Colorado · Nonprofit
RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST
RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST (Colorado) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,596,121 to it, the largest being GATES FAMILY FOUNDATION ($2,515,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $3.6M
- Net assets
- $2.4M
What Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust does
Mission
To conserve our land, water, and way of life in colorados san luis valley.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Land and water protection: worked to protect private land throughout colorados rio grande basin, the san luis valley, with a focus on the corridors of the rio grande and its tributaries, as well as wetland acres and habitat protection. Continued to include underserved communities in the san luis valley and expanded our community engagement & outreach programs. Encumbered four properties and all associated water rights with conservation easements in 2025 totaling 3,765 acres and worked on due diligence, fundraising and other processes for several upcoming conservation easement acquisitions.
$1,297,852 spent$130,002 earned by the program96% of program spendingStewardship: monitored each of rights 63 conservation easements covering 36909 acres of open space for agriculture, wildlife habitat, and recreation. Provided conservation easement services, restoration consults, and conducted enforcement actions as necessary.
$51,982 spent4% of program spendingCommunity conservation: worked with nonprofit and community partners to engage youth and community members in conservation education programs, and created a fundraising, education and outreach plan for 2025. Connected conservation easement holders to partners for habitat and infrastructure restoration work.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,349,834.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $1.6M to $1.9M (+19%).
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: 2019 63% · 2020 33% · 2021 45% · 2022 55% · 2023 72% · 2024 55% · 2025 53%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 7 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
Laura Cusick
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $183k → $584k.
4 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST’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
RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST leans on a few funders — its largest provides 70% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
26% 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 RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 35% · 2019 83% · 2020 95% · 2021 90% · 2022 82% · 2023 86% — broadly stable.
“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
45% of RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 77% 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
86% of RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST's grant income comes from Colorado funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $132k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST's funding base is broadening — from 5 funders to 6 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.7M on record.
- Department of the Interior$4.7M
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 RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST
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
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST: 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 RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST?
- RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST (Colorado) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,596,121 to it, the largest being GATES FAMILY FOUNDATION ($2,515,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $3,596,121 in grants to RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST?
- GATES FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,515,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RIO GRANDE HEADWATERS LAND TRUST 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 Rio Grande Headwaters Land →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 13 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