Colorado · Nonprofit
TRASH THE RUNWAY
TRASH THE RUNWAY (Colorado) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $2,500 to it, the largest being GEORGE E SHORTLE AND CATHERINE H SHORTLE FOUNDATION ($2,500). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $84k
- Funders on record
- 1
- Grants received
- $3k
- Net assets
- $55k
What Trash the Runway does
Mission
Trash the Runway is a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the lives of young people and developing better leaders of tomorrow by unlocking resilience, confidence and creativity using fashion and design as a catalyst for new ways of critical thinking. Through its mentorship program and design competition, Trash the Runway challenges middle and high school students to create high fashion garments, entirely out of found, non-recyclable or non-compostable materials culminating in a runway fashion show that rivals the beauty and creativity of professional couture shows. We also have an elementary school program for our up-and-coming designers who are not old enough to participate in the full workshop program. A unique experience, Trash the Runway inspires participants, volunteers and the broader community to think big, be empowered, and take an active role in driving change.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Program
We put on our biggest show to date. 29 students participated in workshops for two months, creating garments made out of trash, then showed them at Macky Auditorium in Boulder, CO in front of 1,000 audience members. In addition we had 14 elementary students, our future designers. 3 judges once again had to decide on a variety of awards.
$35,520 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $35,520.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2024, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2024, 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 at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $44k to $55k (+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.
56% of TRASH THE RUNWAY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 2 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Chief executive
Tanja Leonard
Executive Director
Board chair
Elizabeth Alexander
Board President
As listed on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
From the IRS filings of TRASH THE RUNWAY’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.
Where its funders are
TRASH THE RUNWAY draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 1 state in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
TRASH THE RUNWAY has grown faster than three-quarters of the 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like TRASH THE RUNWAY
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.
Public support
100%
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 TRASH THE RUNWAY: 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 TRASH THE RUNWAY?
- TRASH THE RUNWAY (Colorado) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $2,500 to it, the largest being GEORGE E SHORTLE AND CATHERINE H SHORTLE FOUNDATION ($2,500). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does TRASH THE RUNWAY have?
- IRS filings report 1 organization giving $2,500 in grants to TRASH THE RUNWAY.
- Who is the largest funder of TRASH THE RUNWAY?
- GEORGE E SHORTLE AND CATHERINE H SHORTLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TRASH THE RUNWAY 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 2024–2025), and the filings of 1 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