Colorado · Nonprofit
VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK
VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK (Colorado) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $57,775 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($26,013). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $373k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $58k
- Net assets
- $222k
What Volunteer Fire Department of Big Elk does
Mission
As volunteers and within the capabilities of our equipment and training, we pledge to protect the people of the big elk community area from emergencies and natural disasters, and to render assistance in the event of medical emergencies. Beyond the immediate safety of our neighbors, we also strive to protect the forest which surrounds us and the homes in which we live.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
To provide protection and assistance of protection for the people and property of the big elk community.
$336,224 spentof which $308,233 as grants91% of program spendingTo maintain adequate training of volunteers and adequate facilities for housing equipment.
$22,721 spent6% of program spendingTo provide adequate supplies for natural disasters and medical emergencies.
$3,297 spent1% of program spendingDepreciation expense.
$7,966 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $370,208.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2021 to 2022, from $240k to $226k (−6%).
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: 2022 3% · 2023 24% · 2024 80% · 2025 73%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (75% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 5 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
Michael O'Connell
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $21k → $10k.
4 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 63% 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 VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK’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
VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
63% 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 VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 95% · 2021 66% · 2022 74% · 2023 99% — 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.
Where its funders are
63% of VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK'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 $21k that is directly attributable, 94% 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. $36k 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
VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,014 public safety & disaster nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,014 public safety & disaster nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK
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
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK: 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 VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK?
- VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK (Colorado) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $57,775 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($26,013). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $57,775 in grants to VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK?
- AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $26,013 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT OF BIG ELK 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 2021–2025), 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