2011 Annual Report - What We Believe

We believe that every individual has something of value to contribute to a greater whole.

In 2011, Rose Community Foundation expanded its reach in the donor community by engaging more individuals and families. Eleven new funds were opened, our donor base grew larger and more diverse, and we learned of more bequest gifts that will support our work in the future.

We also engaged donors intellectually through our popular new Insight Series, opportunities for donors to learn about different issues from experts while also learning from each other. And we asked for help from the professional advisor community to learn how we can most effectively assist their clients in making thoughtful philanthropic decisions.

Our well-established grantmaking programs continued to do outstanding work in the community to ensure that vulnerable individuals have opportunities to grow, learn and thrive. A few 2011 highlights:

• We granted $300,000 over two years to establish the Colorado Latino Age Wave, an initiative to address the needs of the rapidly growing Latino aging population.

• Several organizations received grants to help extend the number of school learning hours available to low-performing students, providing opportunities to level the playing field.

• Denver and Boulder’s Jewish community centers received funding that will enable them to expand their reach to the metro area’s growing and more diverse Jewish population.

Of special note in 2011, we completed a study of the first 10 years of Rose Youth Foundation (RYF), our initiative to teach Jewish teens about leadership and philanthropy through hands-on grantmaking. We were very pleased with the results. RYF alumni volunteer at a higher rate than their peers, regularly use collaboration and leadership skills learned during their participation in the program, and maybe most heartening, strongly believe that they can be agents of positive change in their communities.

When individuals believe they can make a difference, they often do. When like-minded individuals join together, we believe there is no limit to the good that can result. We invite you to learn more about the work of Rose Community Foundation on the pages of this annual report. If you find that our values and strategies match yours, we hope you will join us as we continue building community together.

Stephanie Foote
Chair, Board of Trustees
2011-2012

Sheila Bugdanowitz
President and CEO