Foundation's giving has
changed lives countywide
Community organization reaches $10-million milestone |
By Chris Barge, Camera Staff
Writer
November 14, 2004
Shivering slightly as freezing rain drizzled outside the
barn, five teenage girls huddled near one another Wednesday
evening and watched five rescued foals on a ranch east
of Boulder.
Megan Thompson, 14, knew the routine. Now in the second
meeting of her second 10-week session, the outgoing girl
sought to reassure the other girls that the Medicine Horse
Program was all it's advertised to be.
"I can honestly say it saved my life," Megan
said. "It helped me build so much of myself."
Dedicated to creating breakthroughs in increased self-esteem
for low-income adolescents and families, the program is
one of many that have benefited from the generosity of
philanthropists across Boulder County. The Community Foundation
Serving Boulder County has given the program $63,550 over
the past 21/2 years.
This fall, the foundation hit a major milestone. Since
its inception in 1991, the foundation has awarded more
than $10 million in grants to community groups in Boulder
County and beyond.
Josie Heath, the foundation`s president, said the Medicine
Horse Program is a shining example of the good that has
come from the county`s philanthropists -- young and old,
wealthy and just getting by.
There are roughly 1,200 nonprofit organizations in Boulder
County, and Heath estimates that about 400 of those are
active. The foundation has awarded grants to 260 organizations,
both inside and outside Boulder County.
At the barn Wednesday evening, Megan and the others walked
cautiously into the pen, trying not to spook the foals.
Tears welled in Crystal Baucom`s eyes. It was the first
time the 14-year-old had gotten this close to the young
horses since joining the program the week before.
Crystal sat on the dirt floor near Megan. Gradually, the
girls moved closer to the foals. "Keep checking in
with your bodies," said their facilitator, Jamie
Fish. "Are you feeling anxious? Rejected? Just notice,
what`s your need for this horse? See if there`s something
you have to offer them." After about 30 minutes,
Caroline Pert, 14, was close enough to the gray foal to
nearly feed it by hand. Crystal moved in next to her,
and as the session ended, Crystal offered the foal some
hay. Progress was being made.
Heath and others at the Community Foundation love hearing
stories like that. Billed as the community's "savings
account," the foundation has seen substantial growth.
Now with $25 million in assets, it has managed to stay
just ahead of the average pace of giving for the nearly
700 community foundations nationwide — 5 percent
of assets annually.
Heath said that in a time when slashes in federal, state
and local government funding are a constant, the foundation's
work has done more than just counteract the downward slide.
With creative energy, she said, the foundation, its board
members and many of its donors have found new ways to
fund new ventures with big community paybacks.
The foundation's directors assessed the area's culture
of philanthropy about five years ago and found that while
personal income was higher in Colorado than anywhere in
the country, the state's personal giving ranked among
the bottom 15 states. What's more, Boulder County residents
were giving less than others around Colorado. Part of
that was because many of Boulder County's wealthiest residents
were younger than average, and many had not lived long
in Boulder County, Heath said.
Millenium Trust
She said the tide changed a bit in 1999, when the Foundation,
in partnership with the Daily Camera, kicked off the Millenium
Trust. The public campaign, which challenged every Boulder
county resident to contribute the last hour of their pay
in the last year of the century, raised $1.8 million from
6,800 donors. Wild Oats Founders Michael Gilliland and
Libby Cook pitched in $1 million of that in the form of
matching funds.
The community's increasing interest in charity was evident
again in 2001, when the Daily Camera published a story
about Joseph Webb. The formerly homeless man had worked
his way into a mobile home, but a degenerative spine disease
forced him to quit working. Just weeks before his social
security payments would have kicked in, his landlord evicted
him for outstanding lo-rental payments.
More than 200 people opened their hearts and checkbooks
for Webb, and the Community Foundation responded immediately
by establishing an emergency relief fund called Doorways
for the Disabled. Now in concert with the Center for People
with Disabilities and other nonprofits, the fund has disbursed
12 grants — one of $1,700 and the others of about
$250 — for disabled residents with emergency housing
needs.
"It was a godsend," Webb, 50, said Wednesday.
"I'm so much more enriched and fortunate." Webb
takes to Percocet pills a day for his spiking back pain,
and he is still unable to work. But thanks to the kindness
of his landlord, Lisah Brown, he pays only $224 a month
for a one-bedroom apartment in Boulder that normally goes
for $850.
Another Community Foundation success story is Intercambio
de Comunidades, to which the foundation provided some
of the first dollars. Founded by two University of Colorado
Spanish majors, Intercambio serves hundreds of monolingual
Spanish-speaking families in Boulder County.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Chris Barge at (303) 473-1389
or bargec@dailycamera.com
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Photo:Joshua Lawton
Crystal Baucom, 14, left, listens to volunteer Jamie Fish,
not in frame, as Megan Thompson, 14, right, watches a foal
at the HopeFoal Project on Wednesday.
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