One year down, $1 million raised!

Nearly one year has passed since The Community Foundation launchedits Community Trust Initiative, on Sept. 8, 2008. Its mission was to double ourunrestricted grant making fund’s support for Boulder County nonprofits, now andforever, while also raising enough money to significantly impact one specificarea of community need.

Who knew when we launched it that the economy wouldimmediately fall apart?

And who could have predicted that the community would rally around thisinitiative in the face of such harsh economic reality?

I’m happy to report that, thanks to the generous support ofdonors like you, this initiative is on track. One year into our four-year, $4million fundraising goal, we’ve banked $977,000, and have secured promises andpledges for future gifts totaling more than $700,000 more.

The funding has already allowed us to:

-          - Nearly double our Community Trust grants tononprofits in January – less than five months into the campaign!

-          - Keep our Community Trust endowment stable duringthe most volatile financial period since the Great Depression.

-          - Make great early strides in our chosen impactarea of closing the achievement gap between our county’s successful studentsand those who start school so far behind that they can never catch up.

We are addressing the achievement gap by focusing on schoolreadiness. Over the summer, we gave $90,000 – The largest Community Trust grantever – to a nonprofit called Providers Advancing School Outcomes. PASO closesthe achievement gap by training Latino daycare providers. The nationallyinnovative program was about to shut down for lack of funding. Instead, theyused our grant to leverage state funding in the amount of $629,000, turningevery Community Trust dollar into $8, and allowing the program to not onlyexpand over the next two years inside Boulder County, but also replicate itselfin one additional Colorado county.

We have also begun early stage work on an awareness campaignwhose goal is securing a sustainable source of public funding to support accessto quality early care and education for at-risk children in Boulder County.

There’s a lot of work ahead of us, and thanks to you, we’reon track to make a big, transformational impact in our community.

This week, we kick off the second year of this fundraisingcampaign. The goal is to raise another $1 million by next September.

Thank you, very much, to all of you who have contributed tothis important effort so far. I hope you’ll consider sending in another gift orpledge this fall.

Together, we are stronger. That’s the idea behind the Community Trust.