GrantmakersColorado

Chaffee County Community Foundation

Buena Vista, CO · EIN 26-4605574. Reported 77 grants totalling $1,852,266 to 38 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

38organizations funded
$8,500median reported grant
$1,852,266granted, 2021-2024
71%of grantees funded again the next year
39%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Chaffee County Community Foundation, the IRS classifies it as a community foundation (NTEE T31).
  2. How spread out its giving is. 38 distinct organizations, with 39% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 71% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 57% median for grantmaking charities -- noticeably lower than the 67% private foundations manage. Organizations like this one rotate more of their list each year, which is where an opening for a newcomer tends to be.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $8,500. Half of what it reported fell between $6,549 and $15,000; the smallest was $5,025 and the largest $729,286. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
43 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
20 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
12 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
1 grant
$250,000 Or More
1 grant

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Chaffee Housing AuthoritySalida, CO$729,286112022
Boys and Girls Clubs of Chaffee CountySalida, CO$246,299442024
Greater Arkansas River Nature AssociationSalida, CO$95,582442024
Chaffee Housing TrustBuena Vista, CO$94,279442024
Chaffee County Hospitality IncSalida, CO$83,412442024
Chaffee County Early Childhood Council IncSalida, CO$70,492442024
Shining Mountains Montessori SchoolBuena Vista, CO$42,477332024
Alliance Against Domestic AbuseSalida, CO$37,280442024
Chaffee County ChildcarePoncha Spgs, CO$34,473332024
Full Circle Restorative JusticeSalida, CO$31,877332024
ElevateherBuena Vista, CO$27,280442024
Central Colorado ConservancySalida, CO$26,775112022
Habitat for Humanity International IncBuena Vista, CO$26,550112021
City of SalidaSalida, CO$26,000112022
Chaffee County Fire Protection DistrictBuena Vista, CO$22,512112024
Foodshed AllianceSalida, CO$21,412332024
Achieve IncBuena Vista, CO$21,040332024
GuidestoneSalida, CO$20,366332024
Ark Valley Helping HandsSalida, CO$19,212222022
Salida Sangha IncSalida, CO$18,450332024
Bessey NurseryHalsey, NE$16,745222024
Bv MadeBuena Vista, CO$14,048112024
Salida Mountain TrailsSalida, CO$13,581222024
Colorado Farm to Table IncSalida, CO$11,752222023
Salida Senior Citizens IncSalida, CO$11,052112023
Fibark Community Paddling CenterSalida, CO$10,000112022
Salida Area Parks Open Space and TrailsSalida, CO$9,717112024
Friends of Browns CanyonSalida, CO$8,500112024
Arkansas Valley Advocates for DyslexiaSalida, CO$7,525112023
Chaffee County Public HealthSalida, CO$7,525112024
The Salvation ArmyHonolulu, HI$7,000112022
Neighbor to Neighbor VolunteersSalida, CO$6,170112024
Conservation LegacyDurango, CO$6,000112021
Mini BlessingsBuena Vista, CO$5,936112022
Chaffee County Search and Rescue - NorthBuena Vista, CO$5,729112022
Chaffee County Amateur Hockey AssociationSalida, CO$5,582112024
Valley Fellowship ChurchBuena Vista, CO$5,200112021
Salida Montessori Charter School IncSalida, CO$5,150112024

18 of 38 (47%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 29 of 38 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Education
6 orgs
Environment
5 orgs
Human Services
5 orgs
Youth Development
3 orgs
Housing & Shelter
2 orgs
Recreation & Sports
2 orgs
Crime & Legal
1 org
Arts & Culture
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202114$146,275$6,700
202222$968,410$9,312
202317$251,427$11,052
202424$486,154$8,455

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

99% of its giving went to organizations in Colorado. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

Colorado
$1.8M
Nebraska
$17K
Hawaii
$7K

Down to the city

Salida, CO
$1.5M
Buena Vista, CO
$265K
Poncha Spgs, CO
$34K
Halsey, NE
$17K
Honolulu, HI
$7K
Durango, CO
$6K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available 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.

Colorado Gives Foundation16 shared recipientsRobert Hoag Rawlings Foundation9 shared recipientsAnschutz Family Foundation8 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc7 shared recipientsUnited Way of Pueblo County7 shared recipientsEl Pomar Foundation7 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $8,500 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Colorado.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in ColoradoEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Chaffee County Community Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 492, Buena Vista, CO, 81211.

EIN 26-4605574 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

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