Colorado · Nonprofit
OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION
OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION (Colorado) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $730,765 to it, the largest being COLORADO GIVES FOUNDATION ($321,742). 8 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
- $838k
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $731k
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Outdoor Lab Foundation does
Mission
To inspire community support for an advocate on behalf of jefferson county public schools outdoor lab program.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Over the past year we served 35 middle schools, taught 260 core classes, and recruited 1,040 high school leaders. In total, we served over 4,200 students by connecting them - often for the first time - to the outdoors. In total, students hiked over 33,600 miles and be engaged in experiential learning over 16,800 program days. Moreover, we are proud of our achievements in the six following program areas and strategic initiatives: the tuition assistance program we ensure the fees to attend outdoor lab are as low or no cost to as many students as possible in the district. An inability to pay tuition should not be a barrier for children to have a transformative time in the outdoors. We delivered 175,000 in tuition assistance grants to 36 middle schools in fy 25. The intern program we provided 20,000 in stipends to support our interns in fy 25. Interns are the "boots on the ground", the "glue", the "point guards" of outdoor lab. They support teachers, organize classes, train high school leaders, and provide untold support to outdoor lab principals and site staff. The high school leader program - outdoor lab leans on the volunteer support of 1,040 high school students each year. They…
$619,239 spentof which $175,000 as grants$8,716 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $619,239.
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 $1.1M to $1.6M (+44%).
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: 2018 6% · 2019 12% · 2020 7% · 2021 28% · 2022 16% · 2023 23% · 2024 12% · 2025 26%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Ben Dorland
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $37k → $171k.
7 of 19 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 OUTDOOR LAB 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
OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
59% 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 OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 82% · 2019 67% · 2020 51% · 2021 65% · 2022 50% · 2023 47% — 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
50% of OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% 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 OUTDOOR LAB 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 $326k that is directly attributable, 53% of it comes from Colorado funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $405k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $100k on record.
- Environmental Protection Agency$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 OUTDOOR LAB 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.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
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 OUTDOOR LAB 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 OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION?
- OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION (Colorado) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $730,765 to it, the largest being COLORADO GIVES FOUNDATION ($321,742). 8 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 OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $730,765 in grants to OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OUTDOOR LAB FOUNDATION?
- COLORADO GIVES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $321,742 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OUTDOOR LAB 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 19 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