The Douglas County Non-Profit Coalition raised more money than expected for county during this year’s Colorado Gives Day.
Brooke Fox, coordinator for the group that was formed to keep track of and raise donations for county organizations participating in Colorado Gives Day on Dec. 10, said the goal was $300,000 this year and they raised $325,000, but she said more was actually raised because that just accounted for the 29 of 32 nonprofits that reported to the coalition. Last year, a bit more than $100,000 was donated to Douglas County nonprofits.
“The point of the coalition is to promote giving locally and also helping people know all the different nonprofits that there are in Douglas County and there’s such amazing choices and such amazing work being done,” Fox said. “As we continue to move forward I think it will be a good resource for people to go to to learn about a wide range of non-profits doing good things right here in Douglas County.”
Her own nonprofit she’s president of, the Colorado Agricultural Leadership Foundation, raised just more than $20,000, which isn’t anything to overlook because the annual budget is about $150,000. She said the money will go to support educational programs promoting agriculture and maintaining the property and livestock they have at Lowell Ranch in Castle Rock.
Suzanne Greene, executive director of Douglas/Elbert Task Force, said her organization was hoping to raise $25,000 and ended up getting $33,000 on Colorado Gives Day, with $30,000 coming from online donations. They also had a 114 percent increase in the amount of donors, 150, up from 70 last year. She credited that to their big marketing push, which included e-mails and postcards to people who are interested in the task force or had donated before, and their new philanthropy director Joe Roos. She said it seems the economy is getting better and reported some of her clients are reporting getting more hours at work, but it’s still grim for many of the low-income people her organization serves with a food bank, thrift store and utility assistance.
Angel Horvath, president of Castle Rock Historical Society, said the amount it received this year was $250, up 90 percent from $150 last year. She said they’re grateful even as a small nonprofit that they qualify for Colorado Gives Day.
“While the numbers are small, we found that it’s indicative that we are becoming more well-known in the community and beginning to have a greater reach because of the percentage differences,” Horvath said.
Clayton Woullard: 303-954-2953, cwoullard@denverpost.com or
