Colorado · Nonprofit
Naropa University
Naropa University (Colorado) receives grants from 58 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,310,489 to it, the largest being RSF SOCIAL FINANCE INC ($881,500). 33 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
- $39M
- Funders on record
- 58
- Grants received
- $5.3M
- Net assets
- $15M
What Naropa University does
Mission
Naropa University recognizes the inherent goodness and wisdom of each human being. Naropa educates the whole person, nurturing in its students a lifelong joy in learning, a critical intellect, the sense of purpose that accompanies compassionate service to the world, and the openness and equanimity that arise from authentic insight and self-understanding. Naropa students explore the inner resources needed to engage with a complex and challenging world, to help transform that world, and to attain deeper levels of happiness and meaning in their lives. Drawing on the vital insights of the world's wisdom traditions, Naropa is simultaneously Buddhist-inspired, ecumenical, and nonsectarian. Naropa values ethnic and cultural differences for their essential role in education. It embraces the richness of human diversity with the aim oof fostering a more just and equitable society and an expanded awareness of our common humanity.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
At the end of December 2024, the university began to phase out the psychedelics program and that process bridged both years 2024 and 2025.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
The University offers undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs in arts, social sciences, and the humanities. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. There are approximately 1,000 graduate and undergraduate students. Instruction, student services, and academic support program services all support the University's purpose and mission to educate the whole person.
$27,074,296 spentof which $6,635,265 as grants$29,819,172 earned by the program93% of program spendingAlaya Preschool operates as a preschool and childcare facility service children and their families in the greater Boulder area. As part of Naropa University, Alaya Preschool operates as a lab school serving students in Naropa's early childhood and contemplative education programs. Alaya is licensed by the Colorado Department of Human Services, Division of Child Care and serves approximately 60 families. Financial support is provided for some families through scholarships for tuition assistance
$676,952 spentof which $32,815 as grants$676,911 earned by the program2% of program spendingStudent Housing for those undergraduates that are required to live in student housing or those students that elect to live in student housing. Served approximately 75 students.
$775,831 spentof which $46,010 as grants$765,772 earned by the program3% of program spendingNaropa Community Counseling Center integrates contemplative approaches with modern clinical practice to assist our clients in reaching their highest level of emotional and mental well-being. We provide cutting edge, transformative intervention across a broad range of therapeutic services. Naropa Community Counseling serves Boulder and Front Range. The Naropa Community Counseling Center served approximately 575 clients over the year.
$503,859 spent$336,989 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $29,030,938.
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.
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 $28M to $35M (+22%).
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 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 11% · 2021 15% · 2022 4% · 2023 2% · 2024 2% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 25 funders, grant income fell $1.2M → $684k.
14 of 58 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.
From the IRS filings of Naropa University’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 58 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
Naropa University has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
72% 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 Naropa University.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 66% · 2019 32% · 2020 24% · 2021 14% · 2022 32% · 2023 19% — 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
33% of Naropa University's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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 Naropa University'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 $2.4M that is directly attributable, 82% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 22 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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.
Government funding Naropa University receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.7M on record.
- Department of Education$5.7M
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 Naropa University
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Naropa University: 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 Naropa University?
- Naropa University (Colorado) receives grants from 58 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,310,489 to it, the largest being RSF SOCIAL FINANCE INC ($881,500). 33 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 Naropa University have?
- IRS filings report 58 organizations giving $5,310,489 in grants to Naropa University, 33 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Naropa University?
- RSF SOCIAL FINANCE INC is the largest funder on record, with $881,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Naropa University 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 Naropa University →
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 58 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