Colorado · Nonprofit
THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE
THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE (Colorado) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,871,810 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($6,749,871). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $7.9M
- Funders on record
- 44
- Grants received
- $23M
- Net assets
- $7.3M
What The Colorado Education Initiative does
Mission
See schedule o.cei's mission is to champion, empower, and ignite colorado leaders to deliver on the promise of public education to develop thriving young people and flourishing communities. Cei's long-term vision is that all young people in colorado exit k-12 education boldly taking their next steps toward hopeful, equitable, and prosperous futures.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Strategic consulting and leadership developmentcei partners with school, districts, nonprofits, and state agencies to develop comprehensive, community-based, and student-centered approaches that ensure colorado students are prepared to thrive. Using a human-centered design lens, we ensure that our work is deeply informed by stakeholder perspectives and lived experiences. We design and facilitate multi-phase processes that prioritize authentic community engagement, are informed by data, and build on existing efforts that produce effective outcomes for students. Cei offers a range of school and systems improvement services, strategic consulting and leadership development services, including research-based professional development workshops, technical assistance supports, strategic planning and facilitation, personalized leadership and executive coaching, and school improvement design and facilitation.
$1,650,646 spentof which $36,500 as grants$1,213,924 earned by the program24% of program spendingRelevant learning cei supports school districts across all components of colorado's career-connected learning continuum, offering comprehensive technical assistance and professional development services from program design through implementation and evaluation. Our approach includes designing programs that ensure alignment across the k-12 education system, covering aspects such as post-secondary planning, career awareness and exploration, career preparation, career pathway development, and postsecondary career pipelines. We provide coaching and implementation support, facilitate strategic communications and stakeholder engagement, and conduct measurement and evaluation to assess program quality, identify student outcomes, and drive continuous improvement.
$2,517,579 spentof which $330,000 as grants$1,328,812 earned by the program37% of program spendingSocial emotional development cei partners with schools and districts across colorado to enhance educators and schools' capacity to create a culture and climate that meets students' social, emotional, and academic needs. We support the development of strong social-emotional ecosystems by focusing on four core areas: creating learning environments that are physically and emotionally safe, trust-filled, relationship-rich, and dedicated to building social and emotional skills; building multi-tiered supports and stronger connections with community resources to ensure that students and staff with behavioral health needs receive the necessary services; engaging youth to take an active role in driving climate and culture change within their schools while strengthening partnerships with teachers and staff to bring about this transformation; and actively involving families and community members in the design and implementation of an inclusive school culture.
$1,025,003 spentof which $5,250 as grants$86,027 earned by the program15% of program spendingEcosystem capacity building cei collaborates with teachers, school and district leaders, policy and advocacy leaders, and other education organizations and stakeholders across colorado to enhance k-12 systems. This happens through convenings, strategic data and communications supports, and professional learning. The purpose is to build coherent and sustainable systems, aligned policies, and responsiveness to emerging needs.
$1,500,183 spentof which $117,725 as grants$782,317 earned by the program22% of program spendingThe colorado legacy schools (cls) initiative works with high schools across the state to dramatically increase the number and diversity of colorado high school students who are succeeding in ap math, science, and english courses -- especially students typically underrepresented in ap courses, such as females, and students of poverty and color. Cls coursework also encourages students to pursue majors and careers in the rapidly-growing stem fields -- science, technology, engineering, and math.
$96,191 spent$112,825 earned by the program1% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,789,602.
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 2022 to 2023, from $6.3M to $8.0M (+26%).
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 14% · 2018 13% · 2019 14% · 2020 2% · 2021 2% · 2022 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
53% of THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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
Rebecca F Holmes
President and CEO
Board chair
Meera Mani
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 12 funders, grant income fell $6.0M → $1.4M.
9 of 44 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 7% 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 THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 44 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
THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 30% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders 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 THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 60% · 2019 38% · 2020 37% · 2021 37% · 2022 36% · 2023 28% — 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
35% of THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE draws 60% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 11 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE is better cushioned than half of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $312k on record — $312k federal, $550 state.
- National Science Foundation$312k
- INSTR SUPPORT SERVICES$550
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 THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE
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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
62%
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 THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE: 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 THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE?
- THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE (Colorado) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,871,810 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($6,749,871). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE have?
- IRS filings report 44 organizations giving $22,871,810 in grants to THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE?
- GATES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $6,749,871 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE COLORADO EDUCATION INITIATIVE 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 44 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