Rose Community Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
840920862
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
3033987400
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$47,965,197
Expenses
$41,578,792
Assets
$399,648,118
Liabilities
$82,796,522

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

24 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lindy Lent (President & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Lindy Lent (President & CEO): $386,963 total reported compensation
  • Gretchen Lenamond (Chief Financial Officer): $271,026 total reported compensation
  • Sarah Kurz (Chief Impact Officer): $209,785 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

SEE SCHEDULE O. Rose Community Foundation strives to advance inclusive, engaged and equitable Greater Denver communities through values-driven philanthropy. The Foundation envisions a thriving region strengthened by its diversity and generosity, and it utilizes the varied tools at its disposal - grantmaking, advocacy and philanthropic services - to advance this aspiration. Since its founding in 1995, the Foundation has granted more than $433 million to over 3,000 organizations and initiatives, including $79 million in facilitated grantmaking from donor-advised funds. The Foundation also supports nearly 100 nonprofit organizations in creating and growing endowments to sustain their vital work into the future, currently stewarding $76 million in endowed and designated assets. The Foundation has $400 million in total assets under management and deployed more than $32 million in discretionary, restricted and donor-advised grants in 2024.

What it reported doing in 2024

Donor Development: Donor-advised fundholders contributed $9.3 million to their funds at the Foundation. Philanthropy is most powerful when it is rooted in a donor's values and connects generosity to community needs. Rose Community Foundation is committed to supporting our donors and fundholders in meaningful and purposeful philanthropic giving.Fund Distributions: Donor-advised fundholders recommended grants totaling $10.1 million to a broad range of community interests. The Foundation's philanthropy advisors help donors articulate values, narrow their philanthropic focus and identify goals and the impact they want to make through giving, as well as facilitate giving circles.Endowment Services: The Foundation received $1.6 million in contributions for new and existing permanent endowment and designated funds for local nonprofit organizations. The Foundation paid out $1.9 million to local nonprofit organizations who have established permanent endowments and designated funds at the Foundation. Our Endowment Building Pathways are designed to give nonprofit staff and board members the training and support to integrate endowment building and legacy giving into their development work and incentives to help launch or grow an endowment fund."

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 80% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 88% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 92
  • Transparency & Controls: 62
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 76
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 89.2%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $19.97 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 84.9%; rating input score 85; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13.3%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.61; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.4%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.6% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 89.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $37.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $387K · 24 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.2M reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 36 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 538 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 533 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 57/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.