Top-Rated Nonprofits in Colorado 2026
Colorado has 24 nonprofits with $15.0B in combined revenue. The top-rated organization is Childrens Hospital Colorado with an Efficiency Score of 84/100.
Colorado has 24 nonprofits in the IRS Form 990 dataset ranked here by efficiency score. The NonprofitTruth nonprofit efficiency rubric combines financial health / operating reserves (40%), revenue-growth consistency (35%), and officer compensation relative to revenue (25%) into a 0-100 composite.
Reading the ranking: top of the list typically combines healthy operating reserves (the highest-weighted factor) with stable multi-year revenue and reasonable officer compensation. Large hospital and university systems often appear near the top in any state — their scale gives them deep balance sheets and steady revenue. Each nonprofit links to its full Form 990 profile. For donors trying to choose between organizations, the efficiency grade is a useful triage — but the underlying reserve position, the multi-year revenue trend, and the officer-comp ratio matter more than the composite letter on any individual decision.
Top 20 of 24 Nonprofits in Colorado
| # | Organization | Category | Revenue | CEO Pay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Childrens Hospital Colorado | Health | $1.9B | $12.9M | A (84) |
| 2 | National Trust For Local News | Arts, Culture & Humanities | $46.1M | $371K | A (83) |
| 3 | The Wild Animal Sanctuary A Colorado Non Profit Corporation | Environment & Animals | $33.9M | $894K | A (83) |
| 4 | Colorado Open Lands | Environment & Animals | $33.1M | $208K | B (78) |
| 5 | Catholic Health Initiatives Colorado | Health | $2.6B | $0 | B (76) |
| 6 | Denver Botanic Garden Inc | Environment & Animals | $46.0M | $1.1M | B (76) |
| 7 | Commonspirit Health | Health | $3.9B | $28.4M | B (74) |
| 8 | Jazz At Aspen Snowmass | Arts, Culture & Humanities | $21.2M | $0 | B (74) |
| 9 | Denver Center For The Performing Arts | Arts, Culture & Humanities | $66.8M | $2.4M | B (73) |
| 10 | Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Of Colorado | Health | $4.3B | $0 | B (69) |
| 11 | Colorado Christian University | Education | $144.8M | $625K | B (69) |
| 12 | Global Greengrants Fund Inc | Environment & Animals | $42.6M | $630K | B (68) |
| 13 | University Of Denver | Education | $807.3M | $8.5M | B (67) |
| 14 | Regis University | Education | $162.1M | $1.5M | B (67) |
| 15 | The Colorado Museum Of Natural History | Arts, Culture & Humanities | $55.7M | $1.9M | C (63) |
| 16 | University Of Colorado Foundation | Education | $342.2M | $1.8M | C (59) |
| 17 | Denver Zoological Foundation Inc | Environment & Animals | $61.8M | $1.8M | C (59) |
| 18 | Karuna Foundation | Environment & Animals | $34.5M | $0 | C (55) |
| 19 | Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Society | Environment & Animals | $32.5M | $830K | C (55) |
| 20 | Colorado College Th | Education | $263.3M | $5.0M | C (53) |
Nonprofit financial data for Colorado is sourced from IRS Form 990 filings, which all tax-exempt organizations must file annually.
Frequently Asked Questions
Childrens Hospital Colorado is the top-rated nonprofit in Colorado with an Efficiency Score of 84/100 (Grade A) and $1.9B in annual revenue.
Colorado has 24 nonprofits in our database with a combined $15.0B in total revenue.
The Efficiency Score (0-100, A-F) measures a nonprofit's financial structure based on financial health / operating reserves (40%), revenue-growth consistency (35%), and current-officer compensation relative to revenue (25%), all from IRS Form 990 data. Higher scores indicate stronger financial structure. It does not include a program-spending ratio, which our data source does not provide.
Efficiency Score: financial health / operating reserves (40%), revenue-growth consistency (35%), current-officer compensation ratio (25%). No program-spending ratio is included — total program service expenses are not available from the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer feed.