ColoradoGives.org

By Dana Rinderknecht, GivingFirst Manager, Community First Foundation GivingFirst.org turns five today! Five years ago, Community First Foundation brought this giving resource to nonprofits and donors in Metro Denver. Sixty nonprofits signed up and put their profiles on the site to show their transparency and accountability to donors. In the first year, an additional 113 nonprofits signed up and more than $680,000 was raised from more than 1,600 gifts. Today there are 930 nonprofits participating from all over the state of Colorado and we have raised more than $1.2 million so far this year. The GivingFirst team has been pulling data and looking at the trends to see what this all means. Of course we have the big numbers: ·        $30,086,272 dollars raised ·            57,336 donors ·           125,169 donations ·        ...

By Bryce Wilkinson, Project Coordinator, Community First Foundation Colorado Gives Day is exciting! People are eager to support the causes they’re passionate about; nonprofits are busy motivating their donors; the energy of being part of something big is palpable by everyone who participates. Once the event is over, the donations have been distributed to the nonprofits, and everyone has been thanked for their generosity, the excitement tends to wane.    Not for me, though. It’s at that point I get to work with the data. When I tell you that looking at Colorado Gives Day data is exciting, I know that some of you are probably thinking, with an eyebrow slightly raised, “Exciting. Really?” Yes, exciting and here’s why: the data embodies all that energy, and turning our attention to it not only allows us to relive the experience ourselves, but also enables us to share it with others. Just consider the donors. Over 27,000 people jazzed, sitting at their comput...

By Angela Bevacqua, Senior Communications Specialist, Community First Foundation I used to think that writing was a natural talent. You either had it or you didn’t. A talented person could just conjure up lovely “turns of phrase,” as I’ve been known to call them. My frustration with writing would mount when these lovely “turns of phrase” didn’t naturally flow from my pen. No--I would belabor every sentence. My writing would become more and more convoluted, dry, and awkward. I focused on perfect grammar, which only added to the struggle. I was trying so hard to impress. So of course I started to loathe writing and my confidence plummeted. Thank goodness for a best friend, and stellar writer, who became my writing mentor. I traded sushi dinners for writing lessons. I marveled at what he taught me. His writing was simple but meaningful. It flowed. In his books and essays he wrote about complex ideas (psychology and spirituality) in a way that anyone could ...

By Angela Bevacqua, Senior Communications Specialist One of the inspiring stories that came from Colorado Gives Day was Habitat for Humanity’s campaign to “raise a house” for a family in need. Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver rallied 278 people to donate for building materials to construct a safe, healthy home for a family of four. The final tally? A stellar $95,358 raised, including the FirstBank Incentive of more than $2,200. Construction materials for a single home typically cost $85,000. I’ve always admired this organization’s mission and their belief that “every man, woman and child should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live.” What I didn’t know is that Habitat works in communities around the world—selecting prospective homeowners, organizing volunteers, and coordinating home building. The staff at Community First Foundation was invited to help build the “Colorado Gives Day house” recently, along with the homeowner Amanda. I was both excited and intr...

By Dana Rinderknecht, GivingFirst Manager On January 19 th at the Arvada Center, Community First Foundation awarded the FirstBank High Five Prizes to 12 organizations who did an outstanding job on Colorado Gives Day. There were over 500 folks present and they represented a true cross section of Colorado Nonprofits. Now I will let you in on a little secret. I loved this event! Not only because we put it together, so that makes me biased, but because it is so much fun to see our participants in person. GivingFirst is an online program, and as such we do almost everything electronically – webinars, emails, etc. So I rarely get to talk one-on-one with participants to learn about what they are doing. I read the profiles and the newsletters so I know on a cursory level what is happening. But to hear someone who is passionate about the work they are doing is a whole different phenomenon. To hear the stories of donor calls that happened on Colorado Gives Day , or leading up t...

By Marla J. Williams, president and CEO of Community First Foundation Community First Foundation , FirstBank , media sponsors, and hundreds of nonprofits work all year to pull off a giving day that makes a difference. In the months leading up to Colorado Gives Day , we’ve been awed by the current of energy building in Colorado. In the last few weeks, who could go a day—an hour--without hearing something about December 6? A year ago, when we launched the concept, we wanted to enhance giving in Colorado. What we got—what we all got—was so much more than that: community engagement and spirit; nonprofit collaboration; people wanting to be a part of something bigger; and a unified, singular drive to help each other by giving. And the donors were unstoppable.   Despite some website glitches, donors were determined to make their gifts – lots of gifts!   More than 52,000 donations flooded GivingFirst.org to the tune of $12 million. That’s an increase of 150 percent over...

Recently we met up with Charles “Chic” Naumer , co-founder of CiviCore , the company that programs the online giving technology for GivingFirst.org. We appreciate the ideas they share to help us enhance the site. Their work and dedication to GivingFirst is indispensable, and we are grateful to them for being the technology sponsor of Colorado Gives Day this year. What is CiviCore? Our company builds web-based database applications for the social sector. This includes databases for managing volunteers, donors and client outcomes. Our products are customized for each client’s particular need. When did CiviCore start and where are you located? My business partner, Rich Rainaldi, and I co-founded CiviCore in 2000. Our office is in the heart of downtown Denver and we have over 350 clients in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South America and Australia. How did you get involved with Community First Foundation? Community First Foundation hired us four years ago to build the G...