Funders › Colorado

Rocks Family Foundation

Colorado Springs, CO · EIN 84-1282202. Reported 101 grants totalling $671,710 to 34 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$6,000median grant
$671,710granted, 2021-2025
34recipients, as named on its returns
89%of grantees funded again the next year
$3,289,251assets, 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. Rocks Family 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 $6,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $4,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $26,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
3 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
28 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
42 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
27 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
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
Cu FoundationDenver, CO$73,000442025
The See the Future FundColorado Springs, CO$50,000552025
Front Range Community College FoundationWestminster, CO$48,000552025
Craig Hospital FoundationEnglewood, CO$46,000552025
Hillside ConnectionColorado Springs, CO$41,000552025
Boulder Pregnancy CenterBoulder, CO$40,000552025
Bexley StrongColorado Springs, CO$37,000552025
Care & Share Food BankColorado Springs, CO$32,000552025
Springs Rescue MissionColorado Springs, CO$32,000552025
Stable StridesElbert, CO$32,000552025
Cheyenne Mountain ZooColorado Springs, CO$24,000552025
Colorado Dyslexia FoundationColorado Springs, CO$22,000222025
Kids Passion FoundationColorado Springs, CO$20,000552025
Children's Literacy CenterColorado Springs, CO$19,000332025
Pikes Peak Community College FoundationColorado Springs, CO$18,000222022
Allies FoundationColorado Springs, CO$17,000332024
Community Partnership for Childhood DevelopmentColorado Springs, CO$16,000222022
Sister CarmenLafayette, CO$14,000222022
TessaColorado Springs, CO$10,100552025
Children's Literacy Learning CenterColorado Springs, CO$10,000112021
Colorado Literacy Learning CenterColorado Springs, CO$10,000112022
Empty Stocking FundColorado Springs, CO$9,510552025
Pikes Peak State FoundationColorado Springs, CO$9,000112025
Foundation for Succesful LivingColorado Springs, CO$8,000222023
Angels of America's FallenColorado Springs, CO$5,100332025
Crossfire MinistriesColorado Springs, CO$5,000112025
Histroric St Elmo and Chalk Creek Canyon IncNathrop, CO$5,000112025
One October IncColorado Springs, CO$5,000112025
Pikes Peak Community FoundationColorado Springs, CO$5,000112022
Foundation for Successful LivingColorado Springs, CO$4,000112021
Give CampaignColorado Springs, CO$2,000112025
Angels of Americas FallenColorado Springs, CO$1,000112022
Pinecrest Community Church Food PantryParker, CO$1,000222024
Santiago's Boxing ClubColorado Springs, CO$1,000112023

23 of 34 (68%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 89%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

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 activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 62 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.

Human Services
12 grants
Health Care
10 grants
Youth Development
10 grants
Education
9 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
6 grants
Food & Nutrition
5 grants
Animal Welfare
5 grants
Crime & Legal
4 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202118$117,510$7,500
202222$150,000$6,500
202320$131,600$7,000
202419$126,500$5,000
202522$146,100$5,000

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

Colorado Springs, CO
$413K
Denver, CO
$73K
Boulder, CO
$40K
Englewood, CO
$36K
Elbert, CO
$32K
Westminster, CO
$28K
Westminister, CO
$20K
Lafayette, CO
$14K

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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund9 shared recipientsPikes Peak Community Foundation9 shared recipientsEl Pomar Foundation9 shared recipientsThe Joseph Henry Edmondson Foundation9 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc8 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc8 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $6,000. 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.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in ColoradoEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Rocks Family 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: Po Box 75004, Colorado Springs, CO, 80970. 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 84-1282202 · 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.