Nonprofit organizations in Colorado are in trouble. But why are they in trouble? Colorado nonprofits are fighting for their lives because they insist on focusing on government-funded grants rather than actual fundraising.
I have been in Colorado a very short time and have found the nonprofit world to be very different than the culture I experienced for my many years in the Northeast part of the country.
While all nonprofits tend to talk about grant writing and include grants as a part of their annual fundraising plan, there appears to be a huge difference as to how that plan is conceived by Colorado nonprofits as compared to what I am used to.
There is an enormous reliance on grants and that has had an enormous impact on the financial health and stability of some local nonprofits where I am now in Boulder County.
Executive Director Nancy Herbert said that the nonprofit lost 25% of its government funding in 2025 and were looking at another 30% cut moving forward.
The big question is…why now? Why only now is the organization looking to raise monies aside from government grants?
Back in February of 2026, the local Longmont YMCA was about to close down, and was forced to close its fitness and aquatics center after years of financial losses and huge drop in federal and grant funding.
In July, the Longmont City Council voted unanimously to bail out the organization and purchase the property…essentially making it an extension of its recreation program.
Again…the big question is…why? Why did the organization not put efforts in to raising other monies aside from grants and government funding?
Let me start by saying that I have written tens of millions of dollars of successful grant applications, with the largest individual grant acquired being $18 million for Easter Seals New Jersey. So I kind of know what I am doing regarding writing grants.
What used to be the “art of grant writing” is no longer in existence. Times have changed and the dynamics have greatly changed. The biggest problem is that everyone is vying for the very same monies.
When I first started in the nonprofit world, the environment was similar to ordering a large pizza pie with 8 slices and 6 people were hungry. There was enough for everyone to get a slice of the pie, and there was some left over. Fast forward to today, and it’s like ordering a small pizza pie with 6 slices and 300 people are hungry. There is just simply NOT enough to go around.
Grants are a crap shoot. It’s like playing the lottery. You have to be IN it to WIN it but the odds are greatly stacked against you.
So why do nonprofits insist on putting so much emphasis and resources into grants? More importantly, why do nonprofits believe that they are the ones who are going to win the lottery?
And what IS the answer?
The answer is to actually implement a comprehensive and diversified fundraising plan that provides for multiple revenue streams.
Let’s face it…you certainly wouldn’t have your personal investment portfolio with all of your money in one stock or one sector, would you? No, you would want a balanced portfolio so that if one sector falls then another would pick up the slack…right? So it’s the same principle for a nonprofit.
The problem is that the nonprofit leadership is not in a position to operate like that. They are not experienced fundraisers. Rather, what I have learned is that most of the leadership that are paid staff are from the social work sector or the marketing sector or the business sector. Whatever sector they are experienced in, it is not nonprofit fundraising.
And nonprofit boards in the region are not loaded with individuals who could spearhead a viable fundraising campaign.
The system that used to work, that everyone became so comfortable and secure with, just isn’t realistic any longer…not if you want to keep the organization operational. A financially healthy nonprofit organization is one that has a minimum of 18 months of operating expenses, of unrestricted funds, IN RESERVE. How many nonprofits in Colorado, or anywhere else for that matter, can say that they have achieved that?
A comprehensive and diversified fundraising plan that produces multiple revenue streams, without reliance on government funding, and an active board that is able to actually actively (active is the key word) help the fundraising cause, is the only way a nonprofit will survive long-term.
For assistance on how to survive in the nonprofit world, contact us at 732-261-1387.
