Colorado · Nonprofit
THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION
THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION (Colorado) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,316,500 to it, the largest being The VF Foundation ($1,000,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $2.3M
- Net assets
- $2.2M
What The Outdoor Foundation does
Mission
The foundation is organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes related to outdoor recreation activites and education, including the preservation of the natural environment, addressing issues of the outdoor industry and promoting participation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Convening and participation: fostering collaboration and action - the foundation is working to bring together top leaders, key organizations, and youth activists from across the country in a range of action-oriented convening events, from intimate high-powered gatherings to large-scale youth festivals. A focus of this work includes exploration of public and private partnership opportunities for the outdoor industry, nongovernmental organizations, and the federal government to join forces and make a difference. The foundation works with organizations at the community level to drive outdoor participation. The thrive outside program involves supporting existing programs and providing the infrastructure, planning, and resources needed to build a lifelong commitment to the outdoors. Additionally, the foundation partners with members and affiliated organizations to execute and administer grant programs that also result in increased outdoor participation.
$823,935 spentof which $514,029 as grants100% of program spendingResearch: identifying best practices and trends - the foundation produces specialized reports exploring the trends and impact of outdoor activity in america. Studies include national participation trends, shedding light on the inactivity and obesity crisis, and seeking to understand and reverse the growing inactivity crisis among youth and the growing disconnect between youth and the outdoors.
Miscellaneous program expenses
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $823,935.
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 2020 to 2021, from $1.7M to $2.6M (+57%).
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.
96% of THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Amy Dominguez-Arms
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 1 funder, grant income rose $22k → $35k.
5 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $2.8M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Outdoor Industry Association). These are real filings, and they are not money THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION’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
THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 100% · 2019 49% · 2020 40% · 2021 54% · 2022 80% · 2023 100% — 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
0% of THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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 OUTDOOR FOUNDATION draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $227k 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 OUTDOOR FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.3M on record.
- Department of the Interior$1.3M
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 OUTDOOR FOUNDATION
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
66%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 35 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Outdoor Industry Association · exempt
- Vote the Outdoors · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION: 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 OUTDOOR FOUNDATION?
- THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION (Colorado) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,316,500 to it, the largest being The VF Foundation ($1,000,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $2,316,500 in grants to THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION?
- The VF Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE OUTDOOR FOUNDATION 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 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing