Chinook Fund Inc
Denver, CO · EIN 84-1076325. Reported 117 grants totalling $1,314,500 to 73 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
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:
- What kind of organization it is. For Chinook Fund Inc, the IRS classifies it as a federated giving programme -- a United Way, Jewish federation, Community Chest or similar (NTEE T70Z).
- How spread out its giving is. 73 distinct organizations, with 6% 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.
- How much its list changes. 33% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $10,000. Half of what it reported fell between $9,000 and $15,000; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $29,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Nonprofit Development Center | Denver, CO | $80,000 | 7 | 3 | 2024 |
| Mosaic Unlimited Inc | Aurora, CO | $64,000 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| Fort Collins Community Action Network | Fort Collins, CO | $54,000 | 4 | 3 | 2024 |
| Cultivando | Eastlake, CO | $43,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Higher Learning U Inc | Kenner, LA | $43,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition | Denver, CO | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Una Mano Una Esperanza | Denver, CO | $40,000 | 4 | 3 | 2024 |
| Compound of Compassion | Aurora, CO | $35,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Seasoned With Grace Unboxed Inc | Denver, CO | $35,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Community Foundation Serving Southwest Colorado | Durango, CO | $34,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center | Durango, CO | $30,000 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| Move Mountains Project | San Luis, CO | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Another Life Foundation | Colorado Spgs, CO | $29,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Aurora Economic Opportunity Coalition | Aurora, CO | $29,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Colorado Jobs With Justice Inc | Denver, CO | $29,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Road Called Strate | Aurora, CO | $29,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| The Hadanou Collective | Denver, CO | $29,000 | 4 | 3 | 2024 |
| Western Regional Advocacy Project | San Francisco, CA | $29,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Companeros Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center | Durango, CO | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Lamar Unidos | Lamar, CO | $25,000 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pine River Shares | Bayfield, CO | $25,000 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Alliance for Global Justice | Tucson, AZ | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Denver Community Development Corporation | Denver, CO | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Far Northeast Resource and Development Center | Denver, CO | $20,000 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Realize Impact | Bainbridge Is, WA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center | Denver, CO | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Sacred Voices | Denver, CO | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Sisters of Color United for Education | Denver, CO | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Trailhead Institute | Denver, CO | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Tiyospaye Crisis Center | Fort Collins, CO | $19,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Justice for the People Legal Center | Denver, CO | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Lichen Health | Nevada City, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Young African Americans for Social & Political Activism | Denver, CO | $14,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Land Rights Council | San Luis, CO | $14,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Idea Stages | Parker, CO | $13,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Black Lives Matter 5280 | Denver, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Citizens Project | Colorado Spgs, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Colorado Changemakers Collective | Denver, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Community Enterprise Development Services | Aurora, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Confluence Colorado | Denver, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Denver Homeless Out Loud | Denver, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Emc | Pueblo, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Friends Uniting Networks for Disability Empowerment Research | Denver, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Greater Denver Cares | Denver, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Healing Hoop Inc | Conifer, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Innervision Inc | Charlotte, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Missing and Murdered Dine Relatives | Gallup, NM | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pabneeg | Northglenn, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Social Good Fund Inc | Richmond, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Undestructable | Denver, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Voices of the Land | Greeley, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| West Community Economic Development Corporation | Denver, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Center for African American Health | Denver, CO | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Kaizen Food Rescue | Englewood, CO | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Project Voyce | Denver, CO | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| 9 to 5 National Association of Working Women | Milwaukee, WI | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| American Friends Service Committee | Philadelphia, PA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Center for Community Wealth Building | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Colorado Peoples Alliance | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Convivir Colorado | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Food to Power | Colorado Springs, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fortaleza Familiar | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Full Circle of Lake County Inc | Leadville, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Innervision | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Movimiento Poder | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| One Colorado Education Fund | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Resilient Communities Resilient Futures Inc | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Soul 2 Soul Sisters | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Spirit of the Sun Inc | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Team Up | Durango, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Ajl Charitable Foundation | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Veterans of Hope Project | Denver, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Urban Symbiosis | Aurora, CO | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
23 of 73 (32%) 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.
- Another Life Foundation
PROGRAM & OPERATING SUPPORT - Fuerza Latina
PROGRAM & OPERATIONS ASSISTANCE - Community Foundation Serving Southwest Colorado
FOR FISCALLY SPONSORED PROJECT PINE RIVER SHARES - Western Regional Advocacy Project
FOR FISCALLY SPONSORED PROJECT HOUSEKEYS ACTION NETWORK DENVER - Colorado Nonprofit Development Center
FOR FISCALLY SPONSORED PROJECT GRAND VALLEY RESIDENT TEAM - Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center
FOR FISCALLY SPONSORED PROJECT IGNACIO OUT AND EQUAL ALLIANCE
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 60 of 73 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 28 | $426,500 | $13,500 |
| 2022 | 20 | $233,000 | $10,000 |
| 2023 | 17 | $220,000 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 52 | $435,000 | $5,000 |
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
87% 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.
Down to the city
Foundations that fund only organizations they pick gave to this one
7 private foundations that told the IRS they contribute only to organizations they select themselves reported 22 grants totalling $110,300 to Chinook Fund Inc. That is 21% of the 34 funders we can see giving to it. Those 7 foundations do not take unsolicited requests -- their own returns say so. The IRS classifies this organization as a federated giving programme.
5 of them gave in more than one tax year, which is the only durability signal the filings carry.
What that does not mean. It does not mean an application here reaches that money. A grant from a closed foundation is often a designated gift or a donor-advised fund earmarked by whoever gave it, and has nothing to do with any open programme this organization runs. Neither tax return says which, so neither do we. The list below is who put money in. It is not a route to it.
| Foundation | State | Reported | Grants | Years | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cdm Foundation Inc | Indiana | $47,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Lederer Foundation | Colorado | $30,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Lp Brown Foundation | Colorado | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Merle Chambers Fund | Colorado | $12,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Kissinger Family Foundation Inc | Colorado | $6,000 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| Amazonsmile Foundation | Washington | $150 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Donnell-Kay Foundation Inc | Colorado | $150 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
A linked name has a page of its own. We publish one for a foundation that takes no unsolicited requests only when a real share of its giving goes to organizations that make grants themselves, and that page opens by saying it does not take requests.
Both the count and the total are floors. A foundation appears here only where its return named this organization clearly enough for us to match the name to an EIN, which we manage for about two thirds of 990-PF grant rows. There are more; we cannot name them.
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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 a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this grantmaker
- 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.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $10,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Colorado.
- 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
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Chinook Fund Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 56 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 56 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 1031 33RD Street 237, Denver, CO, 80205.
EIN 84-1076325 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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