Colorado · Nonprofit
MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC
MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC (Colorado) receives grants from 226 organizations whose IRS filings report $69,776,432 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($20,211,300). 122 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $43M
- Funders on record
- 226
- Grants received
- $70M
- Net assets
- $61M
What Mile High United Way Inc does
Mission
Mile high united way's mission is to unite people, ideas, and resources to advance the common good. Mile high united way's vision is a community united to create better opportunities for all. Mile high united way tackles the big, complex issues facing metro denver by uniting the full force of the community. Mile high united way's work is focused around four initiatives: giving all children a strong start, reading matters, developing tomorrow's talent, and creating economic opportunity for all.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Mile high united way distributed 22.8 million to the community through community partnership & impact investments grants. Grants were awarded to nonprofit agencies that provide services in four interconnected initiatives: giving all children a strong start, reading matters, developing tomorrow's talent, and creating economic opportunity for all. The initiatives are aimed to ensure all children are ready for school and reading at grade level or beyond by the end of third grade. Developing tomorrow's talent strives to ensure all youth graduate from high school and are ready to transition to college, advanced training, or the workplace. Creating economic opportunity is focused on ensuring all individuals and families are afforded the opportunity to move toward economic success. In partnership with the city and county of denver, (arpa bio fund) 0.6 million of grants supported over 40 small businesses to help them realize their growth potential. In collaboration with the state of colorado (opportunity now colorado grant program) which focuses on innovative solutions to meet colorado's workforce needs has supported 57 grantees for a total of 18.9 million.
$22,795,544 spentof which $22,795,544 as grants$509,334 earned by the program61% of program spendingCommunity impact services consist of technical assistance and programmatic support which is offered to nonprofit agencies in our community. Mile high united way invested in advocacy, technical assistance, program development, evaluation (data tracking, analysis, and collection), volunteers, program quality improvement, and professional development. Expenses for internal programs totaled 7.9 million and include the 2-1-1 help center, a free confidential community referral service, which received approximately 120,000 contacts from people looking for resources such as food, shelter, rent assistance, clothing, child care options, legal assistance, and other services to meet basic needs. Bridging the gap, a program which provides support to more than 150 emancipated foster care youth with housing, employment, financial literacy, health, and leadership development; and the united neighborhoods is a community based dual-generational approach that strengthens under-resourced neighborhoods in metro denver.
$10,970,288 spent$20,358,113 earned by the program29% of program spendingMile high united way responsibly fulfills donor intent, including donations that donors designate to nonprofit agencies other than mile high united way. Mile high united way processed 3.8 million in donor designations, distributing funds to over 1,000 non-profit agencies across the united states. Mile high united way verifies that each agency is eligible to receive charitable donations and requires each agency to certify its compliance with the usa patriot act and other counterterrorism laws.
$3,794,493 spentof which $3,794,493 as grants10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $37,560,325.
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 2020 to 2021, from $53M to $68M (+28%).
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: 2023 16% · 2024 16% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
45% of MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (80% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 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
Christine Benero
CEO
Board chair
Neil Oberfeld
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 34 funders to 85 funders, grant income rose $2.4M → $6.2M.
34 of 226 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 55% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $12M from 37 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Colorado Health Foundation); $40k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest Mile High United Way Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC raised.
From the IRS filings of MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 226 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
MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
69% 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 MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 23% · 2019 24% · 2020 7% · 2021 77% · 2022 15% · 2023 12% — 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
41% of MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
55% of MILE HIGH UNITED WAY 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 $31M that is directly attributable, 52% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 35 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $38M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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
MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC's revenue grew 44% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 490 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.2M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$2.8M
- Department of the Treasury$1.3M
- Department of Health and Human Services$100k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like MILE HIGH UNITED WAY 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
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 39 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Mile High United Way Penn St LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MILE HIGH UNITED WAY 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 MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC?
- MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC (Colorado) receives grants from 226 organizations whose IRS filings report $69,776,432 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($20,211,300). 122 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC have?
- IRS filings report 226 organizations giving $69,776,432 in grants to MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC, 122 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MILE HIGH UNITED WAY INC?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $20,211,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MILE HIGH UNITED WAY 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 226 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