How is the wealth of Colorado foundations distributed?
Foundation assets in Colorado, like elsewhere, are heavily concentrated among the largest foundations. The 10 largest foundations hold more than half, or 55%, of all foundation assets in Colorado with the share jumping to more than 84% for the largest 100 foundations by asset size (see figure 4). Another visualization of the distribution of foundation assets in the state is presented in figure 5, where rectangles reflect the relative magnitude of a foundation’s assets as a share of the 100 largest foundations’ assets. Note that these asset values and proportions reflect only a historic snapshot in time, but the pattern of concentrated assets in especially large foundations remains the norm now and likely in the future. For the complete list of the largest 100 foundations based on total assets, see Table A1 in the full report’s appendix.
While assets are concentrated in the state’s largest foundations, the geographic distribution of Colorado’s largest foundations is also worthy of consideration. As seen in table 4, Denver is home to half of the state’s largest foundations and 76% of the group’s assets. Colorado Springs follows with 9 of the largest 100 foundations representing nearly 6% of assets. Colorado’s Front Range communities represent the vast majority of the foundations and assets, but that does not necessarily mean that the foundations’ activities are limited to the area in which they are located. Although most foundation assets reflect investments, the asset figure used to rank foundations by size includes all assets rather than the non-charitable-use assets upon which minimum distributions are based. In rare instances, a foundation’s assets do not reflect the organization’s grantmaking capacity. As an example, the majority of assets held by the Ryobi Foundation of Carbondale are in the form of an extensive art collection (including “an extraordinarily comprehensive series of works by Jasper Johns, plus select pieces from other prominent, post-war artists including Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Frank Stella, Christo and others”),[1] the Powers Art Center building in which the art is exhibited, and the land on which the museum sits.
[1] The complete collection description can be found at: https://www.powersartcenter.org/the-collection