Stretch Your Donation Dollars with Colorado Gives Day on Dec. 6, 2016

It’s Time to Give Back!!! And Colorado Gives Day makes it easy.

Set for Dec. 6, 2016, Colorado Gives Day is the state’s largest online giving movement. Over the last six years, the 24-hour event has raised about $121 million for hundreds of nonprofit organizations across Colorado.  Let’s hope our generous hearts will lead to record donations this year. That might be difficult, as donors in 2015 responded in unprecedented numbers, breaking all previous records. In just 24 hours, $38,560 million was donated by 43,979 donors through 196,402 donations, ranging from $10 to $300,000!

What makes this day especially unique is that donations are matched by a $1 Million Incentive Fund created with contributions of $500,000 each from FirstBank and Community First Foundation.

This fund proportionally increases the value of every dollar donated. For example, if a nonprofit receives 10 percent of the total donations made on Colorado Gives Day, that same nonprofit will receive 10 percent of the $1 Million Incentive Fund.

That’s a pretty big incentive to take some time out on Dec. 6 and donate to a good cause or favorite charity. With more than 2,000 Colorado nonprofit organizations participating in the program, you’re sure to find at least one or two deserving groups.

For those of us living in Douglas County, there are several local groups on the list including: Douglas County Educational Foundation, Douglas County Libraries Foundation, Douglas County Veterans Monument Foundation, Douglas Land Conservancy, the Douglas/Elbert Task Force and Parker Task Force, Alternatives Pregnancy Center, Parker Adventist Hospital Foundation, Castle Rock Parks and Trails Foundation and SECOR Community Outreach.

But there are also specialized organizations, such as Hide in Plain Sight, Project Sanctuary, the Denver Dumb Friends League, Special Olympics, South Metro Health Alliance, Bessie’s Hope, Clothes to Kids of Denver and Colorado Animal Rescue – just to name a few.

For a complete list and information on making a donation, visit https://www.coloradogives.org/cogivesday

To make sure your charity gets some of the Incentive Fund, you need to make your donation through the ColoradoGives.org website during the 24-hour period that begins at 12 a.m. on Dec. 6.

And a special thanks to Community First Foundation, which has been helping generous donors and innovative nonprofits come together since 1975, and FirstBank, the state’s largest locally owned banking organization, for making our donations go farther.