By T.J. Heyman
This is a place with a big heart. But when I first moved to Boulder from San Francisco in 1993, I was surprised to hear little talk of giving back – as had been my experience in other places I’ve lived or worked. Not only in San Francisco, but also in Boston, Dallas and other communities.
I read with shock that – while Boulder is one of the wealthiest, best educated, happiest and most fit communities in Colorado, or anywhere – we were below the state and national averages in giving. I thought, wouldn’t it be great if Boulder were also recognized as one of the most giving communities in the country? That started a conversation with The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County, which was the beginning of a grassroots movement we now know as Culture of Giving.
The first step toward change is building awareness – in our case, we wanted to encourage empathy and increased philanthropy in our community. We knew that residents of Boulder County were open to doing more – but they were largely unaware of local needs, and where and how to give. So a website was created to share information and build broader awareness. Sterling-Rice Group created a wonderful campaign promoting a Culture of Giving. You’ll see the Phil and Thropy ads in the paper, on buses and on the radio.
The second step was to establish metrics around our efforts. The Community Foundation and the Sterling-Rice Group have done a great job of measuring our community’s philanthropic activity since the late 90s (i.e., the campaign’s Community Giving Index measures changes in gifts received by 38 bellwether nonprofits in the county). Since then, Culture of Giving has evolved into an annual campaign organized through The Community Foundation, and we’ve gone from being 10% lower than state and national averages to being 10% above average in giving. That may not seem like a big change, but that translates into nearly $20 million in incremental giving each year. In recent years, Culture of Giving has collaborated with ColoradoGives.org to create even more awareness and impact for local nonprofits.
But we need to do more – Boulder County giving still lags that of some peer communities. While people in our community want to give, they often don’t see the need…but the need is there.
In our county, the homeless population is growing, and our overall poverty rate (13.9%) is approaching the national average. In Boulder County, 13.6% of children under 18 are living in poverty; in Longmont, 27.6% of kids are estimated to be living below federal poverty guidelines – that’s significantly higher than the national average of kids in poverty. And, despite two highly-regarded school districts, our academic achievement gap is greater than state and national averages…to name just a few of the challenges we face.
As a donor, I’m proud to live in Boulder and I’m proud that we’ve become a giving community. But I would encourage all of us to put even more thought and effort into what really matters – our families, obviously, but also being stewards of our community. And there’s no better way to be a steward than giving our time and financial support to the aspects of our community that we care about most.
This is a place with a big heart. And the impact of Culture of Giving over the past 14 years has been amazing – thanks in large part to one of the most forward-looking community foundation leaders in the country. It’s important to keep that momentum going, all of us talking about who really needs our help this year…and every year.
I encourage us to identify with doing good, and to lean into giving as part of our community’s DNA.
An abbreviated version of this editorial was published by the Boulder Daily Camera on Dec. 4, 2014.
T.J. Heyman is founding partner of Woodbourne Capital Management. His wife, Jane McConnell, currently serves on the board of Intercambio Uniting Communities and I Have a Dream Boulder County. Since 2006, McConnell also sits on The Community Foundation board serving as Chair of the Board, co-chair of the School Readiness committee, and founding co-chair of the Ambassador’s Council.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (2013 Income and Poverty in the United States, 2013 American Community Survey)
