FundersColorado

The Pergo Foundation

Basalt, CO · EIN 85-4391566. Reported 80 grants totalling $379,660 to 42 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,000median grant
$379,660granted, 2021-2024
42organizations funded
54%of grantees funded again the next year
$3,562,063assets, 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. The Pergo 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 $1,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $300 and $3,500; the smallest was $50 and the largest $76,800. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
31 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
31 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
7 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
7 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
2 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
2 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
University of California Berkeley FoundationBerkeley, CA$166,800332023
Wesleyan UniversityMiddletown, CT$40,000332023
University of California Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$25,000222022
University of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA$25,000112023
Mccallum TheatrePalm Desert, CA$14,500442024
Roaring Fork ConservancyBasalt, CO$13,260332023
Foundation for Spinal RestorationSanta Monica, CA$10,000112022
The UCLA FoundatioinLos Angeles, CA$10,000112024
Palm Springs Friends PhilharmonicPalm Desert, CA$8,000222024
Prostate Cancer FundSanta Monica, CA$7,500332024
Concern FoundationLos Angeles, CA$7,159332023
Village for VetsLos Angeles, CA$7,021222023
Aspen Animal ShelterAspen, CO$5,000112021
The Steadman Phillipon Research InstituteVail, CO$5,000112024
Harvard WestlakeStudio City, CA$4,000222023
Palm Springs Friends of the PhilharmonicPalm Desert, CA$4,000222022
Chabad of MelroseLos Angeles, CA$3,258332024
Nature ConservancyArlington, VA$3,000332023
Friends of Aspen Animal ShelterAspen, CO$2,588112024
Cancer Support Community Greater St LouisSt Louis, MO$2,515442024
Planned ParenthoodNew York, NY$2,000222023
American Red CrossWashington, DC$1,538112024
To ReturnBasalt, CO$1,500222023
Youth EntityCarbondale, CO$1,500222023
Colorado State Firefighters FoundationBrush, CO$1,108332023
BABY2BABYLos Angeles, CA$1,030112024
Direct ReliefSanta Barbara, CA$1,024112024
Emergency Network LaLos Angeles, CA$1,000112024
Wounded Warrior ProjectJacksonville, FL$1,000222023
Challenge AspenSnowmass Village, CO$933222024
Aspen Center for Environmental StudiesAspen, CO$900332023
Food Bank of the RockiesDenver, CO$512332023
National Park FoundationWashington, DC$500112023
Save the Redwoods LeagueSan Francisco, CA$406332023
Basalt Lions ClubBasalt, CO$300112021
Feeding AmericaChicago, IL$250112022
Integrated Learning InstitutePalm Desert, CA$150112021
Basalt Education FoundationBasalt, CO$103112021
Mountain Lion FoundationSacramento, CA$103112021
PBS SocalCosta Mesa, CA$100112021
The Art BaseBasalt, CO$52112023
California State Parks FoundationSan Francisco, CA$50112021

23 of 42 (55%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 54%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

Plus 4 grants to individuals totalling $241,725 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

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 recipient's own IRS classification, for the 54 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
10 grants
Environment
9 grants
Health Care
6 grants
Arts & Culture
5 grants
Human Services
4 grants
Food & Nutrition
4 grants
Religion
3 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202124$132,007$1,000
202220$101,264$1,004
202323$113,561$1,000
202413$32,828$1,030

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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 78% of this one's giving went to organizations in California. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

California
$296K
Connecticut
$40K
Colorado
$33K
Virginia
$3K
Missouri
$3K
District of Columbia
$2K
New York
$2K
Florida
$1K

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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 the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc15 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund14 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program12 shared recipientsMorgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc11 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust9 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc8 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in California.
  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 CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding environment in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding health care in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding arts & culture in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Pergo Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 856 Frying Pan Road, Basalt, CO, 81621. 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 85-4391566 · 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, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.