The Ripple Effect of Colorado Gives Day

By Marla J. Williams, President and CEO of Community First Foundation

A child gives up his or her allowance to help a nonprofit charity. A community member discovers a new organization they’re passionate about just down the street. A nonprofit serving home bound seniors is able to deliver 20 percent more meals next year.

After seven years, I am still stunned by the ripple effect of Colorado Gives Day.

The numbers are always incredible. This year, donations totaled $33.8 million. Generous donors made more than 145,700 gifts to 2,111 nonprofits in just 24 hours. These numbers represent the extraordinary generosity of individuals all across the state. Thank you for your contributions yesterday and for being part of the Colorado Gives Day movement.

As we look at the far-reaching effects of Colorado Gives Day, the best indicator of what's to come may be our newest program, Kids for ColoradoGives. A portion of the $33.8 million raised yesterday came through KidsforColoradoGives.org, a new component of the ColoradoGives.org website designed specifically for young givers. We’re inspired to witness the next generation of Coloradans giving up their allowances and holiday presents to make their neighborhoods better places to live, work and play.

Colorado Gives Day is a 24-hour event, but strengthening our communities is a year-round effort. Nonprofits need your support on a continual basis. ColoradoGives.org makes it easy to set up recurring donations at intervals that work for you and your family.

We can’t thank you enough for your contributions yesterday. Our job is not over. If I can leave you with one message, it’s keep giving.

Read the Colorado Gives Day press release >

Comments

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 organiza...

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 conc...

Meeting Space Celebrity Sighting: Natalie Portman

Valerie Brown, Meeting Space Administrator I met Natalie Portman in the Community First Foundation Meeting Space yesterday. Natalie Portman (L) and Valerie Brown in the Foundation's free Meeting Space Okay, not the Natalie Portman of Star Wars , V for Vendetta and Black Swan . This Natalie Portman is a top-notch meeting facilitator who was working with a group advancing Mental Health First Aid in Jefferson County. Led by Jefferson Center for Mental Health, the group met in our largest meeting room to discuss training community members on how to identify persons who may benefit from mental health resources. Jefferson Center for Mental Health is one of the dizzying array of nonprofits to have come through our doors since we opened the Meeting Space a year ago! February 2016 saw one meeting lasting four hours with six people. February 2017 saw 37 meetings for a total of 250 hours with 799 people through the door! In fact, in the first year we have hosted 269 mee...

ColoradoGives.org

Search This Blog