fundraiser
Bear Smart Durango
$13,058 Raised
$66,544 raised by 315 donors
100% complete
$50,000 Goal
The Community Foundation serving Southwest Colorado connects the dots to ensure our community is a great place to live, work, and play. We facilitate connections between donors and nonprofits, helping to align the stars to illuminate Southwest Colorado's generosity.
For more than 25 years, we have made it a point to share our time, talent, and treasured resources with the nonprofits that are making a difference in our community.
This Gives Day, we are asking 100 people to donate $500 as we set our sights on transformational progress across the region. You may also support our wonderful fiscal projects through our featured campaigns.
The Community Foundation serving Southwest Colorado facilitates the growth and effectiveness of philanthropic contributions and expands the culture of giving to meet the needs of our community.
During the mid-1990s, individuals involved with several nonprofit organizations in Southwest Colorado had become aware that the "traditional" forms of funding on which they relied to support their various causes were becoming strained.
Federal and State governments had reduced or eliminated funding for many programs local community members needed and desired, and local businesses and citizens were growing weary of being asked to contribute to numerous community fundraisers.
Many of these organizations were successfully generating some revenue through fundraisers, but their efforts to do so were requiring a larger amount of staff time than they could commit - and they were still struggling to pay the bills.
Therefore, the concept of the Community Foundation was introduced to the local community. Nonprofit professionals were encouraged to learn that donors of large gifts are often more willing to contribute to a foundation that is developed primarily to ensure that community assets are managed according to donor wishes and invested to maximize earnings potential, than they are to donate directly to a nonprofit organization which could experience frequent changes in management and board governance.
In the fall of 1997, various avenues for creating or joining an existing community foundation were researched. After many long discussions and public meetings, the decision was made to create the Community Foundation Serving Southwest Colorado as a Colorado 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Currently, the Community Foundation serving Southwest Colorado houses more than 80 charitable giving funds and manages $13+ million.
Organization name
Community Foundation serving Southwest Colorado
1998
Tax id (EIN)
84-1474900
Category
Philanthropy, Voluntarism & Grantmaking Foundations, Community Improvement & Capacity Building
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
765 E College Drive. #1Mailing
PO Box 1673La Plata County, CO, US