Meet Colorado’s Dream Team
One evening, last spring, I attended yet another fundraising event for yet another nonprofit organization serving kids in Colorado. As is often the case, I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be better to stay home and watch television? It’s important to note that I would rather be watching television 90% of the time. I know that may depress most Coloradans, but alas I do my best to bring some extracurricular diversity to the state. [...]
Cookies Make Civic Engagement Delicious
You tone your body at the gym, and you strengthen your brain with the Calm app on your phone, but what do you do when you need a solid civics workout? You go straight to Warm Cookies of the Revolution, your local Civic Health Club. [...]
Tough Love for Board Members
The nonprofit sector is the country’s third largest workforce and still, we fail to treat it like an actual industry. Unfortunately, those attitudes start straight at the top with nonprofit boards. [...]
Giving Back to the Industry That Feeds Us
Through the pandemic we saw the community enthusiastically step up to give back to those who have cooked, served and kept us satiated for years and now we can share our gratitude in more ways through the Colorado Restaurant Foundation. [...]
Maximizing Your Potential With Nonprofit Leadership Coaching
We all behave in intuitive patterns; each is different and contributes in diverse ways. When organizations and leaders invest time and energy into their team’s talents, they collectively achieve greater success. By embracing their natural talents, employees and teams feel more confident to take risks and find greater success in achieving personal and professional goals. [...]
PeaceJam: Still Rocking After All These Years
There was once a couple that pondered what would happen if Nobel Peace Laureates mentored young people to make the world a better place. And then they did it. No, they really did. And it started right here in your town in 1996. Meet PeaceJam, the little nonprofit that started with Dawn Engle and Ivan Suvanjieff and some little-known figures like the Dalai Lama, Betty Williams and Desmond Tutu. [...]
The Kindness Empire: Corporate Gifts With a Mission
Years ago, I was introduced to Tonya Quinn, the founder of the Kindness Empire, a do-good company in Denver with a unique mission and product line. Besides being cultured, charming and curious, Tonya was busy identifying and supporting creative talent with artists throughout our great city. [...]
Goodbye Bonnie Brae Tavern
We have lost so many strong Denver institutions over the past few years. El Chapultupec? Are you kidding me? The Market? Noooooo. Bonnie Brae Tavern? Oh, Hello no. I have struggled for years to articulate my feelings regarding the evolution of Denver and specifically the neighborhood of my youth, Washington Park. [...]
Heart and Hand Center: Disrupting the Cycle of Poverty for Children
The “opportunity gap” is how uncontrollable life factors like race, economic status, and family situations can affect a child’s achievement or life aspirations. Like most cities, Denver has not solved the issue of opportunity gaps and their effect on our children. [...]
Mile High Early Learning Celebrates 50 Years of Serving Denver Families
Anniversaries for nonprofits are usually ho-hum moments in time touted by the organization as a not-so-subtle tool for fundraising, or for getting good press, or just reminding the world that they’re still around. [...]
It’s Time for a Breakthrough
In a state known for its optimism and innovation, it’s astounding to learn that one of every two individuals released from prisons in Colorado will return within three years. By comparison, Florida has about half of Colorado’s 50% recidivism rate, a jaw-dropping statistic in this local gal’s opinion. [...]
La Luz Innovates: Meet Your Local Micro-school in Southwest Denver
Middle school doesn’t have to be the worst. That’s one of the many lessons I’ve learned from Kyle Gamba, the founder of La Luz, a new micro-school in southwest Denver that opened this school year. In case you don’t know Dr. Gamba, I will share a few facts with you. [...]
Tattered Cover: More Than a Bookstore
Tattered Cover is an iconic bookstore in Denver, but it has always been so much more for those who grew up in this city. All of us have a special memory or memories of Tattered Cover. It might be the hours spent every weekend for two years in the lower level of the Cherry Creek store reading about different colleges and universities all over the country. [...]
Team America Relief: Supporting Continual Evacuation Efforts in Afghanistan
In August of this year, the U.S. government pulled military forces from Afghanistan leaving tens of thousands of Afghans, who had fought alongside our forces, stranded with their families with no path to safety. [...]
Support Your Local Theater: Buntport Theater
I am going to say something controversial. Theater is boring. My dad describes opera in a way that I think embodies my feeling about theater: it’s a really expensive and uncomfortable nap. I don’t even want to be awake past 8:30 pm, which makes most productions of basically anything on a stage feel like a major imposition. I don’t like things standing between me and the Land of Sleepy-Sleepy. [...]