We help donors with philanthropic planning, support nonprofits with grants and endowments, and together, build resilient and connected communities.
Making good happen in Jefferson County and Colorado!
Community First Foundation has been connecting donors and innovative Colorado nonprofits since 1975. We help donors with philanthropic planning, support nonprofits with grants and endowments, and together, build resilient and connected communities. Our work is rooted in radical listening and a commitment to equity and inclusion. Oh, we also created and manage Colorado Gives Day and the platform it runs on!
While we power giving across the state, we make grants and support community building in Jefferson County. This allows us to make an impact in the county where we were born and where we still live today!
We believe it is hard to thrive when you cannot meet your most essential needs and that when our neighbors are economically secure, everyone benefits. We believe that resilient and connected neighborhoods are the backbone of a strong community, and that civil discourse and social justice are key to strengthening this place we call home. We are passionate, we are hungry, and we love tough problems and new challenges. We set big goals that require the long view, but we know that our work today is the first step toward a better tomorrow.
Thank you for joining us to make good happen!
"Ever since the Conflict Center began building an endowment with Community First Foundation in 2004, we have learned what it truly means to have a partner. The Foundation not only stewards the management of the funds, but also provides ongoing access to the endowment-building and fundraising professionals we couldn't support on our own as a small, community- based nonprofit. Community First Foundation's staff has walked right alongside us for all these years. We are so grateful and lucky to partner with them."
--Ron Ludwig, The Conflict Center
"Community First Foundation's Innovators Society program plays an important role in creating a place where people and ideas can come together to help build healthy and thriving communities for all."
--Brian Corrigan, Founder and Director, OhHeckYeah
"For years Jefferson Center for Mental Health wanted to create an endowment to ensure that mental health care would be available to the community and help pay for the care of the most vulnerable people. Community First Foundation helped us realize our dream."
--Harriet L. Hall, Ph.D., CEO of Jefferson Center for Mental Health
"We're saving lives and putting families back together. You ask the women where they'd be without our program and most of the time they say they'd be in prison or dead. The endowment with Community First Foundation brings a sense of permanence to Friends of the Haven, provides an enduring legacy for donors to support, and significantly benefits recipients of the scholarships it supports."
-- Bill Winn, President, Friends of the Haven.
"It is truly difficult to express what just happened here in our community this week. Something extraordinary, most certainly. And it is because of the generosity and support of the Community First Foundation that we were able to achieve this incredible success."
--Tarsha Ebbern, Yampa Valley Gives, (Colorado Gives Day Regional Champion) referencing Colorado Gives Day
