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FIRST DESCENTS

EIN 81-0539964 DENVER, CO

Browse the largest nonprofits in Colorado

Revenue 2024
$8,875,854
Expenses 2024
$4,486,181

Program services were 70.8% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
N20
Classification
1000
Street
621 KALAMATH ST STE 175

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2024

Mission

FIRST DESCENTS PROVIDES LIFE-CHANGING OUTDOOR ADVENTURES TO YOUNG ADULTS IMPACTED BY CANCER AND OTHER SERIOUS HEALTH CONDITIONS.

  • DURING THE FIRST DESCENTS EXPERIENCE, YOUNG ADULTS IMPACTED BY CANCER AND OTHER SERIOUS HEALTH CONDITIONS ARE EMPOWERED THROUGH CONQUERING LEGITIMATE OUTDOOR CHALLENGES TO PUSH THEIR LIMITS AND FACE THIER FEARS AND BY DOING SO, THEY REGAIN THE CONFIDENCE LOST TO HEALTH CONDITIONS. IN 2024, FIRST DESCENTS PROVIDED 35 WEEK-LONG PROGRAMS AND 1 MULTI-DAY PROGRAM SERVING A TOTAL OF 441 PARTICIPANTS. FIRST DESCENTS ALSO SERVED 1,001 PARTICIPANTS THROUGH LOCAL COMMUNITY ADVENTURES.

    Expenses $3,175,430

As filed on the 2024 return.

Officers and directors · 2024

As listed in Part VII of the 2024 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • Debbie King Ford

    BOARD CHAIRP

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Julie Wright

    VICE CHAIRPE

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Michael Gross

    TREASURER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Kip Cross

    SECRETARY

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Larry Smith

    MEDICAL DIRE

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Dr Brandon Hayes-Lattin

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Alix Berglund

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Brent Goldstein

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Joel Appel

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Tanum Davis Bohen

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Ben Davis

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Kammi Reiss

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Elizabeth Keating

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Genevieve Hovde

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Brock Strasbourger

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2
  • Bradford Ludden

    FOUNDER AND

    Total calculated
    $202,338
    From this org
    $185,936
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $16,402
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $180,936
    Bonus
    $5,000
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    $8,000
    Nontaxable benefits
    $8,402
    Filer's total
    $202,338
  • Patrick O'Donoghue

    EXECUTIVE DI

    Total calculated
    $261,378
    From this org
    $241,579
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $19,799
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $234,079
    Bonus
    $7,500
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    $10,400
    Nontaxable benefits
    $9,399
    Filer's total
    $261,378
  • Adam Schuster

    COO

    Total calculated
    $164,770
    From this org
    $150,968
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $13,802
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $146,968
    Bonus
    $4,000
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    $5,879
    Nontaxable benefits
    $7,923
    Filer's total
    $164,770
  • Raymond Shedd

    VP OF ADVANC

    Total calculated
    $194,854
    From this org
    $179,836
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $15,018
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $174,836
    Bonus
    $5,000
    Other
    not reported
    Deferred
    $6,998
    Nontaxable benefits
    $8,020
    Filer's total
    $194,854
  • Anna McGrath

    VP OF PROGRA

    Total calculated
    $127,831
    From this org
    $115,259
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $12,572
    Hours/week
    40

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2024
    Revenue
    $8,875,854
    Expenses
    $4,486,181
    Contributions
    $9,234,097
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $4,687,860
    Expenses
    $4,618,131
    Contributions
    $5,260,227
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $4,698,091
    Expenses
    $3,978,589
    Contributions
    $5,433,936
    Grants paid
    $0

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $4,632,014
    Expenses
    $2,535,532
    Assets (EOY)
    $8,441,056
  • 2021 · 990-T

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    not reported
    Assets (EOY)
    not reported
  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $5,353,262
    Expenses
    $2,286,273
    Assets (EOY)
    $7,107,473
  • 2020 · 990-T

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    not reported
    Assets (EOY)
    not reported
  • 2019 · 990

    Revenue
    $3,585,157
    Expenses
    $3,141,034
    Assets (EOY)
    $3,319,469
  • 2018 · 990

    Revenue
    $3,915,929
    Expenses
    $3,116,989
    Assets (EOY)
    $3,258,497
  • 2017 · 990

    Revenue
    $3,428,253
    Expenses
    $2,999,416
    Assets (EOY)
    $2,192,636
  • 2016 · 990

    Revenue
    $2,435,282
    Expenses
    $2,708,046
    Assets (EOY)
    $1,764,806
  • 2015 · 990

    Revenue
    $3,096,389
    Expenses
    $2,903,127
    Assets (EOY)
    $2,056,211
  • 2014 · 990

    Revenue
    $2,576,803
    Expenses
    $2,148,256
    Assets (EOY)
    $1,373,518

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all. Showing the 10 most recent; the API carries the rest.

Grants made

No itemized grants to organizations. Schedule I is filed only by organizations that granted more than $5,000 to a recipient, so most filers have none.

Grants received

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Taxable family

From Schedule R Parts I, III and IV: entities that legally are the filer, and taxable partnerships, corporations and trusts it is related to. These record ownership and control, not shared board members or money.

Related corporations and trusts on its 2023 return

  • STOKE BROKER INC

    C CORP · TRIP ORGAN · CO

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 11 November 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 9 November 2026 and read 9 November 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2024, the newest we have parsed for this organization.