Community Shares of Colorado in the News

Community Shares honored as Nonprofit of the Year
YourHub.com>Denver
October 11, 2007
by Mary Snyders
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Community Shares celebrates "inspired" giving
Denver Post
June 29, 2007
by Joanne Davidson

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Catching up with the social scene
Denver Post
March 4, 2007
by Joanne Davidson
Community Shares Wins NACG "Innovation and Excellence" Award...

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Come fly with me - community giving winner
YourHub.com>Boulder
February 22, 2007
by Mary Snyders
Community Shares recognizes Boulder County Government employee as part of Community Giving Campaign...

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CSC Executive Director Jesse Wolff named to Denver Business Journal's "2006 Power Book" of top newsmakers in Denver.

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Nonprofit Mergers, Partnerships A Welcome Trend 
Denver Business Journal
October 13, 2006
by Jesse Wolff

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Seal of approval extended to local nonprofit groups
Denver Business Journal
July 14, 2006
by Amy Bryer
Local charities that meet accountability standards from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) now can use the group's familiar seal of approval...

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Charities Calendar: Rocky Mountain News - Monday, June 26, 2006

Community Shares of Colorado will hold its 20th anniversary celebration from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in the Seawell Ballroom at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. Former Colorado first lady Dottie Lamm will be the keynote speaker. Committee members include honorary chairman Mayor John Hickenlooper; the celebration co-chairman, Denver Business Journal President Scott Bemis, Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado President Mary Lou Makepeace , Plasticomm CEO Ron Montoya, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar and state Rep. Andrew Romanoff; planning committee members Denise McMahon, Amy Boymel, Paul Dunne, Lisa Pedersen, Brenda Roush, and Debbie Trainor ; and founds committee members Richard Male, Stephen Block, David Burgess, Don Dhonau, Leslie Foster, Florence Hernandez-Ramos, Bebe Kleinman and Greg Truog. Tickets are $20. For more information, call Mary Snyders, 303-861-7507, or visit www.cshares.org.

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Community Shares Celebrates 20th Anniversary
Lodo & Downtown Denver News
June 2006

Community Shares of Colorado commemorates 20 years of connecting more than 150 Colorado businesses and their employees with the charities and causes they care about most. Through workplace giving, Coloradans are designating contributions to worthy organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Women’s Bean Project, and the Boulder Humane Society.

“First National Bank of Colorado is very excited to partner with Community Shares of Colorado to enhance our overall workplace giving campaign. CSC has helped FNBC provide a diverse array of giving choices to our employees. With these additional donor options, our employee pledges increased by 52% compared to last year and we increased our campaign participation by 47%,” says Anne Vaughn at First National Bank of Colorado.

This special evening celebrates 20 years of philanthropy and will feature Keynote Speaker: Dottie Lamm, Former First Lady of Colorado and Honorary Chair, Mayor John Hickenlooper.

The event is also supported by Celebration Chairs: Scott Bemis, President, Denver Business Journal; Mary Lou Makepeace President, The Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado; Ron Montoya, CEO, Plasticomm, Inc.; The Honorable Andrew Romanoff, Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives and The Honorable Ken Salazar, United States Senator.

Join us Wednesday, June 28, 2006, 6 – 9 p.m. at the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom, The Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis Streets. Community Shares of Colorado is a non-profit federation that raises funds for over 115 Colorado charities through workplace giving programs and individual philanthropy. In 2004-2005, it raised over $1.4 million dollars.

For more information, visit www.cshares.org or call 303-861-7507. To purchase tickets please go to www.blacktie-colorado.com/rsvp and enter event code: CSC20. Seating is limited! Please RSVP by mail or via www.Blacktie-Colorado.com by June 12, 2006. Tickets start at $20 per Person.

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Awards
The Boulder County Business Report -
May 12, 2006

Community Shares of Colorado, a nonprofit federation that provides financial support for more than 115 Colorado charities presented its May 2006 Partner Workplace of the Month Award for outstanding community Service to McStain Neighborhoods, a Louisville-based developer and home builder committed to environmentally responsible home building practices and master planned community design.

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Colorado business
The Denver Post
March 29, 2006 
Community Shares of Colorado will open a satellite office in Boulder...

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Corporate social responsibility more critical than ever
Boulder County Business Report, Friday, March 31

Guest Opinion by Jesse Wolff

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The Denver Post - Friday, January 20, 2006
Community Shares of Colorado, a nonprofit cooperative that provides funding for more than 115 local charities, announced Thursday it has selected Invest In Kids,Inner City Health Center and the Humane Society of Boulder Valley as its nonprofit members of the year for 2005.

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2005 MEDIA HITS

The Daily Camera: Boulder County - November 20, 2005
Community Shares of Colorado
November 20, 2005

OUR MISSION:Community Shares is committed to connecting the people of Colorado to the charities they care about the most. We accomplish our mission by offering employees, through their workplaces, opportunities to support local nonprofit community organizations.

Our guiding principles: Choice in Giving, Local Significance, Membership Diversity, Financial Clarity.

WE SERVE:We support the long-term sustainability of our more than 100 member nonprofits by providing them with unrestricted funds, allowing them to invest money where needed within their organization. Community Shares' member charities employ more than 900 people and provide service to tens of thousands of Colorado's citizens. We also serve the public by encouraging people to become involved in community philanthropy or volunteerism and connect them to the cause or charity in which they have an interest.

In 2004-2005, Community Shares raised over $1.2 million for our 112 member nonprofits (including over 20 in the Boulder Valley). We participated in more than 135 employee giving campaigns in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. In addition, we provide outreach and community impact opportunities for our member charities to over 150,000 employees including public speaking opportunities, a nonprofit expo at the 5K Harvest Run, employee fairs, media advertising, and other fundraising events.

BRIEF HISTORY:Community Shares started as the Alternative Fund in 1986, to fulfill a need of providing financial resources for diverse, grassroots organizations that were traditionally excluded from highly promoted fund drives. After the first year, the name was changed, but the grassroots effort to support diverse organizations has remained.

Our first workplace campaign was run in 1988, raising $21,939 and supported 15 nonprofit agencies with one staff person. In 2004-2005, Community Shares raised over $1.2 million in pledges for our 112 nonprofit member charities.

By promoting donor choice and the diversity of our member organizations, we have raised over $1 million annually in the past three years and $9.9 million dollars for Colorado nonprofits since 1986.

We believe our success is a testament to the shared interest in maintaining a diverse, vital and vibrant sense of community within this state.

PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENT:Community Shares of Colorado is the largest of the 35 Community Shares in the country. In 2004, we became the top designated federation in the State of Colorado employee giving campaign receiving over 16 percent of the $1.4 million campaign. Additionally, Community Shares of Colorado significant contributions to the Colorado nonprofit community have been recognized both statewide and nationally with six awards for outstanding nonprofit service.

These include the 1999 National Philanthropy Day "Outstanding Service Organization" for Colorado and the National Association for Choice in Giving's "2002 Momentum Award."

GREATEST NEED:Community Shares has increased the awareness of workplace giving and highlighted the services for over a hundred local charities, but we continue to face challenges in educating and engaging more individuals and businesses in becoming investors in their own community.

An employee giving program is one of the most efficient ways one can become a philanthropist, but many still aren't familiar with such a program or aware of how effortless it can be to implement. We need employees in the Boulder Valley who are interested in expanding their existing workplace giving campaign or initiating a new one to contact us.

FUTURE PLANS:Community Shares would like continue to grow 5 to 10 percent per year. We will be a significant investor in the Colorado and Boulder Valley nonprofit sector and continue to enhance the long term sustainability of our members. As our nonprofits thrive, so does the quality of life in our community.

In addition, we will dynamically adapt to changing market conditions and will employ technology and people in ways that contribute significantly to vital, healthy communities. We will forge partnerships in the both the corporate and public sectors, looking for cost saving and high impact collaborative projects. We look forward to providing the opportunities for Boulder Valley residents to become philanthropists in their own community.

CONTACT INFORMATION:Nancy Gomez, Community Relations Director Community Shares of Colorado, 1536 Wynkoop Street, Suite 202 Denver, CO 80202. (303) 861-7507; fax: (303) 861-8354; Web site: www.cshares.org

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Denver Business Journal, August 26, 2005, Nonprofits section, "Good Works"
The art galleries and artists of the Art District on Santa Fe have come together to support Community Shares of Colorado's "Art Shares 2005" at 6p.m., Friday, September 9.

This event features intimate tours of many of the galleries, which will be provided by gallery owners and art aficionados.

Festivities kick off at the Museo de las Americas, a museum of Latino art, culture and history, at 861 Santa Fe Drive.

A reception will follow featuring art, music, food and libations. Tickets cost $25, and 10 percent of all proceeds from art sales will be donated to Community Shares. The Art District on Santa Fe includes 22 gallery members on or near Santa Fe Drive between Fifth and 10th avenues.

Community Shares was founded in 1986 as a nonprofit organization that raises funds for more than 110 Colorado charities.

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Washington Park Profile, August 2005, Business section - "Yoga Energi, 2727 E. 2nd Ave., is making it possible to stretch and tone your body at the same time you can stretch your charitable contributions and beef up your good karma. Director Pat Harrington has arranged with all his providers to offer yoga and meditation classes for new students on a free will donation basis, and to donate 10 percent of their proceeds to a different charity each month. The initial recipient of the program is Community Shares, a local non-profit that facilitates workplace giving programs. The suggested donation is $12 per class and those who can afford more are encouraged to be as generous as possible. Those who cannot meet the $12 level are still welcome to give as they are able - no one will be turned away. For more information, call Yoga Energi at 303-316-8265 or Community Shares, 303-861-7507."

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Check out the Community Shares mention in the Boulder Daily Camera, August 3, 2005 issue's "Drop In The Bucket Allocation Panel"

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Community Shares is featured in the July 8-21, 2005 issue of the Boulder County Business Report. See the link below for an online version of the article http://bcbr.datajoe.com/app/ecom/pub_article_details.php?id=58385&F7B158A2-BCFA-F767-C9032C3939427D96.

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Community Shares helps sustain area nonprofits
07/08/2005
Source: Boulder County Business Report
Author: Stacy Freeborg

DENVER — At a time when many nonprofits are scrambling to secure funding, one Denver-based nonprofit federation steadily has grown donations, which it then gives away.

Through workplace giving programs, Community Shares of Colorado accumulates and then distributes funds to a variety of Colorado groups. Of its 113 members, 21 are located in the Boulder Valley.

In 2004, Community Shares received $1.2 million in donations from 135 workplaces, up from $1.1 million in 2003. For the current year, Executive Director Jesse Wolff says the group hopes to raise $1.3 million and increase the number of participating giving companies to 140 or 145 and the number of receiving nonprofits to 120. All of this is done by five full-time employees.

Wolff attributes the group’s growth to new donors and a slight rise in the average gift size from existing donors. Community Shares has seen an increase in the number of donors from about 4,100 in its 2001-2002 campaign to about 5,200 in its 2004-2005 campaign, he says.

Community Shares encourages the use of payroll deductions at companies to raise funds and allows employees to designate how their donations are distributed to the organization and its member nonprofits.

Community Shares works with every size company, ranging from Boulder Community Hospital to three-person firms. “We don’t turn anyone away,” Wolff says.

Community Shares evaluates potential members in several ways. To be eligible, Wolff says, a nonprofit must have 501 c (3) status and be able to provide updated financial information annually. It must commit to volunteering 20 hours each year to help run Community Shares and pay membership dues. Dues are determined by the size of the member’s operating budget, up to $600.

The current operating budget for the federation is $340,000, which Wolff says marks an increase of approximately 8 percent from last year. More than half of the federation’s operating income comes from workplace donations. Community Shares retains 17.5 percent of all donations.

Additionally, Community Shares receives funding from corporate grants, individual donors and special events. Last year, it received $19,000 from a 5K race hosted by several area credit unions.

Eric Hozempa, development director at Boulder-based Eco-Cycle, a community recycling processor, says the company chose to join Community Shares in the mid-1990s because it liked the idea of workplace giving.

“It’s convenient, and it empowers employees to become involved in the charity of their choice,” he says. Currently, Eco-Cycle receives less than 1 percent of its budget from Community Shares.

Lisa Pedersen, director of development at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, adds that the Humane Society has found the benefits of membership extend beyond funding.

“Not only do we receive funding, but we also gain exposure to 150,000 people” through Community Shares and its workplace giving programs, Pedersen says. The Human Society receives more than $25,000 annually from Community Shares, which represents less than 1 percent of the Humane Society’s total budget.

In 1986 12 Colorado nonprofits founded Community Shares, then called The Alternative Fund, to provide a home to nonprofits that did not fit the mold of existing workplace giving programs. The group raised $12,000 its first year, then nearly doubled this number by 1988.

Wolff says one of the biggest misconceptions about Community Shares is how it is different from United Way.

“United Way has been around for a long time; it’s engrained in the corporate community,” he says. “People think they can only do United Way or Community Shares.” But, he adds, ideally companies would offer both giving programs to employees. “The most successful giving campaigns are all-inclusive,” he says.

Unlike the United Way, which funds direct-service agencies only, Community Shares provides money to a range of agencies, from animal welfare and advocacy organizations to public radio stations and arts groups.

Community Shares of Colorado is part of the national Community Shares organization, which has more than 30 branches throughout the United States. Wolff is encouraged by the continued growth of the national program and its potential to provide access to workplace giving funds that the Colorado branch might otherwise have difficulty securing.

“United Way has a strong national parent organization and has the ability to go after large national companies,” he says. “A strong parent company has those relationships and can filter money out to the rest of the country.”

Wolff would like to increase awareness of Community Shares so it becomes a more recognized brand. During its upcoming fundraising campaign from September through February, the group plans to conduct a media blitz with radio and print ads and programming on public television.

Community Shares of Colorado
1536 Wynkoop St., Suite 202
Denver, CO 80202-1182
(303) 861-7507
cshares.org

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Nonprofit sets record for 2004-2005 donations "Community Shares of Colorado said it brought in more than $1.2 million during its 2004-2005 campaign, a record for the Denver nonprofit. The group raises money through 130 local work-force giving programs in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Among the agencies receiving funding are: The Gathering Place, Women's Bean Project, Habitat for Humanity, HospiceCare of Metro Denver and Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado."
Compiled from News staff, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Scripps Howard News Service.

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Check out the "Community Shares" feature article in 5280's, April 2005, "Cheap Eats" issue.

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CENTER FOR WORK EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT (CWEE) WINS AWARD FROM OPRAH'S ANGEL NETWORK! Oprah donates $25,000 to help CWEE's continued effort to help move people from welfare to work.

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2004 MEDIA HITS

Listen to Jesse on 11/14/2004 Jefferson Pilot Public Affairs Radio Show

http://www.cshares.org/PublicAffairsShow.wma

Jesse was interviewed by Simone Seikaly, News Director for Jefferson Pilot Communications. The show aired on KYGO 98.5, KJCD 104.3, KKFN AM 950, and others. It was a great forum to speak about Community Shares and its member agencies. Thanks Simone!
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KGNU in Denver at 1390 AM!

For 26 years, KGNU Community Radio has broadcast in-depth, alternative news coverage and an eclectic mix of music from around the planet to listeners in Boulder and the Front Range. Now KGNU can be heard in Denver at 1390AM.

Powered by volunteers, KGNU embodies the true spirit of community radio. Volunteers participate in news and music programming, DJ-ing, finance and governance of the station. The majority of our budget comes directly from you, the Listener Member. To this end, KGNU is accountable to listeners – people like you who have access to the airwaves.

As corporate media conglomeration continues to diminish independent voices, KGNU remains committed to challenging corporate control of the airwaves and giving the public a voice.

To find out more about KGNU check out www.KGNU.org.
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CONGRATULATIONS LA CLINICA TEPEYAC!

La Clinica Tepeyac recently received the “Hero in Health “Award for $ 10,000 from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. La Clinica was nominated and the unanimous choice by Anthem for their outstanding clinical service and educational outreach to the uninsured across the Denver Metro Area.

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Community Resources, Inc. featured on Channel 4 - KCNC

Community Resources, Inc. is being featured on Channel 4 - KCNC in a series of three newscasts to discuss the impact of their programs on the students/parents in the Denver Public Schools. The first piece is going to run this Friday, March 26 on the 4 pm news. The
second will air on March 31 on the 5 pm program and the third will be announced in April.

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Project Angel Heart named OUT FRONT's OUTSTANDING HIV/AIDS ORGANIZATION

Out Front Colorado presented the 2004 Reader's Choice Outstanding Awards in the March 10, 2004 edition. Project Angel Heart was awarded the Outstanding HIV/AIDS Organization. Pat Flaherty, Executive Director of Project Angel Heart was quoted as saying "Project Angel Heart is thrilled and honored to be named 'Most Outstanding HIV/AIDS Service Organization'...on behalf of the nearly 900 clients receiving nutritious, home-delivered meals this year, thank you!"

For a full write up on this award, grab a copy of the March 10, 2004 edition of Out Front Colorado magazine found around town.

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