Colorado · Nonprofit
Running Rivers
Running Rivers (Colorado) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $117,470 to it, the largest being PAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND ($51,948). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $187k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $117k
- Net assets
- $466k
What Running Rivers does
Mission
Our mission is to conserve and restore native fish ecosystems by educating and inspiring a diverse community of recreationists to engage in conversation through responsible and thoughtful recreation, informed advocacy and philanthropy, and impactful projects. At Running Rivers, we firmly believe that the best way to ensure the preservation, protection, and maintenance of our irreplaceable public lands and waters is to develop and foster the stewards who will stand up in their defense. Our programs create unique opportunities for the people to experience public lands and waters in novel and fun ways, to expand their depth of understanding of the importance of healthy functioning freshwater ecosystems, and to invest in their time, money and sweat through on-the-ground stewardship projects.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The organization will award grants and provide funding for projects that help accomplish their mission such as;* Projects that focus on native fish species and their ecosystems* Projects that provide education on the importance of healthy aquatic ecosystems* Projects that facilitate sustainable access to health aquatic ecosystems* Projects that improve the health of aquatice ecosystems through stream restoration projects and/or restoration of healthy flow regimes* Projects that utilize the organization's program participants as project volunteers
$82,415 spentof which $50,000 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $82,415.
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 2023 to 2024, from $295k to $421k (+42%).
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.
36% of Running Rivers’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (91% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $47k → $837.
4 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 97% 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 Running Rivers’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
Running Rivers leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
97% 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 Running Rivers.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2021 71% · 2022 93% · 2023 96% — 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.
Where its funders are
97% of Running Rivers'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 $4k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 2 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $114k 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
Running Rivers runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 13,062 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,062 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Running Rivers
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
58% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 Running Rivers: 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 Running Rivers?
- Running Rivers (Colorado) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $117,470 to it, the largest being PAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND ($51,948). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Running Rivers have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $117,470 in grants to Running Rivers, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Running Rivers?
- PAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND is the largest funder on record, with $51,948 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Running Rivers 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 6 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