Colorado · Nonprofit
LOCAL FIRST
LOCAL FIRST (Colorado) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $281,276 to it, the largest being AMERICAN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS ALLIANCE ($276,026). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $191k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $281k
- Net assets
- $-72883
What Local First does
Mission
Mission Statement: The mission of Local First is to serve as the catalyst advocating for and amplifying the collective voices of local independent businesses and the greater community. We envision a thriving equitable and sustainable economy that values people, planet, and prosperity for everyone across southwest Colorado. Accomplishments: Business Alliance Social Hours and Lunch and Learn workshops offered members the opportunity to learn from experts and one another on topics such as how to sustain a small business. Under a state grant, Local First partnered with the Local Business Institute to offer free business resilience training to small businesses in southwest Colorado. During 2024 Local First partnered with the Durango Creative District to host First Fridays, which advanced the local creative economy by enlisting local businesses as venues for local artists and artisans to showcase their work to the public. Local First supported a sustainable economy through engagement in community events such as Earth Day and the Durango Farmers Market, and by moderating an expert panel on sustainable business.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Membership and Development includes member recruitment, business education, strategic planning, governance, and stewardship to foster collaboration and know-how among local busines
$238,132 spent88% of program spendingBe Local Book is an annual publication and business support program to educate the public on localism and promote support for locally owned businesses and nonprofits.
$30,283 spent11% of program spendingNoel Night is a celebration of the holiday season that encourages folks to shop, eat, and love all things local with an enormous impact on community well-being.
$3,143 spent1% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $271,558.
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 $55k to $191k (+244%).
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 7% · 2020 83% · 2021 75%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
3% of LOCAL FIRST’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (62% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Douglas McCarthy
Executive Director
Board chair
Mary Oswald
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2022: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $276k → $5k.
Left out of every figure on this page: $20k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Local First Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money LOCAL FIRST raised.
From the IRS filings of LOCAL FIRST’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
LOCAL FIRST leans on a few funders — its largest provides 98% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 LOCAL FIRST.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2022 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
LOCAL FIRST draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
LOCAL FIRST's revenue fell 22% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,971 community improvement nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like LOCAL FIRST
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.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LOCAL FIRST: 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 LOCAL FIRST?
- LOCAL FIRST (Colorado) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $281,276 to it, the largest being AMERICAN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS ALLIANCE ($276,026). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LOCAL FIRST have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $281,276 in grants to LOCAL FIRST.
- Who is the largest funder of LOCAL FIRST?
- AMERICAN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS ALLIANCE is the largest funder on record, with $276,026 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LOCAL FIRST 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 2 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