Colorado · Nonprofit
TESSA
TESSA (Colorado) receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,872,078 to it, the largest being THE MARGARET AND AL HILL FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,167,092). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.8M
- Funders on record
- 68
- Grants received
- $4.9M
- Net assets
- $2.9M
What Tessa does
Mission
To provide confidential programs that empower victims of domestic violence, dating violence, intimate partner stalking, sexual assault and/or human trafficking in el paso, teller, and douglas counties (continued on sch o)(continued) we pursue three primary objectives toward our mission: to provide immediate safety for adults and their children in crisis. To empower survivors through supportive services such as our advocacy, counseling and children's programs. To create a safer community for all families through prevention education and awareness outreach.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Safehouse program: Tessa's safehouse program provides emergency shelter, food, case management, counseling, and support to domestic violence, sexual assault, intimate partner stalking and human trafficking victims and their children who have become homeless due to dvsa or ht.
$675,558 spentof which $14,329 as grants24% of program spendingVictim advocacy: Tessa staff provide advocacy, systems assistance (criminal justice and other institutional systems), court support, and community resources and referrals for victims experiencing domestic violence, dating violence, intimate partner stalking, sexual assualt and/or human trafficking. Services are provided in a secure and safe environment. Advocacy allows victims to identify options; develop safety plans; receive assistance with temporary protection orders; and acquire information and referrals. Confidential victim advocates also provide 24/7 hospital response.
$406,722 spentof which $1,848 as grants14% of program spendingHousing first program: Tessa assists dvsa and ht victims in meeting their long-term housing needs by providing rental assistance, moving assistance, emergency housing, and/or utility assistance.
$370,082 spentof which $206,372 as grants13% of program spendingCounseling program: program staff provides clinical services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, intimate partner stalking, sexual assualt and/or human trafficking. Tessa's counselors, specifically trained to treat the psychological issues that result from these types of violence, provide individual psychotherapy; psycho-educational support groups for adult victims of domestic violence; and therapeutic support groups for sexual assault and domestic violence survivors. These services encourage participants to work on self-esteem, provide education about healthy vs. Unhealthy relationships, and assist in goal setting and problem-solving.
$294,508 spentof which $3,790 as grants$67,638 earned by the program10% of program spendingRural advocacy program: to improve service access for victims located in isolated rural areas, Tessa operates in teller county and eastern el paso county. Full-time advocates are available in both communities. A staff therapist splits time between the two. Confidential advocacy, education, outreach, and counseling are provided, while clients who require shelter are referred to Tessa's safehouse program in colorado springs.
$249,931 spentof which $21,174 as grants9% of program spendingLegal services program: Tessa attorneys and legal advocates assist dvsa victims to obtain temporary protection orders, with family law matters, and with referrals to permanent protection order representation through our project lift program and network of pro bono attorneys.
$369,748 spentof which $107,874 as grants13% of program spendingYouth and children's program: this program offers therapeutic and non-therapeutic services for children who have witnessed and/or been victims of domestic violence. Services include therapy; psycho-educational/age-appropriate support groups; case management; child-specific advocacy; and recreational opportunities.
$215,243 spentof which $1,138 as grants8% of program spendingDc safehousedhsdvfboutreach
$261,888 spentof which $2,920 as grants9% of program spending
The 8 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,843,680.
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 2024 to 2025, from $2.5M to $3.2M (+28%).
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 52% · 2018 61% · 2019 64% · 2020 74% · 2021 71% · 2022 72% · 2023 49% · 2024 60% · 2025 64%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of TESSA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Anne Markley
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 26 funders, grant income rose $176k → $1.4M.
13 of 68 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 TESSA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 68 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
TESSA has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
58% 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 TESSA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 37% · 2019 27% · 2020 18% · 2021 18% · 2022 18% · 2023 69% — growing more concentrated.
“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
34% of TESSA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
67% of TESSA's grant income comes from Colorado funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $701k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
TESSA runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 7,349 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,349 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding TESSA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.0M on record.
- Department of Justice$3.4M
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$680k
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 TESSA
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
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Tessa of Douglas County LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TESSA: 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 TESSA?
- TESSA (Colorado) receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,872,078 to it, the largest being THE MARGARET AND AL HILL FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,167,092). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does TESSA have?
- IRS filings report 68 organizations giving $4,872,078 in grants to TESSA, 38 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TESSA?
- THE MARGARET AND AL HILL FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,167,092 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TESSA 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 Tessa →
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 68 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing