Jerrold L. Glick, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Sheila Bugdanowitz, President and CEO and Richard Robinson, Founding Trustee and past Board Chair

On June 18 at the Seawell Ballroom in downtown Denver, Rose Community Foundation celebrated 20 years of serving the Greater Denver community. Joined by friends, donors and grantees, Foundation leaders looked back on the work the Foundation has done in Denver.

Those gathered to celebrate heard from Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, who spoke at length about Rose Community Foundation’s leadership on issues like Denver’s Road Home while he served as mayor of Denver. Rose Community Foundation president and CEO Sheila Bugdanowitz spoke about the story of Rose Community Foundation, its leadership role in the Jewish community, and in its other grantmaking focus areas. Board of Trustees Jerry Glick spoke about the Foundation’s current impact in the community, and Jennifer Atler Fischer, immediate past Chair of the Board, announced the winners of Innovate for Good.

Over the last 20 years, Rose Community Foundation:

• made nearly 16,000 grants to more than 2,000 nonprofits
• made grants to organizations totaling more than $227 million

Thanks to Rose Community Foundation, many nonprofits are ensuring their own sustainability and stability through endowments. 36 nonprofit organizations have endowment funds at Rose Community Foundation. Those endowment funds are valued at $39.7 million, and have distributed more than $25 million to support the mission and work of these organizations.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper commends Rose Community Foundation’s leadership and service.

We’ve included some quotes from the evening along with photos of the celebration and the Foundation’s work over 20 years in the Greater Denver community.

“Much of the work we do is really long-term. We’re looking at long-term, systemic change. How can we leverage our dollars to create positive change?” – Sheila Bugdanowitz, President and CEO

“When I come … to the Rose Community Foundation, we start from a mindset of, not how am I going to solve that problem, but how are we going to solve that problem.” – Michele Lueck, Colorado Health Institute (Grantee)

“[Rose Community Foundation] does an incredible job of keeping up with the pulse of the community… of highlighting the areas where the community is facing issues and then convening different groups to figure out how to address them.” – Luis Colón, member of the Child and Family Development Committee, Founder and Advisory Board Member of the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado

“I think the values that [Rose Community Foundation] represents are obviously out of the Jewish tradition, but to me, they’re just the best human values. They’re about caring about other people and acting when you see someone in need.” – Barbara O’Brien, Former Lieutenant Governor, At-Large Member of Denver Public Schools School Board

“Overall, the Foundation has continued its long-term commitment to help address the challenges facing our community. That community has grown and changed over the past two decades, and today we believe that growth and change will only accelerate in the next twenty years, and beyond. This is an exciting moment for Greater Denver, and for the Rose Community Foundation.” – Jerry Glick, Chair, Board of Trustees