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Colorado · Nonprofit

OUTWARD BOUND INC

OUTWARD BOUND INC (Colorado) receives grants from 99 organizations whose IRS filings report $26,791,643 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($10,100,000). 48 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$9.8M
Funders on record
99
Grants received
$27M
Net assets
$15M
48/99 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 59%
01What it does

What Outward Bound Inc does

Mission

Our mission is to change lives through challenge and discovery. We teach to and work by the following values: compassion, integrity, excellence, inclusion and diversity. Our programs are based on the principles of learning through experience, challenge and adventure.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Outward bound, inc. (obi) was incorporated as a not-for-profit educational corporation and owns the outward bound brand and trademarks. Obi was created to advance and protect the mission, educational philosophy, learning methods and ideals of outward bound in the united states. Obi charters schools and establishes standards and procedures for safety and other shared programs and services. Obi also serves as a fundraising and coordinating organization for the outward bound schools which it charters. Obi currently charters eleven schools throughout the united states. Student programs are delivered by schools charted by obi. The charters follow the mission of obi to guide their delivery of programs, marketing, use of the brand, and all outward bound services.

    $3,887,637 spentof which $2,361,110 as grants$669,053 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,887,637.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($3.9M) Expenses 100 ($3.8M) Net assets 100 ($7.6M)2018 Revenue 143 ($5.6M) Expenses 155 ($5.9M) Net assets 91 ($6.9M)2019 Revenue 124 ($4.8M) Expenses 131 ($5.0M) Net assets 94 ($7.1M)2020 Revenue 118 ($4.6M) Expenses 98 ($3.7M) Net assets 109 ($8.2M)2021 Revenue 153 ($5.9M) Expenses 103 ($3.9M) Net assets 138 ($10M)2022 Revenue 200 ($7.7M) Expenses 136 ($5.1M) Net assets 162 ($12M)2023 Revenue 92 ($3.5M) Expenses 118 ($4.5M) Net assets 155 ($12M)2024 Revenue 254 ($9.8M) Expenses 180 ($6.8M) Net assets 198 ($15M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (254)Expenses (180)Net assets (198)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $13M to $16M (+23%).

$9.7M
$8.7M
$9.2M
$9.1M
$12M
$13M
$13M
$16M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

88% of OUTWARD BOUND INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,293 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$84k
’17
−$303k
’18
−$157k
’19
$892k
’20
$2.0M
’21
$2.6M
’22
−$919k
’23
$3.0M
’24
7.2
months of
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

Ginger Naylor

Chief executive officer

Board chair

Catherine Smith

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1213131618222125
Joined·+3+0+4+4+6+2+9
No longer listed·2012235
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 31 funders, grant income fell $2.3M → $1.1M.

17 of 99 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 OUTWARD BOUND INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 99 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

OUTWARD BOUND INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

38%
largest funder
72%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 73% · 2018 84% · 2019 78% · 2020 35% · 2021 26% · 2022 23% · 2023 16% — 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

32% of OUTWARD BOUND INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 48% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

OUTWARD BOUND INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 25 states in all.

WA
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
NC
SC
AL
GA
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Colorado out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

OUTWARD BOUND INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin31% · top quartile
Months of reserve7.2mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)14% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Government funding OUTWARD BOUND INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $162k on record.

Federal$162k
grants $0contracts $162k
Top agencies
  • Department of Veterans Affairs$162k

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 OUTWARD BOUND 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

57% of spending goes to programs.

Program 57%Management 22%Fundraising 21%

Governance

13
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

62%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NY

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Outward Bound Holdco LLC · disregarded

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for OUTWARD BOUND 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 OUTWARD BOUND INC?
OUTWARD BOUND INC (Colorado) receives grants from 99 organizations whose IRS filings report $26,791,643 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($10,100,000). 48 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does OUTWARD BOUND INC have?
IRS filings report 99 organizations giving $26,791,643 in grants to OUTWARD BOUND INC, 48 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of OUTWARD BOUND INC?
LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $10,100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like OUTWARD BOUND 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 99 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