Now for the Fun Part

By Angela Bevacqua, Senior Communications Specialist, Community First Foundation

After a collective sigh of relief that our ColoradoGives profiles are done (yes, we prepare one, too), it’s onward to more fun things! Now is when many of you will start implementing your marketing plan for Colorado Gives Day.

Use This Pre-Made Ad

For starters, revisit the Planning Timeline we created to help you prepare month by month.

We also encourage you to make friends with the Nonprofit Toolkit where you’ll find key messages, logos, pre-made ads, educational recordings and a lot more. A great refresher would be to watch the following series of short Colorado Gives Day videos:

The Key Facts
Show this 2+ minute video to volunteers, staff and anyone who needs a basic introduction to Colorado Gives Day.

Marketing - Best Practices
This 6.5 minute video is a MUST for anyone responsible for CO Gives Day marketing communications and development.

The Nonprofit Toolkit
This video outlines the content of the toolkit, such as logos, pre-made ads, and a co-brandable postcard. This is also an important video for marketing communications staff.

Additional short videos are coming soon, such as Prizes & The Incentive Fund and How to Measure Results, so check back on the Nonprofit Toolkit page.

Finally, get your creative juices flowing by listening to the upcoming webinar called
Creative Marketing: How Three Nonprofits Met Their Goals on Colorado Gives Day. This webinar features three very different organizations that have something to teach us all.

Are we missing something you need to promote Colorado Gives Day? Let the marketing department know at info@CommunityFirstFoundation.org.

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$36.1 million raised on Colorado Gives Day!

Marla J. Williams, president and CEO, Community First Foundation Thank you, Colorado! I appreciate the opportunity to reflect on another year of extraordinary giving. As you know, earlier this week on Colorado Gives Day people from across our state and around the country opened their hearts to give. Their generosity resulted in $36,129,285 million in donations to 2,309 Colorado nonprofit organizations. This record-breaking amount surpassed last year’s Colorado Gives Day total, which raised an impressive $33.8 million. Since its debut in 2010, Colorado Gives Day has raised more than $181 million for Colorado nonprofits. One thing is clear: generous donors and the nonprofits that inspire them are the heart of Colorado Gives Day. Although Community First Foundation provides the giving platform, participating nonprofits have taken ownership of this event and spread the word far and wide, which is the main Colorado Gives Day success story. Through your efforts every year, mo

Colorado Gives Day: Reflections from Nonprofits

By Angela Bevacqua, Communications Specialist Two months later and we’re still learning from Colorado Gives Day 2010. As we pour through data and listen to the experiences of our nonprofit friends and donors, we gain new insights about fundraising and philanthropy in Colorado. At a recent gathering of our Nonprofit Advisory Committee—a varied group of GivingFirst nonprofits that help us improve the program—we heard these reflections about The Day: Dan Hanley, director of development for Boulder County AIDS Project , said that 45% of their donations on Dec. 8 were from new donors. The agency raised more than $20,000 from 178 donations after a whirlwind of events. Dan said there are limitless ways in which you can promote your agency for Colorado Gives Day. They began soliciting support in the late-night hours of Dec. 7 at a bar in Denver, then moved on to the Denver Diner in the a.m., then several coffee shops in Boulder, and ended with a standing-room-only concert at the Boulder

ColoradoGives.org

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