Food Bank of the Rockies

Organizations serving seniors, youth, and people struggling with alcoholism and drug abuse are among the major recipients of $9.5 million in grants to nonprofits in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, announced this week by the Daniels Fund.

The Daniels Fund will award a projected $33 million in grants to nonprofits in 2012. Funding areas include: Aging, Alcoholism & Substance Abuse, Amateur Sports, Disabilities, Early Childhood Education, K-12 Education Reform, Ethics & Integrity in Education, Homeless & Disadvantaged, and Youth Development.

In an astounding demonstration of support for Colorado nonprofits, donors from across the state contributed $12 million as part of Community First Foundation’s Colorado Gives Day 2011 — an increase of more than 40 percent compared to Colorado Gives Day 2010, which raised $8.4 million.

Individual contributions were received over an extended 36-hour period — 12 a.m. Dec. 6 until noon Dec. 7 — at GivingFirst.org. Donations ranged from $10 to $500,000. Almost half of all donations made were either $50 or $100.

Programs enhancing educational opportunities for youth and those providing services for the homeless and disadvantaged were among the major recipients of $5.7 million in grants to nonprofits announced by the Daniels Fund for the fourth quarter.

“These organizations set a high standard for excellence in serving people in need in Colorado,” explained Linda Childears, president and CEO of the Daniels Fund. “We are honored to support their efforts to make life better for people in communities across the state,” she added.

What makes top fundraisers and fundraising consultants successful? Two weeks ago we ran the first installment of our Q-and-A with winners of FundRaising Success’ 2007 Fundraising Professionals of the Year Awards in which some of them answered this and other questions. Here, our second and final presentation of their responses: What are your keys to success? Katya Andresen, vice president of marketing for Network for Good and one of our Fundraising Professionals of the Year: The key to all marketing — and fundraising — is simple: always, always, appeal to the perspective of your audience, not your own. As a mentor of mine [Sharyn Sutton, founder

Keeping tasks fresh and exciting can be a struggle no matter what job you do. Here, stars of the fundraising sector and winners of FundRaising Success’ 2007 Fundraising Professionals of the Year Awards share how they keep fundraising new and exciting. How do you keep fundraising fresh? Michael Knipp, chief copywriter/editor for Creative Direct Response, Rising Star: By always pushing myself to be innovative. There’s no point in getting up for work every day if I’m not proud of what I’m putting my name on. Kim Ruotsala, director of development for Food Bank of the Rockies, Top Women in Fundraising: You can’t rely on what worked in

The winners of FundRaising Success’ 2007 Fundraising Professionals of the Year Awards are individuals in the sector — on both the nonprofit and consulting side — who enrich the sector in some way and/or embody important trends in fundraising. We asked our award winners to share some things about themselves: where they come from, geographically and professionally; where they want to be in the future; who inspires them; and examples of some challenges and accomplishments they’ve had. Below are Q-and-A’s with five of our winners: Ted Kohnen, assistant director of Planned Parenthood Online and a Rising Star; Tim Burgess, co-founder of Merkle/Domain and a