Colorado Generosity Project

Colorado Nonprofit Association has completed extensive new research on Coloradans’ values, attitudes, and beliefs about charitable giving and nonprofits, and on the causes, connections, and actions that lead to making a donation. The study includes a wealth of information about how donors make decisions to give to particular causes and organizations and how they act out those decisions, combined with demographic data such as gender, age, education, income, and trends among different regions of Colorado.
 

Download the full report or click here for details and supplemental downloads.

Research

Research is a critical component of the Colorado Generosity Project. Since 2007 Colorado Nonprofit Association has published research on individual giving and the economic impact of the nonprofit sector in Colorado.

• Understanding Giving: Beliefs and Behaviors of Colorado Donors (September 2011) highlighted individual giving patterns across Colorado.
• The State of Giving: A Profile of Individual Charitable Giving in Colorado (December 2007 and December 2008) highlighted individual giving patterns across Colorado.
• Return on Investment: The Economic Impact of the Nonprofit Sector in Colorado (February 2008) provided a comprehensive review of the economic impact of the sector in the state.
• Generous Colorado: Why Donors Give (December 2008) highlighted the motivations leading individuals to make charitable gifts in Colorado.
• Weathering the Storm: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Nonprofits during Recession (March 2009) highlighted how the recession had affected nonprofits to date, what they predicted for 2009 and how they were preparing for it.

Best Practices Program

In December 2007 Colorado Nonprofit Association created the first-ever best practices program for nonprofits in Colorado, publishing Principles & Practices for Nonprofit Excellence in Colorado to help organizations demonstrate effectiveness, transparency and accountability. Colorado Nonprofit Association published a revised edition of the publication in January 2011. Since the launch of Principles & Practices, Colorado Nonprofit Association has distributed tens of thousands of print and electronic copies of the guide, and provided training to thousands of nonprofit professionals across the state.

Strategic Communications

In December 2008 Colorado Nonprofit Association launched the Generous Colorado campaign and worked to increase earned media related to the Colorado Generosity Project and to promote nonprofits across the state.

• Colorado Nonprofit Association created a new website GenerousColorado.org to serve as an educational resource on philanthropy and a giving portal to help make giving easier.
• Colorado Nonprofit Association produced two Colorado American Marketing Association 2009 Silver PEAK Award winning public service videos:
  • Generous Colorado PSA — Philanthropy (YouTube)
  • Generous Colorado PSA — Essential Services (YouTube)

About the Colorado Generosity Project

Colorado Nonprofit Association initiated the Colorado Generosity Project in 2007 as a comprehensive multi-year program to increase charitable giving in Colorado by helping nonprofits demonstrate best practices and by increasing public awareness of the impact of the nonprofit sector.

Colorado Generosity Project — General Project Sponsors