What follows are the best ideas submitted plus a few I've added.

• When they got started: Spain early; France and English later
• Who funded: Spain (king); England - private funds (joint stock companies) and large landowners in the proprietary colonies.
• Interests: Spain - military conquest, gold and silver, religious mission; France - commodities they could sell (furs, sugar) and religious mission; The Dutch and the English interest were more commercial; they did not send large numbers of troops or missionaries. France, Spain and Holland all viewed their Caribbean colonies as more important than their North American colonies. The English were more balanced (especially once Virginia began growing tobacco).
• Degree of stratification: High in Spain; lowest in English colonies in North America Dominant class in the colonies: Spain- viceroys and court, large landowners; French - traders; Dutch-trading company owners and large landowners; English - merchants and plantation owners.
• Products: Spain- gold and silver; France and Holland - furs in North America; English - timber, fish, furs. All had sugar interests in the Caribbean.
• Number of Euopeans settling in colonies: low for all but the English. French kept the numbers low to maintain military at home and habitat for fur-bearing animals in North America but allowed selected numbers to migrate to grow food for traders. Dutch landowners found it difficult to recruit labor on their terms; smaller numbers in home country. English- population pressures at home meant there were few restrictions. Colonists were self-selecting--those seeking freedom (religious or political) and those more willing to take risks.
• Control of the colony by state: High in French and Spanish colonies; lower in the Dutch and English colonies. The French, Spanish, and English colonies all had governors appointed by the king; only the English colonies had elected legislatures to deal with local taxes and local issues.
• Native Cultures: Spain encountered stratified native cultures where most people were used to taking orders; they replaced the traditional leaders and used the native work force; The French and Dutch traded with the natives but did not "employ" the natives or produce the furs themselves on the natives to produce the furs themselves; English used European workers as few natives were willing to work as paid agricultural labor or as servants. The French had the best relationships with the natives; after the period of Spanish military conquest, the English probably had more difficult relationships with the natives due to their desire for land.
• Diversity: The English colonies contained people of a variety of religions and nationalities, including those the Dutch once those colonies exchanged hands. The French and Spanish colonies were more homogeneous in terms of the European population, although there was some intermarriage with natives. The Spanish had the most diverse territory in terms of geography and native groups.
• Freedom: All had a degree of freedom by virtue of their distance from Europe. Economic, religious, and political freedoms were highest in the English colonies (though early Massachusetts was often intolerant).
• Land ownership: English - widespread; rest- most of land belonged to the kind or a small number of large landowners.
• Growth: Fast in English colonies in North America; relatively slow in Dutch, French, and Spanish North America.
• Impact on mother country: Spain- inflow of gold financed military excursion and glorification of church and king without improving the economy; Dutch - new world colonies small relative to interests in the far east with direct gains to the trading company; English - relieved pressures from over-population and religious conflict and increased volume of trade. Of the remaining three, the English benefitted the most from their North American colonies, at least until the Revolution began. The English colonies were the first to become independent; the rest did not until many years later.