The artwork featured above is called Give Where you Live, a mixed media collage commissioned by local artist Gayle Gerson for our Center for Philanthropy. The Art Center Foundation established an agency endowment fund this year at our Community Foundation - one of 14 new funds established in 2023. | |
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2023 Highlights
As we finish up year-end reconciliations and financial statements and prepare for our annual independent audit, we are pleased to share with donors and friends some exciting highlights from last year:
- Over $4 million raised for our capital campaign
- $6.6 million in total grants and scholarships distributed - an 18% year-over-year increase
- 14 new donor funds established
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Almost $170 million in total assets
Please note these are unaudited numbers.
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Symphony Foundation's 30th Anniversary Year
Challenge Match Success!
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Jane M. Quimby (aka Jane Quimby Senior) was one of our Community Foundation's founders and first legacy donor. She also served as a board member of the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra along with her dear friend, Wanda Putnam. In 1984, generous music lovers Benerita and Jean Urruty gave a $10,000 donation to the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra. Benerita delivered the donation in cash, carried "In a sack, literally. A paper sack. And gave it to Jane Quimby," remembers Wanda. This gift was the initial donation that was used to establish the Grand Junction Symphony Foundation endowment.
During this current 2023-2024 symphony season, the Grand Junction Symphony Foundation celebrates 30 years and launched a $30,000 challenge match to raise $60,000 for their endowment. In recognition of this challenge and to honor their mother's and Wanda's friendship and commitment to the Symphony, Jane A. Quimby (aka Jane Quimby Junior) and her brother, Charlie Quimby, surprised Wanda at a recent Grand Junction Symphony Foundation board meeting with their own "bag of money" - donating $10,000 to the challenge match campaign from the Quimby Family Foundation managed by our Community Foundation. The group had a good laugh about a crazy idea of presenting the $10,000 donation in cash in a bag, but our Community Foundation is not set up to do that!
The Grand Junction Symphony Foundation was one of the first nonprofit organizations to establish an agency endowment fund under our Community Foundation umbrella. Back in 1999, another long-time symphony supporter, Bob Denning, was involved in the start-up of both the Symphony Foundation and our Community Foundation. He served a valuable role as liaison in forging a partnership between our two foundations that continues to grow and deepen 25 years later.
The Grand Junction Symphony Foundation currently boasts $1.9 million in its permanent endowment.
To read the Sentinel story, click Here.
To learn more about agency endowments, contact klynch@wc-cf.org.
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Two of Jane A. Quimby's children, Jane and Charlie Quimby, surprise Wanda Putnam
with a $10,000 grant from the Quimby Family Foundation for the Grand Junction
Symphony Foundation's 30th anniversary.
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Memorial Tribute:
Erle Hamilton Reid III
(1940 - 2024)
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Long-time community leader and colorful personality, Erle Reid, passed away suddenly in early January. Born in Wyoming and raised in New Mexico, Erle spent the large part of his career and adult life in Grand Junction.
Together with Denny Stahl and a small staff, Erle played a major role in starting what is now Hilltop Health Services, beginning as a speech therapist in a rehab hospital and concluding his 25 year career as Vice President and Chief Development Officer.
Recruited by Herb Bacon and Walter Stout in the mid 1990s to explore the possibility of starting a community foundation on this side of the state, Erle was one of half a dozen founding directors of the Western Colorado Community Foundation. He worked tirelessly and with his hallmark enthusiasm in those early years to get our organization launched.
Current Hilltop President Mike Stahl remembers Erle and his contributions. Like Erle before him, Mike served two terms on our Community Foundation Board of Directors. "Erle was a force at Hilltop for 26 years. He was a ray of sunshine with a generous heart - an eternal optimist. He had an energy and passion which made telling him "no" very difficult. Those special qualities continued well after his retirement and benefited countless people in our community."
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A Night of Heroes
Appreciation Event for Adaptive Heroes
Our Community Foundation was pleased to host a donor appreciation event for a new nonprofit that our funding helped launch.
Adaptive Heroes is the vision of Lincoln Folker to provide mobile therapy services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Transportation is often a challenge for rural families who may need to travel extensively to access services. Even when facilities are close, there are often long wait times for appointments and limited providers that accept Medicaid and Medicare. The Mobile Therapy Bus brings needed services right to the users. Folkers is very committed to this constituency. A former fire fighter, Folkers served as a coach for Challenger Baseball adaptive sports events. This led to a collaboration for a local Flying Hero Club event that provided 100 kids with special needs the opportunity to feel the sensation of flying and become “Superheroes” for a brief time.
The project got off the ground with several donor-advised grants totaling over $50,000. Our matching challenge propelled Adaptive Heroes to meet their goal of raising $100,000 to purchase a 45-foot-long motor coach which will be retrofitted to provide an array of physical and other therapies onboard. The mobile therapy gym will visit community locations like schools and doctors' offices in rural, underserved communities to provide services on a regular basis. In addition, Adaptive Heroes is working with programs at CMU and CU to allow students to do clinical rotations to acquire valuable practice hours towards their degrees.
"Our goal is to not only provide these critical services for IDD individuals and families, but to also build a provider pipeline of therapists to increase medical capacity in the rural communities. Thanks to the Western Colorado Community Foundation for their trust and partnership in getting the wheels rolling."
~vLincoln Folkers, Founder and Executive Director, Adaptive Heroes
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Village on San Juan
in Montrose Builds Towards Completion
Scheduled to Open August 2024
After breaking ground in spring of 2023, the Village on San Juan, a 45-unit intergenerational Supportive Housing Community for young adults ages 18 to 24 and seniors age 60+ is moving quickly towards completion. This innovative project of CASA of the 7th Judicial District got off the ground with seed funding from a number of generous donors. The project includes a Community Building for gatherings and recreation, and eight acres of land in a conservation easement for walking trails and outdoor activities.
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Local Nonprofit Leader Honored
Celebrating Statewide Trailblazer of the Year Winner Stephania Vasconez
January 25th was a busy day at our Center for Philanthropy with back-to-back events celebrating innovation and pioneering know-how in the nonprofit sector.
Our Community Foundation and the Mesa County Hunger Alliance hosted a Celebration Luncheon in honor of Stephania Vasconez, founding director and inspiration behind Mutual Aid Partners. Stephania took a short break from busy days she is spending right now to open the new Unhoused Resource Center to attend the luncheon with her family and colleagues. Stephania was awarded the Community Trailblazer of the Year Award by the Denver-based Community Resource Center (CRC).
As Tedi Gillespie noted in her remarks to guests, it is quite the occasion to celebrate when a statewide organization recognizes the accomplishments of a local leader. And something we all should acknowledge and celebrate - the cutting edge work and problem-solving ingenuity that Stephania has demonstrated. Our Community Foundation has supported Mutual Aid Partners over the years, including providing its first grant funding in 2020 when the organization was just getting off the ground during the COVID pandemic. In addition to her tireless work with Mutual Aid Partners, Stephania is an active leader in the Mesa County Hunger Alliance. WCCF President Anne Wenzel who helped form the Hunger Alliance nine years ago and drafted our local Blueprint to End Hunger, noted that many leaders in the Hunger Alliance and, indeed, the Alliance as its own coalition, are also trailblazers. Mesa County is recognized across Colorado for its comprehensive and coordinated efforts to address food insecurity, having received multiple large grants from the Colorado Health Foundation for its work.
After the luncheon, guests headed downstairs to attend a community Watch Party zoomed in from Denver. Stephania was formally recognized as Trailblazer of the Year at the beginning of their two-hour virtual program, 2024 State of the Sector.
To read the Sentinel coverage, click HERE.
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Reflections from the President | |
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Erle Reid is the last of our Community Foundation founders to pass away, a sober reminder of the steady march of time... and the importance of celebrating lives well lived and community legacies.
I attended a Celebration of Life at Erle's home last month. Expecting a lot of people to pay their respects, I got there early and still had a hard time parking. The Open House was packed! So many people came to share stories and remember Erle's life with his wife of 36 years, Jacquie, and the extended family.
Guests were invited to pick a river rock on which to write a tribute or a prayer. A rainbow of color markers were provided. Inscribed rocks were then lovingly placed in a pile in the back garden, a place where Erle came regularly for peace and meditation.
My own memories of Erle are work-related. Erle was on the committee that interviewed me for a part-time job as Executive Director back in 2001, when Dr. Verne Smith was ready to step down from that position. I heard through back channels that he was most enthusiastic about my candidacy and championed offering me the position to lead a community institution in a town I barely knew. Since those early days, Erle has been most supportive of my leadership. If you knew Erle at all, you know how powerful and sweeping his enthusiasm is. You really believe in yourself!
The last of our founders is now gone, but the spirit and vision that Erle and our other founders held for this organization and the power of promoting local philanthropy lives on through the impact we have every day - connecting people who care with community causes that matter, supporting our nonprofit partners with funding, training and technical assistance, and providing community leadership on issues in the areas of hunger, youth mental wellness, and CORE (conservation/outdoor recreation and environment).
Rest in Peace Erle Reid - community leader with big heart and unflagging passion for Grand Junction and its people.
~ Anne Wenzel
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The Western Colorado Community Foundation is confirmed in compliance with National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations by the Council on Foundations.
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