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William Funk Award for Building Stronger Communities
Thanks to the Boettcher Foundation, award winners are provided with a $5,000 check to present to a Colorado Nonprofit Association nonprofit member of their choice.
The success of communities and nonprofits relies on leaders and volunteers who unify people and organizations around a cause. These exceptional leaders are capable of bringing together communities to define and solve problems. Such leaders listen carefully, are eager to do what is needed, and understand and respect the many diverse communities of Colorado. The William Funk Award was established in 1991 to honor such leaders, beginning with William Funk himself. As Vice President of Public Affairs for United Banks, Bill Funk always made the nonprofit community and its supporters his highest priority. His vision of corporate giving in the context of building community changed charitable giving in Colorado, and his gifts of time and wise counsel strengthened many community-based nonprofits throughout the state.
David Burgess, CHARG Resource Center
As founder of the Capitol Hill Action and Recreation Group (CHARG) Resource Center, David Burgess’ gentle but powerful leadership has built a positive community for adults with chronic mental illness – a population that is challenging, under-served and marginalized.
David was one of the co-founders of CHARG Resource Center, and has been its executive director since it opened in 1989 as a legal partnership between adult mental health consumers and professionals. CHARG provides direct treatment services, advocacy, public education, a community-based drop-in center, and an outreach program serving homeless mentally ill people. All of its services are accountable to two boards of directors, one representing the greater Denver community and the other a board of mental health consumers elected by its peers, CHARG is proud to run the only full-scale psychiatric clinic anywhere which submits all of its policies to en elected board of its own consumers. David’s dedication to this model of empowerment has changed the lives of hundreds of mental health consumers, enabling them to become active and contributing members of their communities.
He teaches as an adjunct instructor at the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work, and teaches sociology and business classes at Regis University. He is the past president of Community Shares of Colorado, has served on the board of directors of the Chinook Fund, and was co-founder and first vice president of the Colorado Coalition for the Prevention of Nuclear War.
David and his wife Christine are active residents of Denver’s Highland neighborhood, and he relaxes by playing the piano and spending time with his grandson Deven.
Paulette Church, Durango Adult
Education Center
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Paulette Church has served as executive director of the Durango Adult Education Center (DAEC) since1999. Under her leadership DAEC has grown dramatically and will serve more than 900 adult learners and more than 100 of their children this academic year. Paulette was selected for El Pomar’s Creative Leadership Program for nonprofit administrators and for the Community Resource Center’s Nonprofit Leadership Program. She served on the Core Committee and Transition Team for La Plata County’s Children, Youth, and Family Master Plan; the Durango Library Board; the Rotary Club of Durango; the Rural Philanthropy Days Steering Committee; and numerous other boards and advisory groups.
She served two terms as president of the Colorado Adult Education Professional Association and received their Literacy Leader of the Year award in 2003. She received the Award of Excellence for Colorado from the Mountain Plains Adult Education Association in 2005, and the DAEC received the prestigious El Pomar Award for Excellence in Education that same year.
Paulette and her husband Clyde have been married for 40 years and have two daughters, Heather and Michelle.