OVERVIEW: The Bohemian Foundation supports community development, youth, economic mobility and contemporary music in northern Colorado, as well as civic engagement and democracy in the U.S. and global work addressing health, poverty and environmental challenges. Its clearest open funding opportunities are for nonprofits serving the Poudre School District area of Larimer County, Colorado.
IP TAKE: Bohemian is an important funder to know for nonprofits in and around Fort Collins, where it maintains two responsive grant programs and a youth-led grantmaking initiative with its own nonprofit application process. This funder has multiple entry points for grant seekers of all sizes.
Access is much more restricted outside the foundation’s local responsive grantmaking. Bohemian’s Civic and Global programs do not accept unsolicited proposals, and its foundation-directed initiatives should not be treated as open calls. For national or international grantseekers, strong program fit alone is therefore unlikely to be enough; an existing relationship with the foundation or an introduction through a trusted grantee, co-funder or issue network is likely to be a more realistic way to move forwards here.
PROFILE: The Bohemian Foundation is a private family foundation established in 2001 by philanthropist Pat Stryker and based in Fort Collins, Colorado. Stryker is the granddaughter of orthopedic surgeon and medical-device inventor Homer Stryker, founder of the company that became Stryker Corporation.
The foundation is committed to “working with our fellow community members on the care and improvement of our local, national, and global communities.” Its grantmaking support Community, Global, Music and Civic causes. It also runs the Bohemian Fund, which supports youth, economic opportunity, community development, and arts and culture locally in the Poudre School District area of Larimer County, Colorado.
Grants for Colorado, Community Development, Youth and Economic Opportunity
Bohemian’s Community Programs aim to strengthen Larimer County. Its current responsive grantmaking centers on three goals: ensuring that youth thrive, promoting economic stability and mobility, and cultivating a vibrant, engaged and connected community.
The foundation currently operates two responsive grant programs, rather than the four local funds it maintained in earlier years.
- The Bohemian Fund awards up to $50,000 to organizations whose work aligns with one of the foundation’s community goals and provides services and impact within the Poudre School District boundary.
- Eligible applicants include 501(c)(3) organizations and governmental units. Private foundations and fiscally sponsored programs are not eligible. Grants may support programs, one-time projects or general operations.
- Applications are accepted once a year, early in the calendar year, and organizations may submit one application annually.
- Bohemian says it looks for applicants that understand the issues they address, maintain proximity to affected communities, develop appropriately tailored solutions, demonstrate impact through data and stories, and show evidence of learning and adaptation.
- The Bright Idea Fund awards up to $7,500 for smaller-scale programs. Funding may be used to test new ideas, respond to unexpected opportunities or support ongoing innovative programs.
- Eligible applicants are 501(c)(3)s and governmental units serving the Poudre School District area, and the foundation specifically says that newly formed, legally approved nonprofits may apply. Bright Idea does not support general operating expenses or fundraisers.
- Unlike Bohemian Fund, Bright Idea applications are accepted on an ongoing basis. Requests must support upcoming rather than completed work, and applicants can generally expect a decision within 60 days. Organizations may receive one Bright Idea award per year.
- Organizations may seek support from both responsive funds for different requests. A program initially supported through Bright Idea may later seek Bohemian Fund support after the earlier grant term and required reporting are complete.
- The foundation’s responsive grants carry a fairly detailed set of exclusions. Among other restrictions, they generally do not support work outside the Poudre School District boundary, fiscally sponsored programs, private schools or foundations, individual scholarships, capital campaigns, endowments, debt reduction, fundraising events, multi-year requests or political campaigns. The foundation also excludes lobbying and voter-registration activities from these responsive local grants, although it says educational and outreach programs may be supported.
Give Next
Give Next is a year-long youth grantmaking program for middle and high school students in Larimer County. Participating classrooms receive $5,000 from local donors, identify community issues, develop grantmaking priorities, research nonprofits and ultimately recommend grants to local organizations.
- Give Next is also a genuine funding and relationship-building opportunity for area nonprofits. Organizations providing services in Larimer County may apply in two ways. Students may research and invite mission-aligned nonprofits to submit proposals, or nonprofits may submit an unsolicited Give Next application to classrooms whose posted mission statements align with their work. The online application opens each year in November.
- Local organizations can also meet participating students through Give Next Kickoff Day, nonprofit fairs, site visits, volunteer opportunities and other program activities. For prospect researchers, these activities provide one of the foundation’s clearest published pathways for a local organization to build visibility and relationships before seeking funding.
- Give Next awarded $180,915 to 45 Larimer County nonprofits in the 2024-2025 school year. Recipients included the Food Bank for Larimer County, Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County, The Matthews House, Turning Point Center for Youth & Family Development, Crossroads Safehouse, ChildSafe Colorado, Rocky Mountain Equality and Loveland Youth Gardeners, among others.
Grants for Music
Bohemian’s Music Programs aim to build community through music. The foundation currently identifies three goals: encouraging youth expression through music, increasing performances of live contemporary music, and helping musicians and music-related businesses grow and develop.
- Local nonprofits seeking responsive support for music-related work should look to Bohemian Fund and Bright Idea Fund, both of which are now listed on the Music Programs page as responsive grantmaking opportunities.
- The foundation also runs or supports several music-related special initiatives, including Music Will, Pianos About Town, the Music and Sound Lab at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Bohemian Nights, The Music District, Washington’s and the Armory. These activities are separate from the responsive grant programs; Bohemian describes Music Special Initiatives as foundation-directed grants, programs or events.
Grants for Civic Engagement, Democracy and Economic Opportunity
Bohemian’s Civic Programs work nationally to strengthen democracy in the United States.
- The foundation currently describes three broad goal areas:
- Restoring, protecting and enhancing economic opportunity for all;
- Promoting the political voice and civic engagement of all Americans; and
- Ensuring excellence, integrity and accountability in government.
- The foundation also says its Civic work seeks to ensure an independent and fair judiciary.
- Civic Programs does not accept unsolicited proposals. The foundation does not publish a general Civic LOI process or open application cycle. Grantseekers should therefore view this as relationship-driven funding rather than a cold-proposal opportunity.
- Older Bohemian grants have touched areas including criminal justice and journalism, but the foundation’s current Civic materials do not identify either one as a standalone funding priority. Grantseekers should rely on the current goals above rather than assume that older giving patterns represent present strategy.
Grants for Global Development, Health, Poverty and the Environment
Bohemian’s Global Programs support organizations addressing major challenges involving public health, poverty and the environment, particularly organizations positioned to make a significant impact at scale.
Current target areas are:
- Public health: Programs and technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa that improve access to health services and systems.
- Poverty alleviation: Programs and technologies around the world that help people increase their incomes and/or improve resilience.
- Environment: U.S. and international programs supporting place-based environmental solutions.
Bohemian also works with organizations that educate, mentor and fund emerging entrepreneurs working on global social challenges.
Global Programs does not accept unsolicited proposals. No general open call, LOI process or rolling application route is currently posted.
- Global health grantees include MedGlobal, Kenya’s Lwala Community Alliance and the Pangaea Zimbabwe AIDS Trust.
- The foundation’s global poverty alleviation grantees include Educate Girls Globally, VisionSpring and the One Acre Fund, which helps smallholder farms in Africa with financing, training for sustainable agricultural practices.
- Past environmental grants have gone to Blue Ventures Conservation, Save the Chimps, and Trees, Water & People, which works in Colorado and throughout Central America to help “communities to protect, conserve, and manage the natural resources on which their long-term well-being depends.”
Important Grant Details:
Bohemian is a sizable private foundation. Its 2024 Form 990-PF, filed in November 2025, reported approximately $178 million in year-end assets and about $17.7 million in charitable disbursements. Instrumentl separately calculates roughly $15.8 million in 2024 grantmaking from the return.
- Local responsive funding is the clearest point of entry. Bohemian Fund and Bright Idea Fund both serve organizations working within the Poudre School District boundary.
- Bright Idea Fund is the most flexible current entry point for a small request. Applications are rolling, and the program expressly welcomes newly formed nonprofits that otherwise meet eligibility requirements.
- Give Next provides another open route for Larimer County nonprofits. Classroom mission statements and applications are posted each November, and nonprofits can also build familiarity through program events and student interactions.
- Do not send unsolicited proposals to Civic or Global Programs. Both program pages expressly state that unsolicited proposals are not accepted.The foundation’s general grantmaking page says it “does not accept unsolicited proposals,” but this should be read alongside its published responsive processes. Eligible local nonprofits are invited to apply through Bohemian Fund and Bright Idea Fund, while Give Next explicitly provides an unsolicited application option. In practice, Bohemian does not accept general, off-cycle cold proposals, but it does maintain structured application pathways.
- Fiscally sponsored programs are ineligible for Bohemian’s responsive local grants.Bohemian applications are submitted through an online grantee portal. New portal users should allow time to register; the foundation says registration can take up to five business days.
- The foundation maintains a detailed staff page with program staff and email links. Local grantseekers with eligibility or program-fit questions have a concrete reason to contact the relevant Community or grants staff before applying, particularly where the foundation’s exclusions instruct applicants to contact staff first.
- The foundation typically accepts applications only for its local grants, but sign up for email updates to keep up with the latest opportunities.
- For information about past giving, see the foundation’s Stories page. For general inquiries, use the contact page or call (970) 221-2636.
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