A Denver charter school on Wednesday was named the year's top nonprofit and awarded $50,000 by the Colorado Springs-based El Pomar Foundation.

KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy, located in southwest Denver, was awarded the Spencer and Julie Penrose Award for the school's work with middle school students from socioeconomically disadvantaged families.

The school is part of the Knowledge Is Power Program, or KIPP, network of charter schools targeting mostly poor and mostly minority students.

"It's certainly an honor to win this award from the El Pomar Foundation, and this recognition will truly contribute to our students," said Kurt Pusch, principal at KIPP.

In Denver, KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy students attend longer school days and a longer school year.

They also typically outperform district averages.

On state tests given in spring 2008, 60 percent of the school's eighth-graders scored proficient or advanced in reading, compared to 45 percent of all DPS eighth-graders.

KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy is the only KIPP school in Colorado. School founder Richard Barrett has applied to Denver Public Schools to open a high school in fall 2009 and, in later years, to add a second middle school and two elementary schools.

The El Pomar Foundation, based in Colorado Springs, is one of the largest and oldest private foundations in the Rocky Mountain West, with assets totaling more than $550 million. It contributes almost $25 million annually to support Colorado nonprofits.