New Communications Director Offers Media Tips

By Kayla Arnesen, APR, Director of Strategic Communications, Community First Foundation

I am pleased to have joined Community First Foundation in October as director of strategic communications. In this role, I am responsible for the Foundation’s marketing, branding and public relations activities. I couldn’t be happier to be part of such a wonderful organization dedicated to strengthening Colorado nonprofits and inspiring philanthropy.

Tips for working with the media

Nonprofit organizations are all about people and providing services to help improve lives. Therefore, the nonprofit community is in a great position to feed the media’s need for human interest stories. The key to success is knowing when your ideas are newsworthy.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you approach the media:

Is my idea really newsworthy? If you saw the same story about another agency, would it grab your attention?
Does my idea have drama or solve a dilemma? The media loves stories about people making a unique difference, people assisting others in times of crisis, and people helping children, rescuing animals, caring for the elderly, employing the physically challenged, and saving the environment.
Does my story idea have a bit of uniqueness and emotional appeal? Always develop your story around people and the exceptional things they are doing. Provide access to the local hero who saved the day and to those who have been helped.

Do not be discouraged if your idea is rejected. Many great stories simply are not told due to staffing, timing and travel limitations. Continue to periodically present newsworthy, well-crafted, and thoughtful stories to the media. You will build credibility and tip the scales in favor of your nonprofit.

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Blog 1: Tips on How to Read Form 990

By Angela Bevacqua, Senior Communications Specialist Have you ever been advised to look at a nonprofit’s Form 990 before making a donation? Then you look at it and wonder how to make sense of it all? If you aren’t an accountant or nonprofit administrator, you may avoid the daunting task. On our online giving website ColoradoGives.org, we require nonprofits to provide several documents, including the Form 990 as appropriate, to encourage transparency about their programs and finances. We don’t evaluate nonprofits on the website; we require nonprofits to share information to help donors make informed decisions about giving. I asked Community First Foundation’s finance department to help us interpret this useful document. We will do this in two blogs: Blog 1 shares the basics of Form 990 and Blog 2 delves deeper. Q: What exactly is the Form 990? Form 990, called the Return of Organizations Exempt From Income Tax, must be filed with the IRS each year by charitable organization

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

$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

ColoradoGives.org

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