As of 2020, Colorado’s non-operating private foundations held approximately $15.6 billion in assets, which translates to more than half a billion dollars in annual giving. To better understand the foundation landscape in Colorado, including the characteristics of foundations and patterns in grantmaking, and also highlights how foundations leverage assets for greater social impact, the University of Colorado - Denver's School of Public Affairs published the report: "Foundations of Colorado: A project to educate about Colorado’s private foundations" in August 2022.  AJL was highlighted for commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion through our participatory grantmaking strategy (page 28), program-related investments (page 31) and impact investing strategies (page 33), as well as our commitment to transparency. Read the full report here.

A few highlights from the report:

  • “Foundation assets in Colorado, like elsewhere, are heavily concentrated among the largest foundations. The largest 100 foundations by asset size represent 84% of the state’s total foundation assets. The 10 largest foundations hold more than half (55%) of all foundation assets in Colorado.”
     
  • “Based on a year of activity, the state’s largest 100 foundations made 9,881 distinct grants. The median grant amount of $10,000 fell far below the average grant amount of $53,722 due to the influence of larger grants. These large foundations awarded eighty grants of $1 million or more during the year reviewed.”
     
  • “The average 5-year payout rate for Colorado’s largest foundations is 6.86% with a median of 5.24%. More than half of the foundations experienced average payout rates between 4.5% and 6.0%. Both the average and median payout rates of the state’s largest foundations exceed the 5% requirement in the federal tax code.”
     
  • “Geographically, foundations, foundation wealth, and grantees are concentrated in Front Range cities, although foundation grantmaking benefits recipients throughout the state.”
     
  • “Colorado’s foundations generally direct grantmaking to in-state causes. Colorado grantees received more than 77% of grants and 73% of grant dollars. In other words, 73 cents of every dollar of foundation grants initially remained in Colorado.”
     
  • “Foundation giving targets diverse causes and groups. Human services organizations received the most support based on the number of grants received (30% of grants), followed distantly by education (15%), public and societal benefit (13%), higher education (9%), health (9%), and arts, culture, and humanities (8%) organizations.”
     
  • “Adopting the methodology from an existing study, a recent year of grantmaking by Colorado’s largest 100 foundations resulted in $530.8 million of grants and an estimated $4.68 billion in direct benefits to the economy. The value of direct benefits for all Colorado foundations is estimated at $5.57 billion.”
     
  • “Most giving by Colorado foundations occurs via grantmaking, but some foundations actively use alternative approaches, including program and mission-related investments, to further leverage assets.”
     
  • “Colorado’s largest foundations maintain greater transparency than foundations nationally. Fifty-one of the largest 100 foundations maintain websites, although the comprehensiveness of information provided varies widely.”