Our Changing Focus

By focusing on protective factors, we will work to build services, supports, and environments to help young people find their path, develop decision-making skills, and cultivate positive relationships that will help them grow into healthy, hopeful, contributing adults in our state.

Our work will be centered within our defined priority populations. We intend to work hard to bring forward the voices and lived experiences of young people and their families to ensure that our funding is relevant, inclusive, and results oriented.

Our resources will be directed to building equitable systems and policies and the community infrastructure needed to create environments that support the optimal development of all young people.

• Trust-Based Philanthropy
  Our grantmaking philosophy is deeply inspired by the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, an approach grounded in values that advance equity, shift power dynamics, and foster mutually accountable relationships. At the heart of trust-based philanthropy are six key practices:
  • Provide multi-year, flexible funding
  • Conduct thorough research and due diligence
  • Simplify and streamline paperwork
  • Be transparent and responsive
  • Solicit and act on feedback
  • Offer support beyond the grant itself

  Throughout our strategic planning process, we applied a trust-based lens to shape our community engagement, grantee feedback mechanisms, new funding strategies, and application processes. In the coming months, our team will continue to integrate trust-based philanthropy values and practices across all areas of our work and create feedback loops to inform ongoing improvement. We are committed to sharing our learnings as we collaborate to build a more just and equitable nonprofit-funder ecosystem that prioritizes relationship-building, power-sharing, mutual learning, and collaboration.

• Larger, Multi-Year, Flexible Funding
  In response to consistent feedback from our grantee partners and in alignment with trust-based philanthropy practices, we are committed to increasing the size of our grants and awarding more multi-year, flexible funding. We believe this shift will allow nonprofits to plan more effectively, grow, and innovate in response to emerging needs, ultimately fostering a healthier and more resilient social sector.
  However, this approach comes with the reality that we will be providing fewer grants overall, making the application process more competitive. While we anticipate this change will be welcomed by many, we also recognize it may pose challenges for the sector in the short term.
• Rural Emphasis
  Our funding will have statewide breadth and rural depth. We know that rural communities often have smaller tax bases and limited fundraising capacity resulting in fewer opportunities for families than in urban and suburban areas in our state. As a result, many rural communities struggle to provide the services and supports that contribute to healthy adolescent development. Part of Caring for Colorado’s health equity focus is to eliminate disparities that exist within many of our rural communities.
• Building Partnerships and Leveraging Resources
  We believe that meaningful change and system improvement are best achieved through collaboration rather than by working alone. This guiding philosophy remains central to Caring for Colorado. Going forward, we will continue to forge partnerships with mission-aligned organizations, leveraging our collective resources for the greater good.