By admin 
This story first appeared in The Unaffiliated newsletter. Subscribe here.
Millions of dollars in untraceable money from conservative groups has flowed into Colorado in recent weeks to oppose a pair of liberal ballot measures that would change the tax code to raise billions of dollars in state revenue, primarily for things like education and healthcare.
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Most of the money is targeted at Amendment 87, which would impose a graduated income tax rate on businesses and individuals, increasing the tax burden on those earning more than about $500,000 in order to generate an estimated $2 billion in its first full year for healthcare, education and childcare.
The conservative money is also being spent to oppose Proposition NN, which would eliminate potentially billions of dollars in Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refunds for the foreseeable future and redirect that money — for at least a decade — toward K-12 schools and early childhood programs.
Four state issue committees are fighting 87 and NN: Don’t Price Us Out, Brighter Colorado, the Americans for Prosperity Colorado Issue Committee and Keep Colorado Affordable.
Don’t Price Us Out appears to be raising and spending the most money specifically against the ballot measures. On Sept. 29, it took in $760,000 from the American Prosperity Coalition, which has no online presence and is registered to a shipping store in Texas. The group also received $300,000 from Ready Colorado, a conservative political nonprofit that works on education issues but doesn’t disclose its donors.
The American Prosperity Coalition and Ready Colorado are what The Colorado Sun refers to as dark money groups because they don’t reveal their donors.
Last week, the committee received $25,000 each from Joe O’Dea, who runs a Colorado construction company and ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate as a Republican in 2022, and Jeff Keller, a retired Colorado construction company executive.
Don’t Price Us Out spent more than $800,000 on ads at the end of September. The group has spent tens of thousands on YouTube spots urging people to vote against Amendment 87, Google’s Ad Transparency Center shows.
The next biggest spender against Proposition NN and Amendment 87 is the issue committee Brighter Colorado, which is also supporting six conservative ballot measures this year.
Since the group is spending for and against so many initiatives on the 2026 ballot, it’s difficult to determine how much is being spent on which ones. But the committee had raised nearly $3 million through Tuesday morning, most of which — $1.75 million — came in September from Common Sense America, a national conservative political nonprofit that doesn’t disclose its donors and has bankrolled many conservative ballot measures in Colorado this year.
The GOPAC Election Fund, a federal political action committee that backs Republican causes and candidates, gave Brighter Colorado $500,000 also in September. The conservative political nonprofit Colorado Dawn, which doesn’t disclose its donors, gave $100,000 to Brighter Colorado in early October.
Most of the committee’s recent spending was on ads and it was predominantly routed through Victor’s Canvassing in Colorado Springs, a political firm that works for many Republican candidates and campaigns.
The Americans for Prosperity Colorado Issue Committee, a group funded by Americans for Prosperity, the national conservative dark money group, has raised and spent about $350,000 opposing Amendment 87 through Tuesday morning.
Money raised in support of 87 and NN
The Protect Colorado’s Future Coalition is backing 87 and had raised nearly $2 million through Tuesday morning, including from some groups that don’t disclose their donors. More than a quarter of the committee’s donations through Monday came from Merle Chambers, a major Democratic donor in Colorado who used to work in the oil and gas industry, who has given $500,000.
Other major contributors to the Protect Colorado’s Future Coalition have been Stand for Children, an education advocacy group; AARP, which is funded by its members; the Bell Policy Center and Colorado Fiscal Institute, liberal nonprofit think tanks; the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition, a nonprofit led by Democratic state Rep. Lorena Garcia; and Great Education Colorado Action, a nonprofit.
Graduated income tax calculator
See what you’d owe under Initiative 195’s proposed six-bracket structure versus Colorado’s current 4.4% flat rate. Enter your federal taxable income.
The proposed graduated rates apply to federal taxable income as determined by Section 63 of the Internal Revenue Code, for tax years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2027. Brackets: 3.7% up to $25,000; 4.2% to $100,000; 4.4% to $500,000; 7.4% to $750,000; 7.9% to $1M; 8.4% above $1M. “Current” reflects Colorado’s 4.40% flat rate. Estimate only; individual filings vary.
Claude was used to assist in writing the calculating code for this tool. Information submitted through this form does not leave the browser window and is not stored or transmitted in any way. No part of this story was written using AI. See the source code here.
The Bell Policy Center’s donors, which have been disclosed to The Colorado Sun, include a number of liberal-leaning nonprofits and foundations, as well as individual donors sympathetic to Democratic candidates and causes. The Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition . The Colorado Fiscal Institute reveals some of its donors.
Great Education Colorado Action, the political offshoot of the nonprofit Great Education Colorado, does not reveal its donors, and neither does Stand for Children.
Most of Protect Colorado’s Future Coalition’s reported spending has been on ads in support of Amendment 87.
Yes for Colorado Kids, which is backing Proposition NN, had raised more than $5 million through Tuesday morning, including $3 million from the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union.
Other major contributors to the committee include the Gary Advocacy, at $1 million; the Colorado Fund for Children and Public Education, at $950,000; the Rose Community Foundation at $50,000; and CLCS Action, at $25,000.
Gary Advocacy was founded by oil and gas entrepreneurs Sam Gary and his wife, Nancy. The Colorado Fund for Children and Public Education is funded by members of the Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. The Rose Community Foundation’s funding was seeded about 30 years ago from the sale of Rose Medical Center.
CLCS Action is a political nonprofit that doesn’t disclose its donors and is associated with the Colorado League of Charter Schools.
The money raised by Yes for Colorado Kids has gone toward a major ad campaign that includes TV and digital spots.
Other ballot measure spending
Millions more is being spent on the other measures on the statewide ballot this year.
No Pollution in the Constitution, an issue committee battling Amendment 82, which would put a right to natural gas in the state constitution, had raised more than $2 million through Tuesday morning.
That includes $600,000 from the Utility Action Alliance, a national political nonprofit that battles climate change and doesn’t disclose its donors; $500,000 from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a national liberal nonprofit that also doesn’t disclose its donors; and $250,000 from the League of Conservation Voters, a liberal political nonprofit funded in large part by Democratic philanthropists.
In October the committee received $250,000 from the Green Advocacy Project, another liberal political nonprofit that doesn’t disclose its donors, and $125,000 from Aspen One, which runs Aspen Snowmass. Conservation Colorado and its nonprofit campaign arm, whose funding sources are unclear, have also contributed money to No Pollution in the Constitution.
The committee spent more than $1 million in September, most of it on TV and digital ads.
Defend Our Ballots, which is fighting Amendment 84, which would require voters to put the last four digits of their Social Security, driver’s license or state ID numbers on their ballot, had raised about $200,000 through Tuesday morning, most of it from a recently formed nonprofit of the same name that doesn’t disclose its donors.
Coloradans for CoCo, the committee supporting Ballot Issue 7A, which would raise the sales tax in communities served by a Front Range passenger rail line to expand service, had raised nearly $1 million through Tuesday morning.
Its major donors include the Denver Broncos; the Colorado Rockies; the engineering firm HDR; Lion Residential, a builder that works in Sterling Ranch; HNTB Corporation, a transit developer; and Boldly Forward, a political nonprofit tied to Gov. Jared Polis that doesn’t reveal its donors.
Protect Colorado’s Land and Water, Prevent Wildfires, which is backing Proposition 137, which would set aside about $200 million in annual, existing tax revenue for land management, had raised about $5 million through Tuesday morning.
About $2 million of that has come from the Nature Conservancy, a national nonprofit funded by its members and other foundations. Western Resource Advocates Action Fund, the nonprofit campaign arm of Western Resources Advocates, which doesn’t reveal its donors, is also a big funder of the committee.
The committee also received $525,000 in early October from Environmental Defense Action Fund, a liberal dark money group, and $100,000 on Monday from the Colorado Civic Alliance, also a dark money group.
Families Not Politics, which is battling against Propositions 134 and 135, which would prohibit transgender youth and college students from playing in gendered sports and outlaw surgeries changing the biological sex characteristics of people under 18, had raised about $1.7 million through Tuesday morning.
Its major donors include the ACLU; One Colorado and its nonprofit campaign arm, which doesn’t disclose its donors; Brighter Future for Colorado, a liberal political nonprofit that doesn’t disclose its donors; and the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, known as COLOR; and Chambers, the former oil and gas executive.
Another COLOR- and ACLU-backed committee opposing the initiatives, The People’s No, has raised $200,000 to oppose the initiatives.
The committees supporting 134 and 135 — Protect Kids Colorado and Protect Our Children — haven’t reported raising and spending much money.
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