Colorado · Nonprofit
Local First Foundation
Local First Foundation (Colorado) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $334,477 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SERVING SOUTHWEST COLORADO ($191,577). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $190k
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $334k
- Net assets
- $63k
What Local First Foundation does
Mission
Misson Statement: The mission of the Local First Foundation is to build self-reliance, sense of place, and well-being for the stakeholders of the La Plata County community. Accomplishments Line 28: Our partnership with Peak Health Alliance, a nonprofit healthcare purchasing cooperative, fosters health insurance affordability by increasing market competition. We conduct outreach to educate businesses and residents about their health insurance options through workshops co-sponsored with business groups and at community events such as health fairs. A peer-reviewed study found that marketplace premiums were 13% to 17% lower for everyone in counties served by Peak Health Alliance compared to other Colorado counties. Accomplishments Line 29: This program provided general sponsorship of Durango First Fridays in which local businesses serve as a venue where local artists and artisans can showcase their work to the general public, thereby advancing community arts and culture and strengthening the local creative economy. Accomplishments Line 30: The Durango Creative District promotes the local creative economy by providing resources, advocacy, and community building opportunities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Our Healthcare Initiative promotes affordable health insurance options to reduce the high cost of living and foster well-being for Southwest Colorado residents.
$43,151 spent21% of program spendingOur Local Self-Reliance Program raises public awareness of the value of participating in the local circular economy and investing in our community.
$52,528 spent26% of program spendingThe Durango Creative District was fiscally sponsored by Local First Foundation until Oct. 31, 2024.
$106,654 spent53% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $202,333.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $239k to $85k (−65%).
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: 2021 5% · 2023 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of Local First Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Kip Koso
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $22k → $179k.
3 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 63% 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 Local First Foundation’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 Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 77%; 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 Local First Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 63% · 2020 51% · 2021 56% · 2022 59% · 2023 92% — growing more concentrated.
“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
29% of Local First Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 25% 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
63% of Local First Foundation'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 $123k that is directly attributable, 69% of it comes from Colorado funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $212k 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
Local First Foundation receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $334k to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,754 health nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like Local First Foundation
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.
Public support
96%
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 Local First Foundation: 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 Foundation?
- Local First Foundation (Colorado) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $334,477 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SERVING SOUTHWEST COLORADO ($191,577). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Local First Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $334,477 in grants to Local First Foundation, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Local First Foundation?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SERVING SOUTHWEST COLORADO is the largest funder on record, with $191,577 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Local First Foundation 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 2020–2024), and the filings of 16 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