year programming, and hundreds of food pantry, SNAP and WIC clients.

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $299,306.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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.

100 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($140k) Expenses 100 ($35k) Net assets 100 ($103k)2021 Revenue 119 ($167k) Expenses 299 ($105k) Net assets 160 ($165k)2022 Revenue 167 ($233k) Expenses 667 ($233k) Net assets 159 ($165k)2023 Revenue 206 ($287k) Expenses 804 ($281k) Net assets 165 ($170k)2024 Revenue 345 ($481k) Expenses 964 ($338k) Net assets 304 ($314k)
20202021202220232024
Revenue (345)Expenses (964)Net assets (304)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $185k to $320k (+73%).

$103k
$165k
$166k
$185k
$320k
20202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of Highwater Farm’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 6,387 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

$105k
’20
$62k
’21
−$529
’22
$6k
’23
$144k
’24
7.9
months of
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

Sara Tymczyszyn

Executive Director

Board chair

Jessica Lischka

Board Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

202220232024
Listed6109
Joined·+5+0
No longer listed·11
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $10k → $43k.

5 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 Highwater Farm’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

Highwater Farm has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left

52% 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 Highwater Farm.

18%
largest funder
39%
top three
~10
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 52% · 2023 42% — 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

75% of Highwater Farm's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 50% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y

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

Highwater Farm draws 50% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 4 states in all.

CO
VA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’20
’21
’22
’23
Colorado out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $180k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Highwater Farm runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,688 youth development nonprofits its size.

Operating margin30% · top quartile
Months of reserve7.9mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)36% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,688 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like Highwater Farm

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

89% of spending goes to programs.

Program 89%Management 7%Fundraising 5%

Governance

0
board members
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CO

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Highwater Farm: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Highwater Farm?
Highwater Farm (Colorado) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $398,264 to it, the largest being ASPEN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($70,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Highwater Farm have?
IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $398,264 in grants to Highwater Farm, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Highwater Farm?
ASPEN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $70,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Highwater Farm 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 Highwater Farm →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 14 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