Why This Couple Said "No" to Wedding Presents

By Angela Bevacqua, Senior Communications Specialist, Community First Foundation

As Mike and Amy planned their wedding, they already felt so blessed! Beyond the intangibles of love, family and friends, they each had fully equipped homes at their stage in life. A gift registry and wedding presents just didn’t feel right.

"At this joyful time in our life, we have so much already in place. Material gifts just don’t seem to feel right to us as we celebrate our marriage. Please consider supporting our wedding by giving to our new Jackson Family Donor Advised Fund at Community First Foundation. We are both passionate about supporting nonprofit organizations and by making a gift to our Fund we can distribute money at just the right time to the causes we care about...”

Mike Jackson works at Community First Foundation, so he knows a thing or two about philanthropy. But more than that, he knows about the charitable tools the Foundation offers.

Charitable Funds
Mike and Amy always dreamed of having a charitable fund, specifically a donor-advised fund like the Foundation manages. Donor-advised funds enable people to set aside dollars specifically for giving to charities without the administrative responsibilities.

The Aha! Moment
Then a light bulb went off, and they thought of a perfect way to finance a charitable fund. Since Mike is also familiar with ColoradoGives Fundraising Pages, he hatched a plan to use this free tool to enlist their wedding guests to donate to their fund in lieu of wedding gifts.

A Fundraising Page
A fundraising page is a personalized web page that can be dressed up with pictures and video. It also includes a fundraising goal and a persuasive reason why your friends should donate to the nonprofit you feature on the page. In Mike and Amy’s case, they were seeking support for the Jackson Family Fund at Community First Foundation that would benefit multiple charities over many years.

A Perfect Solution
Once their web page was live and ready on ColoradoGives.org, they shared the link on their wedding website. “It’s really easy and fun to set up a fundraising page,” said Amy, “and we’re excited our wedding helped us build the charitable fund we always wanted. We look forward to sitting down as a family each year and selecting charities to support.”

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