You’ve shared with the Community Foundation your interest in receiving notifications about funding opportunities in cause areas important to you. It’s our pleasure to support this philanthropic matchmaking! The following opportunities for supporting nonprofits align with many of our fundholder priorities. See below for brief descriptions and individual organization points of contact.
As you consider your year-end support, please keep these current community needs in mind and login here to request a grant from your donor advised fund.
Contact:
Tracy Mead, CEO
tracy@bringthepower.org
970-829-5315
Lyndsey Hertz, Development Director
lyndsey@bringthepower.org
PROJECT SELF-SUFFICIENCY
Project Self-Sufficiency of Northern Colorado provides an education and career development program whose Selfpower Model specifically targets single-parent families living in Northern Colorado. They combine comprehensive case management with practical wraparound support services to ensure that single parents can accomplish their education and training goals and launch into employment that will pay a living wage. These opportunities are currently high on their needs list:
Boundless Children’s Fund
Participants of Project Self-Sufficiency are low-income single-parent families and do not have the resources to access fee-based youth activities for their children. The Boundless Children’s Fund gives kids access to skill and self-esteem-building activities that affect their success, both in school and in life. Example activities include gymnastics, martial arts, soccer, driver’s education training, and dance. Historically, an individual funder covered these expenses each year, but their funding priorities have changed. An average request is $200. Project Self-Sufficiency seeks $12,000 for an estimated 60 kids in 2024 to access activities in support of their growth and development.
Strengthen Scholarship Fund
This scholarship fund supports students in the Project Self-Sufficiency program and can be used by Participants to pay education-related and living expenses while in school. This need has grown significantly over the last five years—from $67,100 awarded to 38 participants in 2017 to $212,500 awarded to 52 families in 2023. Project Self-Sufficiency seeks support towards this ongoing need.
Contact:
Hally Strevey, Executive Director
hallys@poudrewatershed.org
970-222-5754
COALITION FOR THE POUDRE RIVER WATERSHED
The Coalition for Poudre River Watershed works tirelessly on wildfire mitigation and recovery. CPRW currently has a $20,000 donation from the Larimer County Office of Emergency Management towards the purchase of a mid-size truck, and is seeking an additional $10,000-$15,000 to fulfill this need.
The truck will be used by CPRW staff to travel to and from field sites to conduct post-fire restoration, including in-stream river restoration projects and reforestation work. Many of these projects are located on rough, dirt roads that require a truck with 4WD. The truck will be used for wildfire mitigation projects, and for traveling to visit landowners, partners, and stakeholders across the entire watershed, as well as to carry tools and equipment for volunteer projects. The CPRW truck will reduce the wear and tear on staff’s personal vehicles, increase their presence in the community, and ensure that staff are able to reach all the remote restoration sites that they may not be able to access in their personal vehicles.
Contact:
Jennifer Blando, Executive Director
jennifer@kidspak.org
970-237-0525
KIDSPAK
KidsPak, a weekend hunger relief program that reduces childhood food insecurity, serves approximately 650 students each week throughout the Thompson School District. KidsPak is facing the challenge of obtaining a permanent warehouse (critical to KidsPak’s ability to fulfill its mission) to receive pallet-size quantities of food, store it as needed in a health department approved space, re-package into individual weekend bags, and distribute the bags weekly to roughly 40 schools in the district.
At the end of 2022, KidsPak launched a Capital Campaign to raise $2.2 million, which is intended to cover the cost of the land and building leaving KidsPak debt-free and with a new, predictable, sustainable warehouse for their distribution center. KidsPak looks to close their gap of $770,000 so they may invest in a healthier future for our kids and community. Contact KidsPak if you are interested in learning more or joining a hard hat tour.
Renderings for the new distribution center.
Contact:
Pam Brewer, Development Director
Pam@homewardalliance.org
970-829-1162
Claire Callaway, EARN Resource Navigator
Claire@homewardalliance.org
970-439-1814
HOMEWARD ALLIANCE
Homeward Alliance empowers individuals and families who face homelessness to survive, move forward, and thrive. On the Road to Hope Vehicle Repair project, a new part of the EARN (employment services) program, aims to help low-income community members maintain safe and reliable vehicles for work, school, and medical appointments, thereby helping more households escape or prevent homelessness.
Individuals and families who are homeless or experiencing housing insecurity frequently rely on a personal vehicle to maintain their employment. Despite public transportation options, there are still significant gaps that make using public transportation for work often impossible. Sometimes this is due to schedules (working shifts outside of Transfort or COLT hours) or living/working outside of service areas. Homeward Alliance clients and partner agencies voice that affordable vehicle repair and maintenance is the top unmet need (besides housing) in our community. Unaffordable vehicle repairs lead to lost jobs, missed school and cancelled medical appointments, and can push people to brink of—and sometimes into—homelessness.
This project pilot began in October and has been very successful thus far, thanks to two local partner garages: Houska Automotive and Star Automotive. To fund the estimated requests for 2024, $20,000 is needed to support an estimated 50 very low-income families and individuals. In addition to being screened for program eligibility, participants are also asked to contribute to the cost of the repairs, either through the application for a Goodwill grant (up to $400) or through personal funds. Case managers assist with this process and exceptions are made for urgent situations.
Contact:
Becky Fase, Vice President of Financial Development
development@ymcanoco.org
303-664-5455
LOVELAND YMCA
Mary Blair Elementary School opened in 1972 and served the community for 50 years, cultivating a love for learning in countless students. In the fall and winter of 2023/2024, the 48,900-square-foot building will take on a new role in service to this community: It will be repurposed as the Loveland YMCA. The forthcoming Loveland YMCA will offer fitness and wellness programs, sports, camps, family and teen programming, opportunities for community and connection, and so much more. Let’s not forget the new preschool (beginning January 2024) and early childhood education offerings, opportunities for social connection, and endless amounts of fun.
While many aspects are the building are well suited for its new life as a YMCA, there is a need for significant upgrades and improvements. To make the building fully functional, effective and responsive as a YMCA, we must come together to modernize, improve and transform this building into a community center that serves all. The Loveland YMCA upgrades total $3,370,000. The Loveland YMCA is a new branch of the YMCA of Northern Colorado (EIN 84-0459944). To support this opportunity from your DAF, search for YMCA of Northern Colorado as your new grantee.