Innovo Foundation

Innovo Foundation is a small, all-volunteer family foundation run by directors David Mosberger and Ning Mosberger, both of whom take $0 compensation and operate without program staff. Multiple independent watchdog sources (GuideStar, GrantAdvisor, CauseIQ) confirm what the foundation's own IRS data implies: Innovo does not accept or respond to unsolicited applications, and its internal database flag marks it 'preselected only' despite a nominal 'accepting applications' status. Every organization in its grantee history — Resource Central, Conservation Colorado, the National Redistricting Foundation, Voter Participation Center — is a known, established advocacy, conservation, or journalism organization, not a cold applicant that found the foundation through a search. There is effectively no direct front door.

The real path in runs through relationships and adjacent vehicles. Ning Mosberger-Tang, one of Innovo's two directors, founded and personally runs the 1.5°Climate Strategies Group, a donor collaborative launched in March 2022 that has grown to more than 700 members. That group screens outside climate projects through biweekly pitch sessions, explicitly favoring work that is 'catalytic and underfunded' — this is the most realistic entry point for any climate or environment applicant, far more so than emailing info@innovofoundation.org. For civic-engagement and voting-rights work, the grantee list shows funding concentrated in a handful of large national vehicles (Voter Participation Center, National Redistricting Foundation, Turnout Activism, Alliance for Youth Organizing) — organizations without an existing relationship to one of these networks are unlikely to be funded directly.

First-time applicants should treat any Innovo grant as something to be introduced into, not applied for. A warm connection through a current grantee's board or staff, or through the 1.5°Climate Strategies Group's member network, is the credible route. Once a relationship exists, the pattern in the grantee data shows Innovo favors sustained, repeat support (Resource Central received three separate grants, National Redistricting Foundation three, Conservation Colorado multiple) over one-off gifts — meaning the foundation is looking for organizations it can back over several years, not single transactions.

Innovo Foundation's total giving climbed steadily from $132,878 in FY2012 to a peak of $1,108,025 in FY2022, then declined to $875,278 in FY2023 as total assets fell from $6.75 million to $5.62 million — the foundation appears to be spending down reserves rather than replenishing them, since contributions received were $0 in most disclosed years (notable exceptions: $2.74 million in 2020 and $705,104 in 2012). FY2024 shows total assets of $5.60 million and revenue of $724,486, with total giving not yet disclosed.

Across a tracked history of 98 grants totaling $2,538,106, the average grant is $25,899, but the foundation's own reported typical-grant-size figure (from a smaller recent sample of 24 grants) shows a median of just $7,500 against an average of $26,583 — meaning a small number of large, repeat awards to flagship grantees pull the average well above the typical gift, which ranges from $500 to $150,000.

The largest recipients cluster around three themes. Environment/conservation dominates: Resource Central ($250,000 across 3 grants), Alliance For Climate Education ($236,000/2), Conservation Colorado plus its Education Fund ($350,000 combined across three grants), Maryland League of Conservation Voters, 350 Colorado, and Eco-Cycle. Civic engagement and voting rights form a second major line: Urban Movement Labs ($220,000/2), National Redistricting Foundation ($200,000/3), Voter Participation Center ($110,000/2), and Turnout Activism ($101,266/2). Independent journalism is a third, smaller line: Capital & Main ($173,000/2), American Independent Foundation ($134,340/2), and Grist Magazine ($20,000/2). A long tail of gifts under $5,000 goes to food banks, local schools, and human-services groups — likely legacy or personal-connection gifts rather than core strategy.

Geographically, Colorado dominates with 50 of 98 tracked grants (roughly half), reflecting the foundation's Boulder base and its Resource Central/Conservation Colorado relationships. Washington DC is second (17 grants, largely national voting-rights intermediaries), followed by California (9) and small counts elsewhere (Illinois, Maryland, New York, Washington, Massachusetts, Alaska, Pennsylvania at 2-5 each).

All five identified peers sit within roughly $1,700 of Innovo's $5.60-5.62 million asset base and share its IRS 'Philanthropy & Grantmaking' classification, but none maintain a public website or disclosed grants list, so this cohort is matched on balance-sheet size alone rather than mission or process. That absence of public information is itself informative: like Innovo, these are almost certainly small, director-run family foundations without staff or open application channels, reinforcing that Innovo's closed, relationship-based model is typical for its asset tier rather than an outlier. Grant seekers will get a far more useful peer read from Innovo's actual funding partners — the 1.5°Climate Strategies Group donor collaborative and co-funders of Resource Central, Conservation Colorado, and the National Redistricting Foundation — than from this asset-matched IRS cohort.

No dedicated news coverage of Innovo Foundation itself surfaced for 2025-2026; most web searches for the name instead return the similarly named but unrelated Innovia Foundation (a regional community foundation serving Eastern Washington and North Idaho), which grant seekers should be careful not to confuse with this Boulder, Colorado funder. Innovo's most recent verifiable activity is financial: its FY2024 Form 990-PF (the latest disclosed) shows total assets of $5.60 million and total revenue of $724,486, continuing a decline from the $7.72 million asset peak recorded in FY2021 as annual giving eased back from FY2022's $1.1 million high to $875,278 in FY2023.

On the leadership side, there have been no changes: David Mosberger and Ning Mosberger remain the foundation's only two directors, both uncompensated, a structure that has held constant across every year of disclosed filings. The more active recent development is around co-director Ning Mosberger-Tang's other platform, the 1.5°Climate Strategies Group donor collaborative she founded in March 2022, which has grown past 700 members and continues to run biweekly pitch sessions for climate organizations seeking catalytic, underfunded project support. Mosberger-Tang has also used public platforms — including an appearance on the My Climate Journey 'Inevitable' podcast — to discuss the intersection of climate and democracy funding, a theme consistent with Innovo's own dual portfolio of conservation grants (Resource Central, Conservation Colorado) and voting-rights grants (National Redistricting Foundation, Voter Participation Center). Grant seekers should read this as a foundation still active but with its principal's energy increasingly channeled through the donor collaborative rather than expanded direct grantmaking from Innovo itself.

Confirm before investing any preparation time that Innovo Foundation is a closed funder: GuideStar, GrantAdvisor, and CauseIQ all independently report that it does not solicit or respond to unsolicited proposals, and internal foundation data flags it 'preselected only' with no published application form, portal, or deadline. A cold letter of inquiry to info@innovofoundation.org should be expected to go unanswered — treat this as the default outcome, not a fallback risk.

For climate and environment work, the highest-value move is applying to present at the 1.5°Climate Strategies Group's biweekly donor pitch sessions (onepointfiveclimate.org), the collaborative founded and run by Innovo co-director Ning Mosberger-Tang. Mirror their stated screening language — 'catalytic and underfunded' — directly in outreach materials, since that phrase appears to be the group's actual filter criterion.

For civic-engagement and voting-rights work, recognize that Innovo funds mostly through large, established national intermediaries (Voter Participation Center, National Redistricting Foundation, Turnout Activism, Alliance for Youth Organizing) rather than local grassroots groups directly — a local voter-registration or civic organization's best path to Innovo dollars is likely as a subgrantee or partner of one of these networks, not a direct ask.

For journalism and media, note that funded outlets (Capital & Main, American Independent Foundation, Grist, Local Reporting Lab Initiative) all cover climate and politics from a nonprofit-news model — align any pitch to that specific beat rather than general-interest journalism.

Build for a multi-year relationship, not a single grant: repeat recipients are the norm (Resource Central received three separate grants, National Redistricting Foundation three, Conservation Colorado multiple awards across related entities), suggesting Innovo prioritizes organizations it can back consistently over time. Given the foundation's declining total giving — down from $1.1 million in FY2022 to $875,278 in FY2023 — expect limited capacity for brand-new relationships in the near term, with priority likely going to renewing existing commitments. Because there is no program staff, any real conversation will happen directly with David or Ning Mosberger; a personal introduction through a mutual connection at a funded organization or through the 1.5° collaborative's member network matters more than any written application.