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Colorado · Nonprofit

HUG IT FORWARD INC

HUG IT FORWARD INC (Colorado) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $742,964 to it, the largest being WORLDVENTURES FOUNDATION ($539,406). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$87k
Funders on record
10
Grants received
$743k
Net assets
$160k
5/10 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 92%
01What it does

What Hug It Forward Inc does

Mission

Hug It Forward is an organization that empowers communities in developing countries to build schools. Entire communities come together to make the dream of educational opportunity a reality, by using Hug It Forward's funding and expertise to build their own school.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. BOTTLE SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION. In 2024, Hug It Forward facilitated the construction of 9 schools in Guatemala; 6 schools completed and 3 schools in process. Due to the method of construction, these schools are known as "bottle schools". Bottle schools are schools built using post-and-beam construction, with concrete columns and beams reinforced with rebar. The walls are filled with "eco-bricks" as insulation, made from plastic bottles stuffed with inorganic trash, which comes from their immediate environment. Entire communities come together to build a more sustainable educational infrastructure that replaces dilapidated, unsafe, and dangerously overcrowded schoolrooms, which are often made from adobe, corrugated metal, or cornstalks, with dirt floors. Before Hug It Forward issues any funding for materials, the community must show commitment to the project by creating approximately 75% of the bottles that are required for the school. A total of 7,500 eco-bricks are required for a 2-classroom school and 10,000 bottles for a 3-classroom school. Teachers and community leaders are responsible for organizing the process of bottle collection and overseeing the volunteering of labor. The…

    $159,383 spent
    94% of program spending
  2. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION PROGRAM. In conjunction with bottle school projects, Hug It Forward facilitates an environmental education program for youth, working with communities that participate in a bottle school project. The program directly impacted approximately 1,700 students in 6 communities in 2024. Children work with the community to plant trees and collect inorganic trash and create the "eco-bricks" that are needed to build a bottle school. They build their school with their own hands, giving them real ownership and pride in the realization of the project. Environmental education is an essential part of the bottle school process, ensuring that the project's impact will be sustainable and that communities remain free of trash long into the future. Through the environmental education program, children learn to understand the difference between organic and inorganic trash, along with the major risks of plastic pollution in their environment and in the world. The intention is to leave a lasting impact, helping to grow awareness of environmental sustainability for future generations.

    $10,487 spent
    6% of program spending
  3. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $169,870.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($572k) Expenses 100 ($515k) Net assets 100 ($398k)2018 Revenue 30 ($172k) Expenses 48 ($249k) Net assets 81 ($321k)2019 Revenue 20 ($115k) Expenses 32 ($165k) Net assets 68 ($270k)2020 Revenue 11 ($61k) Expenses 23 ($117k) Net assets 54 ($213k)2021 Revenue 43 ($244k) Expenses 26 ($133k) Net assets 81 ($324k)2022 Revenue 17 ($99k) Expenses 36 ($187k) Net assets 59 ($235k)2023 Revenue 36 ($208k) Expenses 34 ($173k) Net assets 68 ($270k)2024 Revenue 15 ($87k) Expenses 38 ($197k) Net assets 40 ($160k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (15)Expenses (38)Net assets (40)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 2020 to 2021, from $213k to $324k (+52%).

$408k
$322k
$270k
$213k
$324k
$235k
$270k
$160k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of HUG IT FORWARD INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (77% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 10,230 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$57k
’17
−$78k
’18
−$51k
’19
−$57k
’20
$110k
’21
−$88k
’22
$34k
’23
−$110k
’24
9.8
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.

Board chair

Dave Watson

Chairman of the Board

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed33333333
Joined·+0+0+0+0+0+0+0
No longer listed·0000000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $527k → $30k.

5 of 10 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.

From the IRS filings of HUG IT FORWARD INC’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

HUG IT FORWARD INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 73% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

84% 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 HUG IT FORWARD INC.

73%
largest funder
94%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 86% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 93% · 2022 64% · 2023 99% — broadly stable.

“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

17% of HUG IT FORWARD INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

HUG IT FORWARD INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 3 states in all.

OH
KS
TX

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

’17
’18
’21
’22
Colorado out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $87k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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

HUG IT FORWARD INC's revenue fell 85% between 2017 and 2024.

Operating margin−126% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve9.8mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−24% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,376 community improvement nonprofits under $100k, FY2024

Organizations like HUG IT FORWARD INC

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

86% of spending goes to programs.

Program 86%Management 14%Fundraising 0%

Governance

3
board members
100%
independent
✓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.

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HUG IT FORWARD INC: 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.

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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 HUG IT FORWARD INC?
HUG IT FORWARD INC (Colorado) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $742,964 to it, the largest being WORLDVENTURES FOUNDATION ($539,406). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does HUG IT FORWARD INC have?
IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $742,964 in grants to HUG IT FORWARD INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of HUG IT FORWARD INC?
WORLDVENTURES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $539,406 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like HUG IT FORWARD INC 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 Hug It Forward →

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 10 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