Search Through Arapahoe County Grants for Nonprofits in Colorado

Background

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation seeks to dramatically improve the lives of underserved communities across the globe by supporting scalable, innovative, and impact-first solutions that leverage existing systems and stakeholders. Our goal is to find social entrepreneurs with dynamic products or services that have a proven ability to positively impact the lives of underserved people, and nurture those organizations at the early stages by providing capacity, capital, and community.

Our application process is designed to be open and accessible, and we accept applications year round from across our priority geographies and sectors. Borrowing from our venture capital legacy, we find exceptional entrepreneurs and provide them with: 

Capacity

• The core of DRK’s model is deep and extensive operational and technical support for each portfolio organization, both through dedicated hands-on Board service and specialist capacity-building resources for fundraising, board and organizational development, leadership, financial support, and scaling strategy,

Capital

• DRK provides up to $300,000 USD in either unrestricted grant funding or investment capital over a three-year period, and

Community

• DRK convenes our portfolio and alumni annually, facilitating connections and community. 

What We Fund

DRK Foundation funds early-stage social impact organizations solving the world’s biggest social and environmental problems using bold, scalable approaches.

What stage of growth does DRK Foundation typically fund?

Early stage: Organizations who are early stage, which we define as post-pilot and pre-scale. This typically means: 

• Your program, product or service is already being used in the market or in the field, 
• You have early indication that your model is having its intended impact on the beneficiary populations,
• Your organization is relatively young (ideally between two and five years old, although we will consider both younger and older organizations).

Venture funding: In the case of for profits, we typically support Seed to Series A organizations, and never lead rounds; we also generally but not exclusively refrain from participating in financings exceeding a $15M USD post-money valuation.  

Global Impact Cash Grants

Cisco welcomes applications for Global Impact Cash Grants from community partners around the world who share our vision and offer an innovative approach to a critical social challenge.

We identify, incubate, and develop innovative solutions with the most impact. Global Impact Cash Grants go to nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that address a significant social problem. We’re looking for programs that fit within our investment areas, serve the underserved, and leverage technology to improve the reach and efficiency of services. We accept applications year-round from eligible organizations. An initial information form is used to determine whether your organization will be invited to complete a full application.

Social Investment Areas

At Cisco, we make social investments in three areas where we believe our technology and our people can make the biggest impact—education, economic empowerment, and crisis response, the last of which incorporates shelter, water, food, and disaster relief. Together, these investment areas help people overcome barriers of poverty and inequality, and make a lasting difference by fostering strong global communities.

Education Investments

Our strategy is to inclusively invest in technology-based solutions that increase equitable access to education while improving student performance, engagement, and career exploration. We support K-12 solutions that emphasize science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) as well as literacy. We also consider programs that teach environmental sustainability, eliminate barriers to accessing climate change education, and invite student engagement globally to positively affect the environment.

What we look for:

• Innovative early grade solutions using the internet and technology to bridge the barriers preventing access to education for underserved students globally.
• Solutions that positively affect student attendance, attitudes, and behavior while inspiring action by students to improve learning outcomes, whether they participate in person, online, or in blended learning environments. 
• Solutions with high potential to replicate and scale globally, thereby increasing the availability of evidence-based solutions that support student-centricity, teacher capacity in the classroom, and increased parental participation to help students learn and develop.

Economic Empowerment

Our strategy is to invest in early stage, tech-enabled solutions that provide equitable access to the knowledge, skills, and resources that people need to support themselves and their families toward resilience, independence, and economic security.

Our goal is to support solutions that benefit individuals and families, and that contribute to local community growth and economic development in a sustainable economy.

We target our support in three interconnected areas:

• Skills development to help job seekers secure dignified employment and long-term career pathways in technology or other sectors, including environmental sustainability/green jobs.
• Inclusive entrepreneurship with small businesses as engines of local growth as well as high growth potential start-ups as large-scale job creators nationally and internationally, in technology or other sectors, including environment sustainability/green businesses.
• Banking the unbanked through relevant and affordable financial products and capacity building services.

Cisco Crisis Response

We seek to help overcome the cycle of poverty and dependence and achieve a more sustainable future through strategic investments. We back organizations that successfully address critical needs of underserved communities, because those who have their basic needs met are better equipped to learn and thrive.

What we look for:

• Innovative solutions that increase the capacity of grantees to deliver their products and services more effectively and efficiently
• Design and implementation of web-based tools that increase the availability of, or improve access to, products and services that are necessary for people to survive and thrive
• Programs that increase access to clean water, food, shelter, or disaster relief and promote a more sustainable future for all
  • By policy, relief campaigns respond to significant natural disaster and humanitarian crises as opposed to those caused by human conflict. Also by policy, our investments in this area do not include healthcare solutions.

Climate Impact

Our strategy is to invest US$100 million in Cisco Foundation funds over the next decade to help reverse the impact of climate change, working toward a sustainable and regenerative future for all.

The commitment includes both grant and impact investment funding for early-stage climate innovation. Both categories of support will be focused on bold climate solutions, and the grants side will also concentrate on community education and activation. Grants will go to exceptionally aligned nonprofit organizations, while impact investments will go to highly promising for-profit solutions through the private sector and climate impact funds.

Funding comes from the Cisco Foundation and will focus on:

• Identifying bold and innovative solutions that:
  • Draw down the carbon already in the atmosphere
  • Regenerate depleted ecosystems and broadly support the transition to a regenerative future
• Developing curricular initiatives to spur community engagement that can lead to measurable behavioral change and collective action

We will prioritize organizations that can achieve, measure, and report outcomes such as:

• Reduction, capture, and/or sequestering of greenhouse gas and carbon emissions
• Increased energy efficiency and improved mapping and management of natural resources, such as ecosystem restoration, forest treatments, reforestation, and afforestation that also will help repair our water cycles
• Transition to inclusive, just, coliberatory, and regenerative operating models, ways of being, and ways of organizing economies
• Creation of, and increase in, access to green jobs and job training
• Changes in community and individual behavior that lead to carbon footprint reduction, community climate resilience, and localized roadmaps to a sustainable shared climate future for all

Mission

The mission of the Hearst Foundations is to identify and fund outstanding nonprofits to ensure that people of all backgrounds in the United States can build healthy, productive and satisfying lives. Through its grantmaking, the Hearst Foundations support well-established nonprofit organizations that address significant issues within their major areas of focus—culture, education, health and social service—and that primarily serve large demographic and/or geographic constituencies. In each area of funding, the Foundations seek to identify those organizations achieving truly differentiated results relative to other organizations making similar efforts for similar populations. The Foundations also look for evidence of sustainability beyond their support.

Whether providing a scholarship to a deserving student, supporting a rural health clinic or bringing artists into schools so children can see firsthand the beauty of the arts, the Foundations’ focus is consistent: to help those in need, those underserved and those underrepresented in society. Since the Foundations were formed in the 1940s, the scale and capabilities of the grant making have changed, but the mission has not.

Culture Grant

The Hearst Foundations fund cultural institutions that offer meaningful programs in the arts and sciences, prioritizing those that enable engagement by young people and create a lasting and measurable impact. The Foundations also fund select programs nurturing and developing artistic talent. Supported organizations include arts schools, ballets, museums, operas, performing arts centers, symphonies and theaters.

Funding Priorities in Culture

In the recent past, 25% of total funding has been allocated to Culture. Organizations with budgets over $10 million have received 60% of the funding in Culture.

The Hearst Foundations are only able to fund approximately 25% of all grant requests, of which about 80% is directed to prior grantees and about 20% is targeted toward new grantees.

Types of Support

Program, capital and, on a limited basis, general and endowment support

The Labcorp Charitable Foundation

We believe every person deserves equitable care and education.

In 2020 Labcorp established a private charitable 501(c)(3) foundation to advance our desire to bring quality healthcare access to all by supporting education and our local communities. 

Common grant opportunities include:

• Supporting food pantries and meal programs
• Providing healthcare and patient services for underserved populations
• Encouraging STEM programming
• Advocating for healthy lifestyles through ongoing medical research and screening

Newcomers Fund Grant

Since December 2022, over 40,000 people have arrived in the Greater Denver region after traveling from South and Central America. The city of Denver, the state of Colorado, and many local nonprofits have stepped in to welcome them and provide necessary services. For those individuals and families who intend to make their home here in Colorado, there are continued needs that our community can rally together to help address.

At this time, the Newcomers Fund steering committee is prioritizing grants to organizations that are helping new immigrants with housing, resource navigation, and workforce and employment opportunities. We are interested in supporting nonprofits working at a larger scale – those serving 20 or more people.

Funding

Funding amounts will be determined based on the breadth and depth of impact in addition to the total amount available to grant.

PNC Foundation

Strengthening and enriching the lives of our neighbors in communities where we live and work.

Vision & Mission

For decades, we have provided resources to seed ideas, foster development initiatives and encourage leadership in nonprofit organizations where imagination and determination are at work enhancing people's lives everyday.

The PNC Foundation's priority is to form partnerships with community-based nonprofit organizations in order to enhance educational opportunities, with an emphasis on early childhood education, and to promote the growth of communities through economic development initiatives.

Foundation Grant

The PNC Foundation supports a variety of nonprofit organizations with a special emphasis on those that work to achieve sustainability and touch a diverse population, in particular, those that support early childhood education and/or economic development.

Education

The PNC Foundation supports educational programs for children and youth, particularly early childhood education initiatives that meet the criteria established through PNC Grow Up Great. Specifically, PNC Grow Up Great grants must:

• Support early education initiatives that benefit children from birth to age five; and
• Serve a majority of children (>50%) from low- to moderate-income families; and
• Adhere to all other standard PNC Foundation guidelines, as outlined on the PNC Foundation website, applicant eligibility quiz, as well as the Foundation policies and procedures; and
• Include one or a combination of the following:
  • direct services/programs for children in their classroom or community;
  • professional development/workforce development for early childhood educators;
  • family and/or community engagement in children’s early learning
• Additional considerations:
  • The grant focus should include math, science, reading, vocabulary development, the arts, financial education, or social/emotional development.
  • The grant recipient, or collaborative partner, should have early childhood education as an area of focus. If the organization’s focus is beyond birth to age five, the specific grant must be earmarked for birth to age five.
  • Incorporate opportunities for PNC volunteers in classroom or non-classroom-based activities.

Economic Development

Economic development organizations, including those which enhance the quality of life through neighborhood revitalization, cultural enrichment and human services are given support. Priority is given to community development initiatives that strategically promote the growth of low-and moderate-income communities and/or provide services to these communities.

• Affordable Housing
  • The PNC Foundation understands the critical need for affordable housing for low-and moderate-income individuals.
  • We are committed to providing support to nonprofit organizations that:
    • give counseling and services to help these individuals maintain their housing stock;
    • offer transitional housing units and programs; and/or
    • offer credit counseling assistance to individuals, helping them to prepare for homeownership.
• Community Development
  • Because small businesses are often critical components of community growth and help foster business development, the PNC Foundation provides support to nonprofit organizations that
    • offer technical assistance to, or loan programs for, small businesses located in low-and moderate-income areas or
    • support small businesses that employ low-and moderate-income individuals.
• Community Services
  • Support is given to social services organizations that benefit the health, education, quality of life or provide essential services for low-and moderate-income individuals and families.
  • The PNC Foundation supports job training programs and organizations that provide essential services for their families.
• Arts & Culture
  • Support is given for cultural enrichment programs benefitting the community.
• Revitalization & Stabilization of Low-and Moderate-Income Areas
  • The PNC Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that serve low-and moderate-income neighborhoods by improving living and working conditions.
  • Support is given to organizations that help stabilize communities, eliminate blight and attract and retain businesses and residents to the community.

Philanthropy is our commitment to communities in which we operate and broader society. We focus our resources on a limited number of key projects that can deliver valuable benefits from our contributions and those of our partners. We give priority to innovative, high-quality projects that meet the following criteria:

• promote sustainable development
• offer an opportunity for Roche to use its expertise and logistics capabilities
• involve Roche actively at an early stage with local authorities and established partners
• engage Roche employees in cultural (focus on contemporary arts), educational and social activities
• managed by an accredited charity

Our four focus areas

Humanitarian and Social

We direct the majority of our philanthropic donations to humanitarian and social development projects.

Science and education

We are dedicated to programmes that promote scientific interest and provide educational opportunities for young people around the world.

Community and Environment

We are committed to building stronger communities and responding to natural disasters sustainably.

Arts and Culture

We support groundbreaking contemporary art, cultural projects and activities that explore the parallels between innovation in art and in science. 

Our Process

SVP Denver provides social impact organizations with free training and pro bono consulting services to increase their capacity and expand their impact. Here’s what we offer:

Training Cohorts:

We run training cohorts several times a year on a variety of topics to help groups of 4-6 social impact organizations level up. Each cohort is facilitated by a subject matter expert and social impact organizations are matched with an experienced SVP Partner who will act as their coach, providing additional support and third-party feedback on deliverables. 

Individual Strategic Projects:

Leadership and staff from your organization will work directly with SVP Denver partners rather than in a group cohort setting. Examples of projects include:

• Improving your financial management system
• Guiding you through a merger of two nonprofit organizations
• Supporting improvement of board of director governance processes
• Developing a business plan to guide your organization’s growth
• Tapping into masterminds by assembling a group of SVP Denver experts on a specific need (real estate, mergers/acquisitions, fundraising, etc.) to share expertise and solve problems.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis from organizations focused on basic human needs or economic mobility (e.g. housing, food security, education, job training, etc). Selected organizations will participate in a one-on-one virtual discussion to better understand your goals. If you are selected to become a capacity-building investee, we will begin the matchmaking process of finding SVP Denver partners who have relevant skills and a passion for your mission.

Capacity Building Grants

What SVP Will Bring to the Table

• Targeted investments. Our SVP Denver partners’ (members) time, professional expertise and resources include dedicated pro-bono consulting teams with relevant skill sets.
• Skilled volunteers. Our dedicated and passionate SVP partners roll up their sleeves and help build your organization’s capacity in areas that are keeping you from reaching your full potential.
• Commitment to working in partnership. Often there’s a power dynamic in capacity- building relationships; we do our best to mitigate that. We invite honest feedback, own up to our mistakes and strive to find a path forward that works for all. SVP Denver partners may have specific expertise and skills that can help you, but you’re the expert in your mission. Thus, we see our investee engagements as peer-learning opportunities where we can learn from each other while working towards goals.

What SVP Denver Will Ask of the investee

• Willingness to take a hard look at what’s holding your organization back, and share those weaknesses openly. After honest conversations, we can get to work – together.
• Flexibility and openness to working with our SVP Denver partners who have busy schedules, varied professional backgrounds and joined our organization to give back strategically to yours.
• A commitment to calling us out when something’s not working for you. That may be uncomfortable, but our best results come from honest relationships.
• Identifying the capacity-building areas you want to work on with us and how they relate to your mission.
• Be open to metrics/assessments throughout the process. We want to understand what impact our work together has so we can track our progress.
• Employ a work plan that follows a logic model framework as outlined in this resource.
• Develop impact metrics for each change project, both at the end of our engagement and one year later.

Bonfils-Stanton Foundation

Mission Statement

Bonfils-Stanton Foundation invests in inclusive, diverse, and equitable arts & culture and nonprofit leaders to create a thriving and just Denver.

Vision Statement

Denver is a diverse, vibrant community where arts and culture are essential, relevant and accessible to all, and nonprofit leaders have the tools and support they need to lead with vision, creativity, compassion and equity.

Technical Assistance

The Foundation recognizes the need for small, technical assistance grants especially as organizations and groups are reimagining their operations or programming, exploring ways to sustain and/or grow operations, or seeking to enhance team skill sets. Support may be used for a consultant, planning, technology or training/professional development. Grants are capped at $5,000 and are intended as one-time awards, not ongoing support. 

The Bonfils-Stanton Foundation has a longstanding commitment to empowering organizations dedicated to community development and enrichment. With a vision to foster sustainable growth and impact, the Foundation has initiated the Quarterly Community Grants program (which includes Technical Assistance grants) to offer vital support to organizations striving for long-term stability and effectiveness in fulfilling their missions.

Project Examples

Examples of types of projects eligible for funding:

• Strategic planning
• Governance and board development
• DEI and racial equity training
• Leadership and staff training
• Marketing and communications planning
• Fund development planning
• Membership, donor, ticketing software or other data and systems management

Helping Build Better Futures

Our mission is to deliver great value to our customers every day. For over four decades, our deep commitment to the principles of providing value and caring for others has helped define our culture. It extends beyond the walls of our stores, distribution centers, and offices, and into our local communities around the world. The intersection of these principles defines our global community mission:

Deliver great value to our communities by helping vulnerable families and children access the resources and opportunities they need to build a better future.

Our Social Impact Areas

We bring our community relations mission to life around the world by focusing our giving on four social impact areas where we believe we can have the most impact and are critical to helping families and children succeed and thrive.

Basic Needs

We are passionate about supporting nonprofit organizations that help fill critical basic needs such as a warm meal, clean clothing, and a safe place to sleep for vulnerable families.

Education & Training

Our efforts have focused on quality enrichment and extracurricular programs that provide skills, resources, and opportunities to support school and career success for children, teens, and young adults.

Patient Care & Research

We support organizations that deliver services to families and children facing health challenges and life-threatening illnesses.

Empowering Women

We support programs that provide services ranging from help for those fleeing domestic violence, to others that offer education, training, and job placement resources.

Our Mission

The Tony Robbins Foundation is a nonprofit organization created to empower individuals and organizations to make a significant difference in the quality of life of people often forgotten.

We’re dedicated to creating positive changes in the lives of youth, seniors, the hungry, homeless and the imprisoned population, all who need a boost envisioning a happier and deeply satisfying way of life. Our passionate staff, generous donors and caring group of international volunteers provide the vision, inspiration, and resources needed to empower these important members of our society.

Grants

Dedicated to meeting challenges within the global community, creating solutions and taking action, The Tony Robbins Foundation provides monetary donations to various organizations around the world. Funding requests are evaluated on an ongoing basis. We look for organizations that align with our mission to empower individuals and organizations to make a significant difference in the quality of life of those often forgotten.

Bonfils-Stanton Foundation

Bonfils-Stanton Foundation strategically provides grants and fellowships to advance the arts and inspire creative leadership in Denver. Our foundation is richly steeped in Denver’s cultural history, but we are also a contemporary leader in fueling innovation and exploration in our creative economy.Denver is a diverse, vibrant community where arts and culture are essential, relevant and accessible to all, and nonprofit leaders have the tools and support they need to lead with vision, creativity, compassion and equity.Each year we give more than $3.5 million to arts organizations and nonprofit leaders, because we believe these entities and individuals are critical to building and sustaining a vibrant and just community.

Equity-Focused Leadership Grants

The Equity-Focused Leadership Grants program seeks to nurture a pipeline of diverse leaders committed to driving positive change within their communities. The nonprofit sector has consistently struggled with a lack of diversity of staff – especially at the executive level. This persistent racial leadership gap negatively impacts the career trajectories and well-being of BIPOC professionals who face systemic barriers that prevent them, and others from historically marginalized communities, from pursuing pathways to executive leadership. To help address these disparities and build on our longstanding commitment to support leaders who affect change, Bonfils-Stanton Foundation seeks to support the pipeline of potential leaders through the Equity-Focused Leadership grants which provide up to $10,000 to six (6) organizations that support the leadership development of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and/or adults with disabilities aspiring to lead in the nonprofit sector. 

Process

Grant awards will be determined by a panel of BSF staff and community members who will evaluate proposals based on the following criteria:

• Development and use of innovative, culturally relevant methods to supporting leaders
• Degree and depth of community involvement in both identifying and addressing the issue(s)/need(s) of aspiring leaders
• Centering BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disability and/or other underrepresented communities and their lived experiences in program design and implementation
• Potential for the program to cultivate leaders who champion systems change
• Organizational commitment to fair wages/stipends for program staff/collaborators

Our Mission

Our mission is to continue and further the philanthropic legacy of Gardner Cowles, Jr. and the Cowles family, which includes promotion of education, social justice, health, and the arts.

The Founder

The Cowles Charitable Trust was first established in 1948 by Gardner “Mike” Cowles, Jr. (1903-1985). Born into the Cowles publishing family of Des Moines, Iowa, Mike was the youngest of Gardner Cowles and Florence Call Cowles’ six children. A newspaper editor and publisher by trade, he was committed to his family’s traditions of responsible, public-spirited, and innovative journalism as well as philanthropy. 

The Cowles Charitable Trust supports the arts, education, the advancement of ethical journalism, medical and climate research.

Gupta Family Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, USA. Our mission is to support organizations that provide focused intervention in the lives of people who have been disadvantaged in some way to help them become self-reliant. We take a very broad view of “disadvantage” to include anything that holds a person back from realizing their potential, such as poverty, physical or mental disability, social alienation, etc. The foundation also supports relief agencies that serve people affected by emergencies such as natural disasters.

The foundation evaluates and awards annual and multi-year grants ranging from $5,000 to over $250,000 (USD). Our focus is on funding smaller organizations all around the world that are led by individuals with a deep personal commitment to their missions. 

Our selection criteria include:

• Mission alignment
• The organization is run by the founder or, if not, by a successor who embodies the original inspiration, passion and commitment of the founder.
• At least 90% of grant monies reaches the intended beneficiaries.
• The organization is non-sectarian, i.e.,
  • It does not, directly or indirectly, support or condone the proselytization of any religion,
  • It is not supported by or affiliated to a religious organization.

The Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation Vision

The Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation, "A Foundation for All", was established in 2002. It was begun in order to give a clear voice for those who wish to be a part of the many, worthy, forces for change in our world.

We are a foundation whose purpose is to look ahead towards the future, giving the past its due by remembering where we came from, and how much we can all accomplish together. We aim to make the critical difference on our planet by recognizing and having respect for our ever changing world. We respect all Life, the Environment, and all People, no matter who they are.

Art for the Culture, Leaders for the People.

Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, Denver’s leading private arts funder, has distributed over $90 million in grants since 1981.

We extend grantmaking opportunities to arts institutions and organizations dedicated to fostering a just and vibrant city. Bridging arts and leadership, we shape Denver's cultural and civic landscape through investing with impact, innovative grant-making, and community partnerships. We are creating a vibrant city that works for everyone.

Capital

Grants for capital projects, typically for organizations with operating budgets under $5 million.

Grants for capital projects are generally considered for organizations with which the Foundation has an established relationship. To allow for more community-focused and opportunistic grantmaking capacity the Foundation is unlikely to fund significant capital gifts for the largest cultural organizations with operating budgets typically over $5 million. 

Art for the Culture, Leaders for the People

Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, Denver’s leading private arts funder, has distributed over $90 million in grants since 1981.

We extend grantmaking opportunities to arts institutions and organizations dedicated to fostering a just and vibrant city. Bridging arts and leadership, we shape Denver's cultural and civic landscape through investing with impact, innovative grant-making, and community partnerships. We are creating a vibrant city that works for everyone.

Our Grantmaking Approach

Bonfils-Stanton Foundation invests in inclusive, diverse, and equitable arts and culture organizations and nonprofit leaders to create a thriving and just Denver. We seek to impact three of our five main goals through our grantmaking initiatives:

• Strengthen cultural organizations and increase arts engagement
• Nurture creative, transformational nonprofit leaders and artists
• Elevate the visibility and value of the arts, cultural heritage, and identity

Quarterly Community Grants

Unrestricted operating grants for ongoing stability to carry out an organization’s mission. Project support considered for relationship building.

A priority of the Foundation is to provide unrestricted operating grants for ongoing stability to carry out an organization’s mission. These grants may take time to secure as we build a relationship together. A new applicant to quarterly community grants may have received support through another Bonfils-Stanton initiative that supported a stage of earlier development. Project support may also be considered as a way to build our relationship. General operating and project support is currently capped at $60,000.

Centene Charitable Foundation

Successful corporate citizenship happens when companies invest in the local organizations that know their communities best. The Centene Foundation works with our local partners on initiatives that focus on inclusion, the whole person and community development.

Vision

Centene’s purpose is transforming the health of the community, one person at a time. The Centene Foundation is an essential part of how we pursue this purpose. We achieve measurable impact for the communities we serve through partnerships and philanthropy efforts that invest in initiatives with holistic approaches to dismantling barriers to health.

Areas of Focus

Reflecting Centene’s commitment to the needs of those who rely on government-sponsored health care and to addressing social determinants of health and health equity, preference will be given to initiatives in three distinct areas of focus.

• Healthcare Access
• Social Services
• Education

About Grants

Impact100 Metro Denver provides high-impact grants that enable compelling but often lesser known initiatives to dream “big”. Our goal is to provide significant grants that reach under-served populations, highlight unmet needs in our community, and raise the profile of organizations striving to make transformative change.

The Impact100 Metro Denver 2025 grant is a one-time, $100,000 Impact Grant to empower a Denver area non-profit to significantly impact its ability to meet its mission and serve its constituents. This is core mission funding; the grant could be used in any way the applicant believes this funding will impact its ability to serve its constituents, including strengthening or expanding existing programs or adding a new program.

About Impact100 Metro Denver

Impact100 Metro Denver brings together women in our community to provide a $100,000 grant to a Denver-area non-profit to significantly impact how it meets its mission and serves its constituents. The mission of Impact100 Metro Denver is to inspire and empower a community of women to be intentional and informed philanthropists, collectively funding grants to Metro Denver nonprofits. Each of our members gives $1,000 annually and has one vote toward the selection of the annual grant award.

Focus Areas

Arts & Culture

Programs that promote creative thinking, expression, education or appreciation.

Economic Opportunity

Programs that focus on economic independence, housing security, training, education or life skills

Education & Lifelong Learning

Programs that strive to close achievement gaps by addressing access, parity and quality.

Environmental Conservation

Programs that address economic and health consequences, protect natural resources or provide access to recreation.

Health & Wellness

Programs that provide access to health services, raise risk awareness and build equity in health care.

Social Services

Programs that meet needs for food, clothing, shelter and safety; or that tackle social problems in vulnuerable communities.

Ameriprise Financial Grantmaking

At Ameriprise Financial, giving back is deeply rooted in our culture. We’ve initiated positive change in the communities where we live and work for more than 120 years. We believe our community involvement enables us to actively live our values. Through grant making, volunteerism and employee and financial advisor gift matching programs, we support a diverse group of over 6,000 nonprofits across the country.

Focus Areas

Awarding grant dollars to nonprofits is one way we strengthen our communities and help individuals on a path to financial independence. To ensure we're meeting the needs of our communities and making an even greater collective impact, we focus on three key giving areas when awarding grants.

Volunteer engagement is a priority across all focus areas:

The engagement of Ameriprise employees and financial advisors is a critical component of our philanthropy. Whether it’s serving on a nonprofit board, engaging friends, clients and community members in volunteering or providing skills-based support, our relationships with nonprofits go deep. For this reason, we give priority across all focus areas to applications where there is active volunteer engagement of Ameriprise advisors and employees. 

Meeting Basic Needs

At Ameriprise Financial, we help clients achieve financial security and peace of mind. That’s satisfying, meaningful work. We also help the people in our neighborhoods who struggle to meet basic needs such as where their next meal comes from, where they’ll sleep tonight or how they’ll find a higher wage job. We’re here to help them through the three platforms of our Meeting Basic Needs focus area.

Consideration is given to applications addressing the following: 

• Hunger
• Food banks, food shelves and food pantries, daily meal programs or meal services for the homebound
• Hunger-relief programs targeted to meet the special needs of children, ethnic populations or veterans
• Food programs run by nonprofits where hunger is not their sole focus, for example a youth meal program at the YWCA or a backpack program run by a Boys & Girls Club
• Shelter
• Emergency shelter, including youth homelessness
• Transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and efforts to end chronic homelessness
• Housing-first models (programs quickly providing housing and then addressing needed services)
• Achieving and maintaining home ownership, repair and maintenance efforts helping keep seniors, veterans and other populations in their homes 
• Adult Self-Sufficiency: Programs serving adults age 21 and older that help address the following areas:
• Basic hard and soft skills that help adults achieve economic and family stability
• Basic financial and budgeting skills
• Increase employability and wages, including work readiness and job transitions
• Employment of disabled adults

Supporting Community Vitality

We believe communities should be strong, healthy and resilient. We want livable places for all, where neighbors look out for one another, cultural events are well-attended and people pull together in times of crisis and joy. We work to create economic vitality and cultural enrichment through the following areas of focus.

Consideration is given to applications addressing the following: 

• Community Development
• Neighborhood revitalization
• Economic development
• Strengthening and supporting small businesses and nonprofits through technical expertise
• Cultural Enrichment
• Arts education
• Access for underserved populations
• Diverse artists and performances that spark topical community conversations 

Volunteer Driven Causes: Ameriprise employees and financial advisors are outstanding volunteers who serve in teams and also as individuals bringing personal skill-sets to nonprofits. Volunteering is part of the culture at Ameriprise and we are proud to support communities through contributions of both service and financial resources. 

Funding for Volunteer-Driven Causes is determined by current Ameriprise volunteerism. In general, funding is in proportion to the size of the Ameriprise volunteer team supporting a nonprofit. A team may include employees, financial advisors and/or staff or a combination of any Ameriprise volunteers. 

Mission Statement

We invest in equitable arts and culture organizations and nonprofit leaders to create a thriving and just Denver.

Bonfils-Stanton Foundation strategically provides grants and fellowships to advance the arts and inspire creative leadership in Denver. Our foundation is richly steeped in Denver’s cultural history, but we are also a contemporary leader in fueling innovation and exploration in our creative economy.

Denver is a diverse, vibrant community where arts and culture are essential, relevant and accessible to all, and nonprofit leaders have the tools and support they need to lead with vision, creativity, compassion and equity.

Inclusive Communities

Local, community-oriented organizations offering programs that integrate arts and culture play a critical role in the Denver area’s cultural ecosystem. In recognition of their important contributions, Bonfils-Stanton Foundation’s Inclusive Communities grant program provides $5,000 in unrestricted funding to Denver-area arts and culture organizations that are informed by, majority led by and serve BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disability communities. Annual Inclusive Communities grants are awarded to small-budget nonprofits or fiscally-sponsored organizations for fostering deeper engagement with art and culture across our community through public programming.

The In-N-Out Burger Foundation’s mission is to assist children and youth who have been victims of child abuse and neglect, and to prevent others from suffering a similar fate. The Foundation will only consider requests from organizations that closely align with our mission and that serve communities where In-N-Out Burger does business.

The In-N-Out Burger Foundation is happy to consider the following types of grants:

Traditional Grants: Grant awards range from $5,000 - $25,000.

Program: Restricted funding to support the development, expansion, or enhancement of programs within an existing organization.

General Operating Support: Unrestricted funding to support the overall operations and sustainability of your nonprofit. Applicants must present a strong case on how this funding will help sustain the organization’s mission and provide benefits to the children in their care. *Please note that all of your organization’s programs must align with our mission to be considered for this type of support.

Capital Grants: Grant awards range from $5,000 - $50,000.

Capital Campaign: Restricted funding for the construction of new facilities, renovations or upgrades to existing buildings, and other special projects that will enhance the organization’s mission.

Capital Purchase: Restricted funding to purchase equipment, furnishings, or any other major material purchases that will enhance the organization’s mission.

Capital grants are awarded on a very limited basis each year. The Foundation will only consider requests from organizations that meet all other funding criteria and who already have an established long-term funding relationship with the Foundation (minimum of 2 years).

Please carefully review the Capital Grant Guidelines above to ensure that your organization meets the requirements to apply. Capital Grants are invitation-only. Please contact us to set a 30-minute meeting to discuss your project and be prepared to send a draft summary of the project for review beforehand. 

The Denver Post, The Denver Post Community Foundation and Denver Active 20-30 Children’s Foundation, with funds raised through Season To Share, are committed to helping those less fortunate in our community improve their lives and become self-sufficient. Thanks to the generous support of donors, readers and corporations…grants are made to qualified nonprofit organizations that focus on children and youth, health and wellness, homelessness and hunger.

Grant Making Focus Areas

Children and Youth

All children should have the chance to succeed in life and opportunities to help them reach their full potential by being on track for success in the classroom and in life.

Funding will focus mainly on out-of-school time programs that support the development of children and youth in the community, ages 5 – 18. Programs must be evidence-based and demonstrate positive outcomes in academic achievement and/or social and emotional development and show ongoing relationships with children/ youth beyond a one-time encounter. Programs must also focus on youth with barriers to success, serving at least 60% who qualify for free and reduced lunch or other low-income indicator.

Health and Wellness

Everyone deserves access to services that help them be healthy, including physical, behavioral and dental health care.

Funding will focus on established programs providing access to affordable, high-quality health care services for low-income residents in under-served communities. Programs of interest include community health centers serving under- and uninsured populations that provide integrated care and K-12 school-based health centers in schools where at least 60% of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch. Organizations must be able to demonstrate positive health outcomes for clients in addition to other output measures.

Homelessness

The issue of homelessness persists in our community and providing housing and services is important in working to end homelessness and support families and individuals.

This funding area supports prevention services and/or long-term housing strategies with multiple wrap-around services for individuals and families. Eligible programs include homelessness prevention programs that provide short-term financial support (i.e. rent, utilities, mortgage) to maintain current housing and supportive and transitional housing (six months or more) with additional supporting services. Programs must effectively demonstrate impact by tracking clients who are able to maintain housing and/or those who transition into and maintain more permanent and/or stable housing.

Hunger

Families and individuals deserve access to nutritious, supplemental food in order to meet their daily needs and to help support them in work and school.

Funding priority is given to established providers with large-scale programs or initiatives that reduce food insecurity. Eligible organizations and programs must meet the following criteria: effectively use data to make organizational decisions; provide client-choice services; offer nutritious food options; work in geographic areas where gaps for and access to nutritional services exist; support enrollment in SNAP/benefit programs; and provide warm referrals to other community supports.

Background

Women of color contribute immensely to the health, well-being, and advancement of our communities. They mobilize grassroots movements that create real change, they are thought leaders who shape our understanding of gender and race, and they are uniquely positioned to lead us into a better future because of their lived experiences. At the same time, women of color face greater disparities in health outcomes, pay, wealth, access to capital, and more.

Two leading philanthropic organizations – Echoing Green and Bridgespan – found in a recent research report that “racial inequity is built into philanthropic norms.” Black- and Latino-led organizations face significant disparities in revenue, assets, and acquired funding. Gender only compounds these disparities, despite the monumental achievements of grassroots, women-of-color-led initiatives.

As the only community foundation in our state focused on Colorado women and their families, it is up to us to change that. From the purpose, goals, creation, and management of the fund, we are committed to rejecting the problematic philanthropic norms that cause women of color to receive just .5% of all philanthropic dollars.

WGCF Grants

Our framework and priorities for the Women & Girls of Color Fund are based on your feedback. The fund focuses on organizations led by women or girls of color executive directors that are committed to building economic power and dismantling oppressive systems through direct service or community organizing.

The Women & Girls of Color Fund has two grant cycles per year: Rural focus and Front Range focus (Larimer, Boulder, Broomfield, Jefferson, Denver, Arapahoe, Douglas, Adams, and El Paso counties)

Our funding priorities are grounded in increasing investments in Colorado women and girls of color, their leadership, their futures, and their economic security.

• Led by women and girls of color: Women of color have the experience and community knowledge to best lead our communities into an equitable future. Grantee organizations will be led by women of color executive directors.
• Focused on women and girls of color: Women and girls of color receive just .5% of all foundation funding. Programs we fund will have a focus on the power and potential of women and girls of color.
• Colorado-based and Colorado-focused: Colorado is a large and diverse state. Grantees will take a range of approaches to advancing the economic security of women and girls of color based on their specific communities' needs.
• Liberatory leadership: Grantees will not only reject systems of racism, classism, homophobia, and patriarchy, they will also demonstrate radical practices of liberatory leadership such as self care and collective leadership, which undermine white supremacy culture.
• Advancing economic security: In alignment with The Women's Foundation of Colorado's mission, the fund will support programs that advance the economic security of women and girls of color.
• Those most underfunded: Following principles of intersectionality, the Women & Girls of Color Fund will prioritize those communities marginalized by multiple systems of oppression and most underfunded.

Our Mission

The Hansen Family Foundation provides opportunities to domestic, international, secular, and non-secular organizations that support the American way of life, which is defined by the principles of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 

Causes

Children

The Hansen Family Foundation supports causes dedicated to helping children both home as well as abroad. Learn More

Education

The Hansen Family Foundation believes that a decent education should be made available to everyone, young or old, the world over. Learn More

Animals

The Hansen Family Foundation believes in helping those who cannot speak on their own behalf. Learn More

Environmental

The Hansen Family Foundation is dedicated to preserving the world we all share. Learn More

Humanitarian

The Hansen Family Foundation views the plight of our fellow man as an opportunity to actively engage and effect change. Learn More

Arts & Culture

The Hansen Family Foundation supports all forms of artistic and cultural endeavors. Learn More

Our Mission

Uniting people, ideas, and resources to advance the common good.

What We Do

Working side-by-side with the community, Mile High United Way takes on critical human services issues facing our seven-county footprint of Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson counties. For the current grant cycle, our priority will continue to be placed on basic needs services (access to housing, access to food, tax preparation, and legal services), out of-school time, and early childhood education.

What We Believe

• We believe every person who calls Colorado home deserves the opportunity to thrive
• We believe every young person deserves a strong start
• We believe every family should be economically stable
• We believe in community
• We believe in neighborhoods
• We believe in the power of diverse and inclusive voices
• We believe in data

Our Community Priorities

• Giving all children a strong start
  • Ensuring all children entering kindergarten ready to succeed
• Supporting Education and Academic Success
  • Building educational success through partnerships with schools, families, and communities
• Creating Economic Opportunity For All
  • Ensuring people can meet their basic needs and have opportunities to move toward economic success

Strategic Investment Grant (SIG) opportunity

The Strategic Investment Grant (SIG) opportunity is our flagship grantmaking program investing in eligible nonprofit organizations across the seven-county Metro Denver area. These organizations are an extension of our mission in the community. The goal of this Strategic Investment Grant opportunity is to focus investments on outstanding organizations whose work aligns with our overarching strategy to provide high-quality early childhood education, high-quality out-of-school time programming and access to housing, food, legal services, and tax preparation. Strategic Investment Grants are awarded through a competitive, community-driven process.

Issue Areas

We selected six issue areas for funding, under three categories:

• Basic Needs
  • Access to Housing
  • Access to Food
  • Legal Services
  • Tax Preparation
• Out-of-School Time
• Early Childhood

Types of Support

Organizations can apply for General Operating or Program support. The following organizations can apply for Program support only:

• Schools, school districts, school foundations.
• Government entities.