FundersColorado

Fred and Elli Iselin Foundation

Basalt, CO · EIN 74-2521631. Reported 91 grants totalling $373,000 to 35 organizations across tax years 2021-2023. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$3,500median grant
$373,000granted, 2021-2023
35organizations funded
90%of grantees funded again the next year
$2,580,209assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Fred and Elli Iselin Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $3,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $5,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $20,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
15 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
40 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
27 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
9 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Aspen Valley Ski ClubAspen, CO$55,000332023
Aspen Youth CenterAspen, CO$40,500332023
Steadman Philippon Research InstituVail, CO$30,000332023
Independence Pass FndtAspen, CO$26,250332023
Educ Fndt for the Colo Nat'l GuardAurora, CO$15,000332023
La Puente Home IncAlamosa, CO$15,000332023
River Bridge Regional CenterGlenwood Springs, CO$15,000332023
Roaring Fork Outdoor VolunteersBasalt, CO$15,000332023
Aspen Historical SocietyAspen, CO$12,000332023
Family Visitor Program of GarfieldGlenwood Springs, CO$11,000222022
Youth ZoneGlenwood Springs, CO$11,000332023
Friends of the Aspen Animal ShelterAspen, CO$10,500332023
Roaring Fork Valley Early LearningGlenwood Springs, CO$10,500332023
Bears Ears PartnershipBluff, UT$10,000222023
Grand Staircase Escalante Ntl Mnt PKanab, UT$10,000222023
Music Assoc of AspenAspen, CO$10,000222022
Lift Up Garfield CountyRifle, CO$8,500332023
A Way OutAspen, CO$7,500332023
Wilderness WorkshopCarbondale, CO$7,500332023
Best Friends Animal SocietyKnab, UT$6,000332023
Habitat for Humanity of the Rf VallCarbondale, CO$6,000332023
Food Banks of the RockiesGrand Junction, CO$5,000112023
Grand Canyon TrustFlagstaff, AZ$5,000112021
Roaring Fork Family Resource CenterCarbondale, CO$5,000112021
Salvation ArmyDenver, CO$4,500332023
English in ActionBasalt, CO$3,500332023
Aspen School DistrictAspen, CO$3,000332023
Humane Society of the USWashington, DC$3,000332023
Basalt Education FoundationBasalt, CO$2,500112021
World Wildlife FundWashington, DC$2,250332023
Colorado Ski & Snowboard MuseumVail, CO$1,500332023
March of DimesWhite Plains, NY$1,500332023
Phys Committee for RespoWashington, DC$1,500332023
US Committee for UnicefNew York, NY$1,500332023
Roaring Fork Fire RescueCarbondale, CO$1,000112021

30 of 35 (86%) received money in more than one year over the 3 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 90%, across 2 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 42 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Animal Welfare
9 grants
Education
7 grants
Mental Health
6 grants
Environment
4 grants
Recreation & Sports
3 grants
Youth Development
3 grants
Human Services
3 grants
Medical Research
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202132$128,500$3,250
202230$123,000$3,500
202329$121,500$3,500

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 89% of this one's giving went to organizations in Colorado. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Colorado
$332K
Utah
$26K
District of Columbia
$7K
Arizona
$5K
New York
$3K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund15 shared recipientsAspen Community Foundation13 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc12 shared recipientsColorado Gives Foundation12 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust9 shared recipientsGs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund6 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $3,500. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Colorado.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in ColoradoEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Fred and Elli Iselin Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 3 returns (tax years 2021-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 350 Market Street 311, Basalt, CO, 81621. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 74-2521631 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.