Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Aug 2005.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
88 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
5 people listed on the 990; $134K paid to officers and key staff.
Kathleen Merritt’s $156K as Executive Director is at the 76th percentile of top reported officer pay among 3868 $1–10M human services nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 2 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kathleen Merritt | $156,382 | $134,398 | $134,488 | $106,003 | $98,466 | $98,694 |
| Susan Altman | — | $1,381 | — | — | — | — |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2Yes
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Improves children's lives by increasing access to early education in five Colorado counties.
Questions for Bright Futures
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Bright futures provides coaching, navigation, and resources to improve the quality of early childhood education in san miguel, ouray, montrose, delta, and san juan counties. Through coaching, training and navigation, childcare providers are engaged in quality improvement and elevating early childhood teacher interactions with young…
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2023 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY23 | End FY23 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $628K | $699K |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $881K | $1.3M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $148K | $385K |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $733K | $906K |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1 | $489K | $489K | ||
| Grants to domestic individualsLn 2 | $148K | $148K | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $109K | $44K | $11K | $55K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $516K | $432K | $31K | $52K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $207K | $165K | $11K | $31K |
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $53K | $2K | $51K | |
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $694K | $694K | ||
| Office expensesLn 13 | $63K | $50K | $13K | |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $32K | $20K | $2K | $10K |
| TravelLn 17 | $44K | $44K | ||
| InsuranceLn 23 | $4K | $4K | ||
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $2K | $2K | ||
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $2.4M | $2.1M | $124K | $148K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $2.6M | $2.6M | −$32K | $1.1M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $2.7M | $2.5M | $200K | $1.1M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 Viewing | $2.5M | $2.4M | $173K | $906K | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $1.9M | $1.9M | $10K | $733K | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $1.8M | $1.9M | −$141K | $722K | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $1.3M | $1.6M | −$316K | $864K | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2023 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $2,535,134 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 4 of 5 board members independent, 1 to look at
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $2,535,134 across 6 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $2,362,053 across 12 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $1,290,369 assets, 12 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $905,801 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2023 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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