The Denver Foundation is a private charity that specializes in managing and administering grants from donor-advised funds and other charitable fund formats. The group was established in 1925 and is particularly focused on helping donors in the Denver area. Because of the donor-advised nature of so many of the foundations assets the organizations that have received grants from the group are varied and eclectic in nature, with beneficiaries ranging from local charities including churches and religious schools to major national social-liberal advocacy groups like Planned Parenthood and the ACLU.
History
The Denver Foundation was formed in 1925 by members of the Denver area banking community with the idea of pooling “estate gifts that had been left to their institutions for a variety of charitable purposes” to benefit the Denver community. The foundation is comprised of numerous endowed trusts, the first of which was established with $3,402 in 1929 to establish the Adult Blind Home and Association Fund. The foundation notes that the organization this fund was setup to support is no longer operational, but that they continue to honor the original donors’ intent by using the fund to support organizations that assist the blind. As of 2018 the organization operates over 1,000 charitable funds. 1
Funding
In 2017 $93 million of the Denver Foundation’s $120 million in revenue came from contributions and grants and $24 came from investment income. As of 2017 the foundation has $763 million in assets with $66 million in liabilities with total net assets of $697,538,246. 2
Most Denver Foundation donors form donor-advised funds which enable them to guide their giving and direct grants to organizations and causes they favor. The foundation also manages designated funds, field of interest funds, endowed funds, and business donor-advised funds. In each case the foundation invests the donations and ensures that grants are in compliance with tax regulations.
Activities
The Denver Foundation distributed over $65 million in grants in 2017 to a wide variety of organizations. 3 The foundation divides its giving into six main areas: basic human needs, leadership and equity, economic opportunity, education, the arts, and neighborhood development. 4
Grants are distributed to a wide array of differing organizations, ranging from the Catholic Church-affiliated social services organization Catholic Charities, the Denver chapter of the social-liberal advocacy and litigation group ACLU, the libertarian advocacy group Atlas Network, and various religious schools and institutions. The foundation has also provided grants to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, and the gun control group American Legislators for Gun Violence Prevention. 5
Leadership
Javier Alberto Soto is the President and and CEO of the Denver Foundation. He assumed his role in October of 2019, having worked for 10 years as the CEO of the Miami Foundation. 6 He previously worked as the Chief of Staff to a county mayor in Miami-Dade County and also worked as a litigator in the county’s attorney office. 7
References
- “Denver Foundation: History.” DenverFoundation.org. Accessed November 25, 2019. http://www.denverfoundation.org/About/About-The-Denver-Foundation/History.
- Denver Foundation, IRS (Form 990), 2017, Part I
- Denver Foundation, IRS (Form 990), 2017, Part I
- “Grants: What We Fund.” DenverFoundation.org. Accessed December 27, 2019. http://www.denverfoundation.org/Nonprofits/Grants-What-We-Fund.
- Denver Foundation, IRS (Form 990), 2017, Schedule I, Part 2
- “Javier Alberto Soto.” DenverFoundation.org. Accessed November 25, 2019. http://www.denverfoundation.org/Javier.
- “Javier Alberto Soto: Incoming President and CEO,” July 1, 2019. Accessed December 27, 2019. http://www.denverfoundation.org/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/Javier%20Alberto%20Soto%20Bio,%20Incoming%20CEO%20of%20The%20Denver%20Foundation.pdf.