Community Foundation Serving Southwest Colorado

FISCAL PROGRAMS - The Community Foundation administers fiscal sponsorship relationships with approximately ten charitable organizations or projects that do not have their own 501c3 tax-exempt status. We extend our charitable umbrella over select projects whose missions closely match our own in order to catalyze their work for the benefit of our community. Fiscal sponsorship is an efficient, economic way to reduce the cost of running a project while maintaining the integrity of the projects purpose. There are significant benefits and cost savings for projects to utilize the Community Foundation for certain activities, such as donation management, accounting, bookkeeping, insurance, and banking. (Current fiscal projects include Bear Smart, Caf au Play, Cancer Coalition of Southwest Colorado, Durango Derailers, Early Childhood Council of Archuleta County, Earth Day Durango, Give a Dam, Sail Durango, and The Community Treehouse.)

Events - The Community Foundation hosts events for various purposes, including (1) grantmaking, (2) fundraising, and (3) community awareness. (1) The 19th Hole Concerts are a grant opportunity for nonprofits in Archuleta County. Selected nonprofits practice vital skills, such as grant writing, marketing, and event logistics. Through these popular concerts, the nonprofit grantees share their important work with the community and earn much-needed grant funds. (2) The Community Foundations largest fundraising event is the Durango Wine Experience, where we host wine vendors from around the world and produce a fun, shoulder-season festival each spring. Since we prioritize nonprofit support in all our projects, we ensure Wine Experience attendees get both a taste of wine and a taste of the impactful work that the Community Foundation and other local nonprofits accomplish. (3) The Community Foundation created the Making a Difference Speaker Series to align with our core values. We commit to annually bringing in nationally known speakers to talk about their philanthropic endeavors, prompting community awareness, conversations, and actions around significant, timely topics. (Related fundraising amounts from our events are reported on Schedule G.)