ColoradoGives.org

By Angela Bevacqua, Senior Communications Specialist Is your nonprofit new to Colorado Gives Day? Or are you just seeking the lowdown for 2015? Either way, we encourage you to check out our short, informative videos. With a typical length of about 3 ½ minutes, you can get yourself and your Colorado Gives Day team up to speed. We highly recommend sharing them with your volunteers, board, and any others who have a role in the event. These and more support tools are located in the CO Give Day Nonprofit Toolkit. One of four informational videos Key Facts & Deadlines The Nonprofit Toolkit: Your Marketing Resource Marketing Best Practices FirstBank Prizes & $1 Million Incentive Fund (coming in the fall) And while you’re at it, register for one of our most popular webinars: Winning Ways: How Three Nonprofits Met Their Goals on Colorado Gives Day , coming August 13 at 9 a.m. This webinar will give you a chance to learn how other nonprofits—ranging from small to large...

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 a...

By Lisa Lujan, Online Giving Coordinator, Community First Foundation A few months back I came across an article called " Don’t Get Scrooged ," by Mitch Morrissey, Denver District Attorney of the Second Judicial District. Given the fraudulent nature of the age we live in, I’d like to share some of the DA office’s important safety tips. The first part of the article says that "donors should be wary about giving without doing a little research to ensure the charity is legitimate.” It continues by saying to "avoid any charity or fundraiser that..."  Won’t provide proof that a contribution is tax deductible Thanks you for a previous pledge that you can’t remember giving to in the past Uses high-pressure tactics Asks for donations in cash Offers to send a courier to collect the donation or asks for you to wire money Refuses to provide written information about itself Appeals to your heart strings, especially patriotism and current events.” What’s gr...

By Lisa Lujan, Online Giving Coordinator, Community First Foundation I love spring – watching trees bud, birds sing, plants turn green and seeing even more of that great Colorado sunshine! I know it’s cliché but spring is one of the changes I look forward to every year. In addition to getting excited about the changes of spring, here at Community First Foundation we’re also excited to share with you one of the great changes we’ve implemented to improve our online giving website ColoradoGives.org. Every year the ColoradoGives team asks for feedback from donors, nonprofits and fellow team members– each year the same request comes up, “when are you going to improve your search?” We’re very excited to announce that changes in our search are here! We’ve just launched new search functionality that co-mingles nonprofits and fundraising pages in the initial search results to make it easier for donors to find exactly what they’re looking for. Although the option to filter by “nonprof...

By Lisa Lujan, Online Giving Coordinator, Community First Foundation The end-of-year fundraising season is gone with the cold weather. But warmer days bring a different kind of fundraising—summer sports events for charity. Marathons, climbs, bike races, walks and more proliferate in the coming months.   If you’re thinking about taking part in an event and using it as a springboard to raise money for a favorite charity, check out fundraising pages on ColoradoGives.org.  Our fundraising pages are similar to "crowdfunding" sites, except ours help you raise money for one of the 1,690 local nonprofits profiled on ColoradoGives.org.  Best of all, using ColoradoGives fundraising pages--and encouraging your supporters to do the same--can save you a lot of money in fundraising costs. Below is an example of typical cost savings.  Sample Fundraising Goal: Raise $50,000 from 1,000 people giving $50 each ColoradoGives Fundraising Pages Fee: Flat 2% per donatio...

Just when you thought you could breathe a heavy sigh of relief at the end of a busy year, Colorado Gives Day is back! All jesting aside, ColoradoGives.org veterans know that now’s the time of year where preparations begin to kick into full gear. Here at Community First Foundation we’re getting excited for the season with the first of our Intro Sessions beginning this week. Feeling a little lost amidst the dates and deadlines? Fear not, in this short blog we will cover some of the most important dates you need to remember. New Nonprofits Read Enrollment Page. If you’re a nonprofit who wants to be part of ColoradoGives.org, then start with our enrollment page . It outlines basic eligibility requirements, provides an overview of the process to create a profile, and has links to register for Intro Sessions. Sign Up for Intro Session. New nonprofits are required to attend an Intro Session. These fill up quickly, so don’t miss them. The first one is Thu, Mar 12, 2015 at 3:00 PM...

By Bryce Wilkinson, Senior Online Giving Specialist It’s that time of year again. I’m not talking about setting resolutions. No, it’s time for the annual ColoradoGives Nonprofit Survey! We call it a survey, but it is more than that. We really consider it your grant report to Community First Foundation. “A grant report,” you say, “I don’t remember getting any grants from Community First Foundation.” Many nonprofits actually did receive a grant from Community First Foundation because gifts made through ColoradoGives.org in the name of your organization are treated as gifts to the Foundation which we then grant to your nonprofit. If your nonprofit has indicated on its profile that it offers Enterprise Zone and/or Child Care Credits, then Community First Foundation serves as a pass-through organization. In either case, Community First Foundation provides ColoradoGives.org to your nonprofit without any set-up charges or monthly maintenance fees, so we appreciate hearing from...