By Kristin Todd, President & CEO, NoCo Foundation
There’s a saying in our field: If you’ve seen one community foundation, you’ve seen one community foundation.
After four and a half years leading the NoCo Foundation—and decades of getting to know peers across the country—I can tell you that’s absolutely true. Each community foundation reflects the place it serves: its people, its priorities, and its pace of change.
For fifty years, the NoCo Foundation has grown right alongside Northern Colorado. What began as a traditional grantmaker has become something bigger—a partner in philanthropy, a champion for nonprofits, and a convener helping leaders work across boundaries for regional success.
We often describe our work in three buckets: philanthropy, nonprofit support, and community engagement. Each is important on its own—but together, they show how we serve this region every day.
Philanthropy: Turning Generosity into Lasting Impact
At our core, we help people give back to the place they love.
That might mean a family setting up an endowed fund to leave a legacy, a business investing in local education, or a neighbor contributing to our NoCo Together Fund to respond to emerging needs. However it begins, every act of generosity has the power to create lasting change.
Over the past year, the NoCo Foundation and our fundholders have directed more than $16.5 million in grants to nonprofits across Northern Colorado. Behind every dollar is a story of someone who believes in their community and trusts the Foundation to help make good things happen.
Nonprofit Support: Strengthening the Sector That Strengthens Us All
When nonprofits thrive, our communities do too. That’s why we’re committed to investing not just in programs, but in the people and systems that make them possible.
Through trainings, professional development grants, peer cohorts, and low-interest loans, we help local nonprofits build capacity, grow strong leaders, and plan for long-term success.
It’s incredibly inspiring to watch our local organizations gain confidence, sharpen their strategy, and strengthen their impact. They’re the heart of Northern Colorado’s quality of life—and helping them succeed is one of the most meaningful parts of our work.
Community Engagement: Convening for Regional Solutions
In recent years, our role as a neutral convener has grown, and with it, our ability to support leaders tackling complex regional challenges.
From water preservation and affordable housing to economic vitality and population growth, the issues facing Northern Colorado are interconnected—and no single community can solve them alone.
Through initiatives like the Regional Leaders Initiative, the Growing Communities Collaborative, the NoCo Water Alliance, and data collaborations with Colorado State University, we’re helping communities understand shared challenges and plan for the future. The 2024 Northern Colorado Intersections Report is one example: a regional snapshot that brings data and storytelling together to spark action and collaboration.
Better Together
At the NoCo Foundation, we’re bringing all three of these strengths—philanthropy, nonprofit support, and civic engagement—together to serve a region we’re proud to call home.
Our staff live here, raise families here, and care deeply about the same issues that keep our neighbors up at night. That’s what makes this work more than a job, it’s a shared commitment to the future of Northern Colorado.
Community is our business. And everyone has a role to play.
Join us in building solutions through philanthropy, partnership, and collaboration—because when Northern Colorado works together, we’re simply stronger.
