Funders › Colorado

Forever Our Rivers Foundation

Grand Junction, CO · EIN 81-3496752. Reported 22 grants totalling $734,958 to 17 recipients across tax years 2021-2023. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$8,000median grant
$734,958granted, 2021-2023
17recipients, as named on its returns
50%of grantees funded again the next year
$724,601assets, 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. Forever Our Rivers 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 $8,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $4,000 and $39,408; the smallest was $2,475 and the largest $318,731. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
7 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
5 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
1 grant
$25,000 - $50,000
7 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
1 grant
$100,000 and Up
1 grant

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Conservation LegacyDurango, CO$318,731112023
Riversedge WestGrand Junction, CO$113,703222022
Friends of the Verde RiverCottonwood, AZ$83,729222022
Gila Watershed PartnershipThatcher, AZ$76,482222022
Grand Staircase Escalante PartnersKanab, UT$39,408112022
Grand Staicase Escalante PartnersKanab, UT$37,680112021
Colorado West Land TrustGrand Junction, CO$10,475222023
Lincoln Hills CaresDenver, CO$10,000112023
Rio Grande Headwaters Restoration ProjectAlamosa, CO$8,000112023
Colorado Canyons AssociationGrand Junction, CO$7,000222023
Colorado Water TrustDenver, CO$7,000112023
Friends of Youth and NatureHotchkiss, CO$5,000112023
Western Slope Conservation CenterPaonia, CO$5,000112022
San Juan Citizens AllianceDurango, CO$4,000112023
High Country Conservation AdvocatesCrested Butte, CO$3,750112022
Eureka Mcconnell Science MuseumGrand Junction, CO$2,500112023
Right - Rio Grande Headwaters Land TrustDel Norte, CO$2,500112023

5 of 17 (29%) 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 50%, across 2 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

Plus 15 grants to individuals totalling $660,379 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 17 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Environment
9 grants
Arts & Culture
2 grants
Youth Development
2 grants
Recreation & Sports
2 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20214$151,369$37,353
20228$215,358$22,204
202310$368,231$6,000

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

68% of its giving went to organizations in Colorado. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Colorado
$498K
Arizona
$160K
Utah
$77K

Get funders for your state and cause by email

We email you funders that gave to organizations in your state and cause, up to five at a time each week and never the same one twice, from their own IRS filings. Free. The weekly email has not started yet.

Unsubscribe in one click from any email. We never sell or share your address. To match on your organization and typical grant size too, keep a private profile.

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 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.

Colorado Gives Foundation10 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund10 shared recipientsNational Fish and Wildlife Foundation7 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc7 shared recipientsWestern Colorado Community7 shared recipientsNational Forest Foundation5 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $8,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  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.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Forever Our Rivers Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 601 Rambling Road, Grand Junction, CO, 81507. 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 81-3496752 · 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.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.