Underdogs Startup Fund (DAF)

The Underdogs Startup Fund is a donor-advised fund at Colorado Gives Foundation.

Back Underdogs. Before Anyone Else Will.

The most consequential moment in a founder's journey is also the loneliest and most challenging. You can change that.

THE GAP NOBODY TALKS ABOUT

Every great company started as a crazy idea held by one ambitious person. Before the pitch deck. Before the co-founder. Before the first dollar of revenue. Just a founder, a problem they couldn't stop thinking about, and a world that hadn't decided to believe in them yet.

This is the stage where most support systems simply don't exist.

Investors want traction. Angels want proof. Accelerators want teams. But the person who just quit their job, left the certainty of a salary, and is building something from nothing? They're told to come back when they're "further along."

They're viewed as too early. Too risky. Too unproven.

And yet — this is exactly when they need support the most.

WHERE YOUR DONATION GOES

Grants from this fund will be directed to various qualified 501(c)3 public charities for the purpose of supporting entrepreneurial efforts.

HOW NONPROFITS SUPPORT EARLY FOUNDERS

Nonprofit organizations play a critical role at the earliest stage of a founder's journey  — when the idea is still raw, the path is unclear, and the stakes feel impossibly high.

These non-profits provide what no investor will: mentorship without equity, resources without strings, and community without gatekeeping. They exist to make sure a founder's ZIP code, background, or bank account doesn't determine whether their idea gets a fair shot.

Through their programs and support, nonprofit make possible:

• Stipends and micro-grants for founders who can't afford to bootstrap
• Programs that adapt to early founders' needs
• Safe spaces to test, fail, and iterate — without judgment
• Communities where "too early" is a welcome mat, not a rejection

WHY IT MATTERS (AND WHY YOU)

The companies that reshape industries — the ones that eventually disrupt the giants — almost always start as underdogs. Scrappy. Resourceful. Easy to dismiss.

You know this firsthand. You've lived some version of this story. You built something when the odds weren't in your favor, when people didn't quite get it yet, when the path forward was something you had to figure out as you went.

THIS IS NOT ANGEL INVESTING. THIS IS SOMETHING BETTER.

We're not asking you to make a bet. We're asking you to lower the floor for people who are trying to raise the ceiling for all of us. The founders in our pipeline aren't competing for your investment — they're competing for survival. And the non-profits we fund are their best shot at making it through. Every dollar goes directly to vetted non-profits serving pre-seed, pre-traction founders. 

No equity. No returns. Just impact at the moment it matters most.