Colorado · Nonprofit
We Fortify
We Fortify (Colorado) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,951,385 to it, the largest being COLORADO SPRINGS HEALTH FOUNDATION ($579,700). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $2.0M
- Net assets
- $2.6M
What We Fortify does
Mission
To provide low cost housing for young individuals who are at risk of homelessness, and assist them in developing the necessary skills to be independent.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
We Fortify's working fusion at mill street exists to pivot young adults out of poverty into a state of economic and emotional stability and social connectedness. This village and program is a first-of-its-kind housing initiative in colorado springs dedicated to breaking the cycle of generational poverty and homelessness. We do this by providing safe dignified housing within a small supportive community, individualized trauma-responsive therapies, life skills education, and living wage career placement. We are a homeless prevention initiative. This is generational shift: one person, one neighborhood, one community at a time. Working fusion at mill street is for young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 who: -will benefit from close proximity to access support services -are able and motivated to be self-sufficient -often through no fault of their own, are at extreme risk for becoming, have been, or are situationally homeless -have the desire to live a life of purpose and independence in the short time since working fusion launched, our residents are growing and moving their lives forward.
$577,000 spentof which $3,166 as grants$93,037 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $577,000.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2023 to 2024, from $1.7M to $2.6M (+53%).
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 4% · 2023 10% · 2024 29%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of We Fortify’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (39% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Chief executive
Shelley Jensen
CEO
Board chair
mary bigga
board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $74k → $236k.
8 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 We Fortify’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 23 of 24 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
We Fortify 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
70% 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 We Fortify.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 56% · 2022 33% · 2023 68% — 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
40% of We Fortify's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 33% 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
97% of We Fortify's grant income comes from Colorado funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $574k 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
We Fortify runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,973 housing & shelter nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,973 housing & shelter nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like We Fortify
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
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 We Fortify: 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 We Fortify?
- We Fortify (Colorado) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,951,385 to it, the largest being COLORADO SPRINGS HEALTH FOUNDATION ($579,700). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does We Fortify have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $1,951,385 in grants to We Fortify, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of We Fortify?
- COLORADO SPRINGS HEALTH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $579,700 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like We Fortify 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 We Fortify →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 24 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