Colorado · Nonprofit
Local Reporting Lab Initiative Inc
Local Reporting Lab Initiative Inc (Colorado) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $223,724 to it, the largest being THE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC ($57,610). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $518k
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $224k
- Net assets
- $1.1M
What Local Reporting Lab Initiative Inc does
Mission
To provide the people who live, work, learn and play in and around boulder, colorado, with highquality, trustworthy, localfirst reporting and essential information to make sense of issues and events happening around them, navigate their lives and build community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Expanded Boulder Reporting Lab's reach and readership through the BRL Today newsletter and website, which provide free daily local news and information. By the end of 2025, BRL reached more than 22,000 subscribers roughly half of Boulder households strengthening its role as Boulder's leading source of independent local journalism. The newsroom also fostered civic participation through coverage of local elections, community events, and opportunities for readers to share questions and ideas that helped shape reporting priorities.
$54,348 spent25% of program spendingProduced deeply reported journalism on the most pressing issues facing Boulder County, including wildfire risk and resilience, housing affordability, homelessness, local government accountability, climate and environmental policy, and the future of federally funded science and research. Coverage included Boulder City Council and Boulder County Commission decisions, education policy, nonprofit governance, equity issues, major development debates, and the intersection of higher education, science and public policy. BRL's reporting informed community debate, helped residents better understand local decisions, and earned numerous state and regional journalism awards for excellence and impact.
$108,695 spent50% of program spendingFocused on strengthening the newsroom's long-term sustainability and expanding its editorial capacity. The organization began implementing recommendations from a newsroom audit to grow revenue, improve performance tracking and strengthen communication with readers and supporters, helping lay the groundwork for more diversified income streams. It also launched a strategic planning process to create a clear roadmap for continued growth, stronger operations and long-term stability.
$54,348 spent25% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $217,391.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2022 to 2023, from $437k to $743k (+70%).
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.
88% of Local Reporting Lab Initiative Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $15k → $53k.
9 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 68% 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 Reporting Lab Initiative Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 14 of 15 funders by total. 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 Reporting Lab Initiative Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders 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 Reporting Lab Initiative Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 54% — 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.
Where its funders are
68% of Local Reporting Lab Initiative Inc'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 $72k that is directly attributable, 79% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $152k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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 Reporting Lab Initiative Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Local Reporting Lab Initiative 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Local Reporting Lab Initiative 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.
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 Reporting Lab Initiative Inc?
- Local Reporting Lab Initiative Inc (Colorado) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $223,724 to it, the largest being THE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC ($57,610). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Local Reporting Lab Initiative Inc have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $223,724 in grants to Local Reporting Lab Initiative Inc, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Local Reporting Lab Initiative Inc?
- THE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $57,610 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Local Reporting Lab Initiative 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 Local Reporting Lab Initiative →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 15 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing