Summary/Goals Colorado Gives Day is a 24-hour, annual statewide movement to celebrate and increase philanthropy in

Colorado through online giving. For the fifth consecutive year, Community First Foundation and

FirstBank collaborated to present Colorado Gives Day on Tuesday, December 9, 2014. Colorado Gives

Day is powered by ColoradoGives.org, a website featuring more than 1,600 Colorado nonprofits.

Goals: 1. Encourage Coloradans to Give Where They Live on December 9, 2014.

2. Provide participating nonprofits fundraising training and tools.

3. Generate awareness throughout Colorado.

4. Inspire philanthropy.

Strategies/Implementation The Colorado Gives Day message strategy positions the initiative as not just a day, but a statewide

movement that inspires and unites thousands of donors to Give Where They Live and support their

favorite causes online. Work began in March when ColoradoGives.org began accepting applications for

participation. Once approved, nonprofits began building their online profile. A monthly newsletter kept

them aware of deadlines and resources. A news release was distributed to statewide media

announcing the 2014 event. The Colorado Gives Day website offered tools for nonprofits, resources for

donors, a pressroom for media and more.

There were very few dollars available for paid advertising. Thus, media sponsors were sought and

secured. Sponsors included the Denver NBC affiliate, Denver’s premier lifestyle magazine, two public

television stations, Entravision Denver, iHeartMedia (owner of eight radio stations), Comcast cable and

Mile High Outdoor Advertising. Sponsors produced and ran print, broadcast (TV and radio) and digital

advertisements. Colorado Gives Day was featured on eight electronic billboards positioned across the

state. The value of the in-kind advertising from media sponsors totaled $602,685.

Statewide Marketing Campaign Colorado Gives Day 2014

Nonprofits were trained to be effective fundraisers in order to make the most of Colorado Gives Day. A

nonprofit toolkit included key messages, newsletter copy, a press release template, social media

guidelines, online and print ads and more. Key pieces were translated into Spanish. A series of videos

and webinars provided additional information on topics such as creative marketing, nurturing long-

lasting relationship with donors and using social media as a fundraising tool.

The day before Colorado Gives Day, nearly 200 individuals representing participating nonprofits joined

Community First Foundation and FirstBank on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol building to Rally

for Colorado Gives Day. Speakers included Governor John Hickenlooper, who issued a Colorado Gives

Day proclamation. The three Denver network television stations covered the event.

Numerous media interviews were conducted statewide. Colorado Gives Day was also covered by the

premier national nonprofit trade publication, The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Thousands of inches of

earned media were secured statewide. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel and Longmont Daily Times-

Call wrote editorials in support of the movement. The Denver’s Post’s Smart Money section on

December 1 featured Colorado Gives Day on the front page. Additional coverage was obtained on

every Denver metro television newscast. One local television reporter visited four nonprofits each

Friday in November to promote the event and encourage online giving. Talk shows and stand-alone

interviews were booked. Using the toolkit material, nonprofits reached out to donors. Colorado Gives

Day was featured in hundreds of nonprofit newsletters. Community First Foundation supported

nonprofit marketing efforts by purchasing Google ads and boosting Facebook posts. Other social media

outlets were highly utilized.

Results/Evaluation The event truly inspired philanthropy. Colorado donors demonstrated unprecedented generosity by

giving $26.2 million to 1,677 nonprofits in just 24 hours. This record-breaking amount surpassed the

previous year’s record of $20.5 million. A record number of 108,537 donations were made from 43,967

donors, a jump from the 2013 total of 88,571 donations from 38,750 donors. Donations ranged from

$10 to $300,000.

A results news release was distributed statewide at 12:30 a.m. on December 10. Stories on the record-

breaking Colorado Gives Day appeared in The Denver Post, on television newscasts and other news

outlets later that morning.

Colorado Gives Day has become the state’s largest online giving movement and the second largest

giving day in the country.