Giving back is in Leslie Allen’s blood.
“Both of my parents were teachers,” she said. “Both came from exceedingly challenging circumstances. One was abandoned as a baby, raised in an orphanage, and drafted to the front lines of Korea. My mother’s mom died early and her dad was an alcoholic. Yet my parents always were giving of their time and helping others.”
Today, Allen continues her family’s legacy of giving by helping nonprofits raise money through the company she co-founded, Front Range Source.
It’s not always easy in Boulder County, where our giving ratio places us 44th out of 64 Colorado counties, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Colorado residents also give less as a percentage of income than all their Western neighboring states.
Local nonprofits face several challenges that are unique to our area, Allen says.
First, our community is less religious than most places – and much of charitable giving remains religion-based. A Gallup Poll in 2013 found that Boulder was virtually tied with Burlington, Vermont, as the least religious city in the United States, with 61% of residents polled saying they were “not religious.” The most religious metro area was Provo-Orem, Utah, where 77 percent of those polled qualified as “very religious.”
Correspondingly, Utah is one of the most generous states, were residents give 6.61% of their adjusted gross income to charity. That’s an average annual contribution of $6,182. Boulder County residents give just 2.72%, or $3,052 on average.
“That’s got to be the Mormon influence,” Allen says of Utah. “In every religion you can think of, there is some sort of tithing that is almost automatic.”
Allen also points to the fact that lower income people give a higher percentage of their income to charity than wealthier people. “That could be a factor here in Boulder County where the cost of living continues to climb,” she says.
Another challenge nonprofits face is the fact that many of our residents of Boulder County aren’t from here originally. They still give, but they give to their alma mater out east or an international charity based in San Francisco. “Might they give more overall if they felt more connection to our community? I think so. Giving is really local,” she said. “It’s inspired by what you see and experience. People who move here may want to give locally but if they aren’t connected to the Boulder County nonprofit community, they won’t even know who to give to.”
In addition, Allen points to the fact that Boulder County’s nonprofit sector is made up of a lot of smaller organizations. “We have so many smaller nonprofits. They do great work, but they don’t have the budgets to hire fundraising staff to build relationships with donors.” she said. “Why do people give? Because they are asked.”
More than half of Boulder County’s residents volunteer, according to the Community Foundation’s civic participation and giving survey. This is more than twice the national volunteer rate. It should translate into donations, but it doesn’t, “and the reason why it doesn’t is because you don’t have sophisticated fundraising operations to actively steward and solicit those donors,” Allen said. “We need more people out there fundraising to inspire more people to give to their passions.”
