Everything You Need to Know About Colorado Gives Day

Today, December 6, is the seventh annual Colorado Gives Day, when folks are encouraged to donate to nonprofits in the state — and there are at least a million reasons to dig deep.

Community First Foundation and FirstBank have each donated $500,000 to create a $1 million incentive fund. This pie will be sliced based on the total amount each charity raises divided by the total amount of donations to all participating nonprofits.

As such, your donation dollars will go even further.

Here are the basics about Colorado Gives Day.

Its popularity is growing

ColoradoGives.org was created in May 2007, with the first Colorado Gives Day taking place in 2010. Through 2015, $155,787,343 has been donated — and each year, the amount collected has risen, with last year's haul topping $38 million.

This graph shows the steady increase.


Some counties are more generous than others

For 2015, ColoradoGives.org broke down donations by county. As you can see in the graphic below, nine counties wound up in the red — which, in this case, is a good thing, since it designates the most generous areas.

No surprise that the largest pool of money was donated in Denver County, the state's population king — and in general, the counties with the most people gifted the most cash. But as judged by the average amount by donor, the folks in Routt County opened their pocketbooks the widest, followed by Eagle County and Summit County. Adams County residents gave the least per donor, on average, among the red counties.

These are the top nine.

1. Denver County
# Donors: 15,389
# Donations: 45,867
$ Donated: $10,313,632.85
Average $ Donated per Donor: $670.20
Average # Donations per Donor: 3

2. Larimer County
# Donors: 3,957
# Donations: 10,342
$ Donated: $1,742,589.47
Average $ Donated per Donor: $440.38
Average # Donations per Donor: 2.6

3. Adams County
# Donors: 2,299
# Donations: 5,727
$ Donated: $798,780.15
Average $ Donated per Donor: $347.45
Average # Donations per Donor: 2.5

4. Eagle County
# Donors: 1,082
# Donations: 3,165
$ Donated: $772,634.46
Average $ Donated per Donor: $714.08
Average # Donations per Donor: 2.9

5. El Paso County
# Donors: 2,064
# Donations: 4,182
$ Donated: $752,364.35
Average $ Donated per Donor: $364.52
Average # Donations per Donor: 2

6. Weld County
# Donors: 1,646
# Donations: 4,146
$ Donated: $598,671.61
Average $ Donated per Donor: $363.71
Average # Donations per Donor: 2.5

7. Routt County
# Donors: 715
# Donations: 2,163
$ Donated: $531,180.00
Average $ Donated per Donor: $742.91
Average # Donations per Donor: 3

8. Summit County
# Donors: 532
# Donations: 1,664
$ Donated: $377,142.08
Average $ Donated per Donor: $708.91
Average # Donations per Donor: 3.1

9. Mesa County
# Donors: 631
# Donations: 1,645
$ Donated: $259,638.00
Average $ Donated per Donor: $411.47
Average # Donations per Donor: 2.6

Continue for more of what you need to know about Colorado Gives Day.

Coloradans love people, learning, the arts and animals, in that order

In 2015, according to ColoradoGives.org stats, organizations that fall under the human-services umbrella collected the most money by far, accounting for over a quarter of the $38 million total. But nonprofits in other areas of specialization cleaned up, too. Below, see facts and figures about the top ten categories.

1. Human Services

Number of nonprofits: 313
Money raised: $9,936,136.39
Number of donations: 40,927
Average money raised: $31,744.84

2. Education

Number of nonprofits: 341
Money raised: $7,091,046.13
Number of donations: 24,762
Average money raised: $20,794.86

3: Arts, Culture & Humanities

Number of nonprofits: 288
Money raised: $3,576,784.06
Number of donations: 22,130
Average money raised: $11,983.62

4. Animal-Related

Number of nonprofits: 118
Money raised: $2,478,086.56
Number of donations: 23,667
Average money raised: $21,000.73

5. Health Care

Number of nonprofits: 127
Money raised: $2,451,930.83
Number of donations: 12,362
Average money raised: $19,306.54

6. Youth Development

Number of nonprofits: 120
Money raised: $2,360,431.25
Number of donations: 9.697
Average money raised: $19,670.26

7. Housing & Shelter

Number of nonprofits: 84
Money raised: $1,499,038.06
Number of donations: 7,360
Average money raised: $17,845.69

8. Environment

Number of nonprofits: 114
Money raised: $1,426,514.07
Number of donations: 9,883
Average money raised: $12,513,28

9. Food, Agriculture & Nutrition

Number of nonprofits: 44
Money raised: $1,294,343.15
Number of donations: 8,092
Average money raised: $29,416.89

10. Mental Health & Crisis Intervention

Number of nonprofits: 62
Money raised: $932,442.96
Number of donations: 5,421
Average money raised: $15,039.40

Some people would like to take advantage of your generosity

The Colorado Attorney General's Office is warning about possible scams related to Colorado Gives Day. The office's list of charity-fraud red flags include:

• Charities or fundraisers that refuse to provide detailed information about their identity, mission, costs, or how the donation will be used.
• Charities that use names closely resembling those of better-known organizations.
• Organizations that thank you for a pledge you don’t remember making.
• Those that use high-pressure tactics to get you to donate immediately.
• Anyone asking for donations in cash or by wire transfer.
• Those that offer to send a courier to collect your donation immediately.
• Any organization that guarantees sweepstakes winnings in exchange for a contribution.

There are lots of organizations that could use your help.

Click to access the complete Colorado Gives Day nonprofits list.