Rooted
Denver, CO · EIN 82-3215105. Reported 173 grants totalling $17.8M to 67 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, 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 Rooted, the IRS classifies it under education rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE B90) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 67 distinct organizations, with 23% 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. 48% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 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 $40,000. Half of what it reported fell between $18,000 and $100,000; the smallest was $6,000 and the largest $3,620,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dsst Public Schools Foundation | Denver, CO | $4,090,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Lyra | Denver, CO | $1,602,500 | 5 | 4 | 2023 |
| Luminary Learning Network | Denver, CO | $1,179,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Colorado League of Charter Schools | Denver, CO | $694,200 | 7 | 4 | 2023 |
| 50CAN Inc | Washington, DC | $669,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Moonshot Edventures | Denver, CO | $582,000 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Rocky Mountain Preparatory Schools | Denver, CO | $558,000 | 3 | 2 | 2021 |
| Strive Preparatory Schools | Denver, CO | $527,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| American Indian Academy of Denver | Denver, CO | $524,900 | 3 | 2 | 2021 |
| Northeast Denver Innovation Zone | Denver, CO | $500,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Beacon Network Schools Innovation Zone | Denver, CO | $485,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Radian Placematters Inc | Denver, CO | $474,305 | 11 | 5 | 2024 |
| French American School of Denver | Denver, CO | $470,000 | 3 | 2 | 2022 |
| Colorado Nonprofit Development Center | Denver, CO | $415,000 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Faithbridge | Denver, CO | $350,000 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| Rose Community Foundation | Denver, CO | $350,000 | 9 | 5 | 2024 |
| Teach for America Inc | New York, NY | $300,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| School Board Partners | New Orleans, LA | $284,250 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Stand for Children Leadership Center | Portland, OR | $271,500 | 6 | 5 | 2024 |
| Our Turn Inc | Chicago, IL | $235,000 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| University Preparatory Schools | Denver, CO | $230,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Rocky Mountain Prep Scholarship Foundation | Denver, CO | $207,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Young African Americans for Social & Political Activism | Denver, CO | $205,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Colorado Latino Leadership and Research Organizaion Inc | Denver, CO | $197,357 | 3 | 2 | 2021 |
| Denver Families for Public Schools | Denver, CO | $158,338 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Generation Teach Inc | Boston, MA | $150,000 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| Montbello Organizing Committee | Denver, CO | $150,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Keystone Center | Keystone, CO | $140,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| The Hadanou Collective | Denver, CO | $130,000 | 4 | 3 | 2022 |
| Ednium the Alumni Collective Inc | Denver, CO | $120,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| National Black Child Development Institute Inc | Silver Spring, MD | $105,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Faithbridge (via Black Capital Foun | Denver, CO | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Relay Graduate School of Education | New York, NY | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Black Lives Matter 5280 | Denver, CO | $97,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Denver Public Schools | Denver, CO | $86,350 | 4 | 3 | 2022 |
| KIPP Colorado Schools | Denver, CO | $85,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Colorado Association of Charter School Authorizers | Castle Rock, CO | $80,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Education Reform Now Inc | New York, NY | $65,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Colorado Education Initiative | Denver, CO | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Highline Academy Incorporation | Denver, CO | $47,500 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Compass Academy | Denver, CO | $46,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Colorado Association for Bilingual Education | Erie, CO | $45,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Conflict Center | Denver, CO | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Education Board Partners | Bethesda, MD | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Park Hill Collective Impact | Denver, CO | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Laurus Collegiate Inc | Aurora, CO | $38,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Academy 360 | Denver, CO | $35,135 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Bellwether Education Partners Inc | Boston, MA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Colorado Succeeds | Denver, CO | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| Koson Schools | Highlands Ranch, CO | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Realize Impact | Bainbridge Is, WA | $29,000 | 2 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Odyssey School Incorporated | Denver, CO | $28,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| University of Colorado Foundation | Denver, CO | $27,993 | 2 | 1 | 2021 |
| Downtown Denver Expeditionary School | Denver, CO | $25,709 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Girls Athletic Leadership School of Denver | Denver, CO | $20,428 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Collaborative Healing Initiative Within Communities Inc | Denver, CO | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Juntos Community | Denver, CO | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Montbello Organizing Committee | Denver, CO | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Youthroots | Denver, CO | $19,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Monarch Montessori of Denver First Steps | Denver, CO | $18,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Denver Foundation | Denver, CO | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Public Education & Business Coalition | Denver, CO | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Wyatt Academy | Denver, CO | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Boulder Food Rescue | Denver, CO | $10,415 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Omar D Blair An Edison K-8 Charter | Denver, CO | $10,042 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Denver Public Schools Foundation | Denver, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Scd Enrichment Program | Denver, CO | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
42 of 67 (63%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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.
- Dsst Public School
Charter Facility; School Expansion; School Quality & Equity - Luminary Learning
TO SUPPORT ACHIEVING THE ENROLLMENT GROWTH THROUGH SY27-28 AND BEYOND THROUGH POLICY AND ADVOCACY WORK ON OVERALL ZONE - Rocky Mountain Preparatory Schools
School Expansion; School Quality & Equity - Rocky Mountain Prep
GRANT FOR DPS ENROLLMENT SY24-25 - Denver Families for Public Schools
TO SUPPORT TEN'S GENERAL OPERATING BUDGET FOR EDUCATION WORK IN DENVER - Radian
GRANT TO PROVIDE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND DESIGN EXPERTISE TO SUPPORT MI VIDA IN THE PLANNING OF A NEW SCHOOL FACILITY
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 58 of 67 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 35 | $7,689,650 | $100,000 |
| 2021 | 48 | $3,739,700 | $50,000 |
| 2022 | 43 | $2,956,500 | $30,000 |
| 2023 | 27 | $1,998,055 | $26,000 |
| 2024 | 20 | $1,373,517 | $20,000 |
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.
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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 $40,000 -- 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 Rooted's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). 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 20 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 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: 3000 Lawrence St 141, Denver, CO, 80205.
EIN 82-3215105 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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