The Community Foundation serving Southwest Colorado recently announced that $209,665 in donations was raised for Southwest Colorado nonprofits on Dec. 5 during Colorado Gives Day – a single-day, online donation initiative for Colorado nonprofits.
An online regional platform, www.swcogives.org, was created to allow people, on Dec. 5, to donate to participating nonprofits in La Plata, Montezuma, Archuleta, Dolores and San Juan counties. The Community Foundation also organized shared marketing efforts to motivate a total of 696 donors to make 1,145 donations in Southwest Colorado in one day.
“This campaign highlights the remarkable outcomes that occur when the nonprofit sector collaborates,” said Briggen Wrinkle, executive director of the Community Foundation serving Southwest Colorado. “At the Community Foundation, we love John F. Kennedy’s quote, ‘A rising tide lifts all the boats.’ It is true. When we all work together, amazing things can happen for everyone.”
Colorado Gives Day this year, compared with 2016, for the five-county region boasted:
An 82-percent increase in participating nonprofits (28 in 2016 vs. 51 in 2017)A 47-percent increase in number of donors to Southwest Colorado nonprofits (473 in 2016 vs. 696 in 2017)A 56-percent increase in number of donations to Southwest Colorado nonprofits (734 in 2016 vs. 1,145 in 2017)A 46-percent increase in amount donated ($143,595 in 2016 vs. $209,665 in 2017)Nonprofits on the regional platform include: La Plata County; Four Corners Office for Resource Efficiency; Adaptive Sports Association; Animas High School; Be FRANK Foundation; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Colorado; Boys & Girls Club of La Plata County; Community Foundation serving Southwest Colorado; Dancing Spirit, Inc.; Durango Adult Education Center; Durango Arts Center; Durango Choral Society; Durango Education Foundation; Durango Nature Studies; Durango Nordic Center; KSUT Public Radio; La Plata Family Centers Coalition; La Plata Open Space Conservancy; La Plata Youth Services; Manna; Music in the Mountains; Powerhouse Science Center; Riverhouse Children’s Center; San Juan Mountains Association; San Juan Resource Conservation and Development Program; San Juan Symphony; Sexual Assault Services Organization; Southern Ute Community Action Programs; Garden Project of Southwest Colorado; Trails 2000; Wolfwood Refuge; Women’s Resource Center; Montezuma County; Crow Canyon Archaeological Center; Dolores River Boating Advocates; Galloping Goose Historical Society of Dolores; Habitat for Humanity of Montezuma County; Hospice of Montezuma, Inc.; Medicine Horse Center; The Piñon Project; Archuleta County; Humane Society of Pagosa Springs; Rise Above Violence; Sonlight Christian Camp; San Juan County and Mountain Studies Institute.
Colorado Gives Day was organized in 2007 by the Community First Foundation in Arvada and is the state’s largest single-day donation event. The statewide effort on Dec. 5 this year included more than 153,000 donations, which raised a total of $36,129,285 for 2,309 nonprofits in Colorado.
For more information or to make a donation, visit www.swcogives.org.
fstone@durangoherald.com