Community Foundation partners with Envision as our fiscal sponsor
The Chaffee County Community Foundation is partnering with Envision by serving as its fiscal sponsor as we work to become a nonprofit organization, a process that can take several years. CCCF provides grant management and accounting services, and allows for immediate tax deductible donations to be able to be made to Envision through CCCF .
CCCF was formed in 2018 by a group of about ten Envision participants who agreed that the community visions and many of the programs and projects outlined in the Community Action Plan could be enabled by a community foundation that would increase overall philanthropy in our region, support all nonprofit organizations, connect donors to community needs, build permanent charitable funds, and bring people together to solve community problems.
Articles of incorporation had been filed with the state but for many years a community foundation remained only a concept in Chaffee County. The Envision group led by Dr. Ed Cooper and Rick Hum changed that by updating paperwork, forming a board, recruiting ten founding donors, and hiring a director.
Since then, and under the direction of executive director Joseph Teipel, CCCF has offered consulting services and workshops to improve nonprofit capacities, streamlined grant-making programs for the towns of Salida and Buena Vista, and set up several donor-advised funds to ensure community giving for years to come.
This year, CCCF has raised more than $360,000 for emergency response support to citizens in need due to the COVID-19 virus.
Community foundations bring together the financial resources of individuals, families and businesses to support philanthropy in their communities. In just a short time, CCCF has helped thousands of citizens through its new partnerships and made a lasting, positive impact on the community.
Envision is proud that its planning process helped catalyze a community foundation in Chaffee County. We think it was one of our best early wins. We are excited that our work has come full circle in a karmic turn of events that has us benefitting from an organization born from our process. Hum serves on Envision’s new, mighty Board and continues to help lead CCCF as vice-chair on the board of directors.
Envision continues to be convened by the County Commissioners. We are County-convened and Community-driven. It is work by dedicated community members like those that formed the CCCF that help make Chaffee special!