Colorado Gives Day: 740 new nonprofits as donations blow past 2023 rates
The biggest day of the year for charitable donations in the Centennial State is days away and the Colorado Gives Foundation is excited for Tuesday.
DENVER (KDVR) — The biggest day of the year for charitable donations in the Centennial State is days away and the Colorado Gives Foundation is excited.
A lot of times in an election year, donations to charity can be down, but donations are currently up and on the rise for this year. However, there are still many organizations that need donations. Officials reported a 33% increase in giving through ColoradoGives.org on Giving Tuesday compared to last year.
On Giving Tuesday in 2022 (Nov. 29), the foundation gathered $3.9 million in donations. On Giving Tuesday last year, the foundation gathered the same amount. But on Dec. 3, which was this year's Giving Tuesday, the foundation collected around $5.2 million for nonprofits.
There are also 740 new organizations taking part in Colorado Gives Day this year (scheduled for Dec. 10) like the Colorado Garden Foundation. Jim Fricke, their executive director says its passion is education.
"Every year we produce the Colorado Garden & Home Show, the big home show in February. We’ve always used that as our way to raise money," Fricke explained. "From that money, we award $750,000 in horticulture scholarships and grants all around the state of Colorado."
When it comes to grants and scholarships Fricke says there is simply never enough to go around, so being a part of something like Colorado Gives Day was a no-brainer.
"It gives us more exposure for what we do and why we do it. It gives exposure to the show. It gives exposure to how we are and how we impact Colorado," Fricke said.
Exposure is a big reason for many organizations to participate, while donors can feel a sense of safety when they donate. Colorado Gives Foundation has a thorough process to ensure all organizations apart of the day are legitimate and helping local Colorado communities.
Colorado Gives Foundation verifies every nonprofit on the site is:
- A 501(c)(3) with a public charity status of 509(a)(1) or 509(a)(2).
- Headquartered or providing services in Colorado.
- Has a certificate of registration and a certificate of good standing from the Colorado Secretary of State
As far as donations, they go straight to the chosen organization. President and CEO of Colorado Gives Foundation Kelly Dunkin said any additional fees, like processing fees, are optional.
"The donor can choose to cover that, and we see 96% of donors cover that fee, but if the donor doesn’t want to cover that that’s no problem," Dunkin said. "And the commitment that we have to nonprofits is we’re not going to make any money off of that. We will just take out the payment processing fees."
Their process has been a huge success for the state and its thousands of organizations.
"We wanted to create a movement that would boost charitable giving in Colorado and support nonprofits and we’ve been hugely successful. Over those 15 years, Coloradans have donated more than $469 million in support of their favorite nonprofits. Just last year we raised $54.2 million dollars," Dunkin said.
Colorado Gives also has an incentive fund. So, all nonprofits receive a percentage of the fund equal to what they raise. Also if you set up a recurring donation, Colorado Gives Foundation will match that first occurrence up to $100.
Early giving is open now. Find out more about Colorado Gives, the organizations and ways to donate here.
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