About Colorado Gives Foundation
Colorado Gives Foundation uses ColoradoGives.org, Colorado Gives Day, donor-advised funds, and endowments to connect donors, businesses, and nonprofits around local giving. Its recent grants show a mix of large general-purpose support and targeted community funding, with a strong concentration in Colorado and a statewide reach that extends well beyond a single issue area. Among the largest recent awards, The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County received $5,829,603 for general purpose support, while Vitalant received $4,518,592 in 2023 and $2,484,362 in 2024. Those awards sit alongside multi-sector grantmaking that touches health care, food access, housing, education, and nonprofit sustainability. The foundation also supports community resilience through flexible funding structures, including endowment matching grants for nonprofit partners and donor-advised fund options for businesses. Recent grantees range from Food Bank of the Rockies and The Action Center to Hope House Colorado and Jefferson Center for Mental Health, showing a portfolio built around community-serving organizations rather than a narrow program line.
What Colorado Gives Foundation Funds
In food security, the foundation awarded $1,564,352 in 2024 to Food Bank of the Rockies for general purpose support, and it has also funded Hunger Free Colorado for general purpose support. In housing, it made a targeted grant of $1,405,622 to The Action Center in 2023 and later $660,890 in 2024 for general purpose support. Health funding includes $803,214 to Denver Rescue Mission in 2024 and $601,483 to Jefferson Center for Mental Health for general purpose support, both tied to holistic wellbeing. Education and family-serving work also appears in grants such as $1,202,155 to Hope House Colorado and $838,624 to Jeffco Public Schools, reflecting a portfolio that reaches direct-service nonprofits, schools, and community support organizations.
How Colorado Gives Foundation Gives
Typical grant size is mid-sized: the 25th percentile is $9,181, the median is $17,332, and the 75th percentile is $38,236. At the same time, the foundation also makes very large awards, including multi-million-dollar general-purpose grants. The recent list shows repeat recipients across years, including Vitalant, Food Bank of the Rockies, The Action Center, Denver Rescue Mission, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains Inc, Jeffco Public Schools, Hope House Colorado, The Wild Animal Sanctuary, and Denver Dumb Friends League. Colorado Gives Foundation is classified as a mixed community foundation and uses both donor-advised fund options and endowment-related grants, including one-time matching grants for nonprofit endowment partners. Some programs accept unsolicited proposals, while others are listed as not accepting unsolicited requests.
