Why was a new strategic plan necessary at this time?

The seven-county Greater Denver region – and the world around us – has changed dramatically in the quarter-century since Rose Community Foundation was founded. It is our responsibility to ensure that our work – and the ways in which we work – are evolving to not only meet the community needs and philanthropic best practices of today but into the future as well. Rose Community Foundation has a rich history of living its values through grantmaking, advocacy and philanthropic services in pursuit of making our community a better place for all and we will continue to draw on that past as we implement our new strategic plan.

What will you be funding in the future? When can I apply for a grant?

Our grantmaking will be organized in alignment with our three impact goals, with funds dedicated to advancing equity and justice, fostering an inclusive and engaged Greater Denver, and increasing the resources dedicated to strengthening our region, along with a grantmaking objective for our Jewish community funding focused on encouraging a dynamic, inclusive, and enduring Jewish ecosystem.

2020 will be a transition year for us, a year in which we will be operationalizing our new strategic plan and developing the specific priorities and parameters that will guide our grantmaking beginning in the third quarter of 2020. For the first two quarters of 2020, we will not be accepting new applications for grants in our program areas. For nonprofit partners who have received regular, significant and longstanding support from us, we will be in touch soon about transition grants to ensure your critical work is not interrupted by our funding evolution. If you are an existing grantee with questions about this transition, please contact the program officer with whom you typically work.

Does this mean you aren’t funding XYZ anymore?

Grant opportunities aligning with our new goals will still exist in the historic areas in which we have funded, and opportunities will become available in some important new areas as well. The challenges our community faces do not fit neatly into buckets, nor do the solutions. As such, we are removing the silos from our work and organizing our efforts in pursuit of three important and ambitious impact goals that recognize the importance of cross-sectional opportunities and responsiveness.

What does this new strategic plan mean for donors to Rose?

As the Denver region rapidly grows and evolves, longstanding challenges are intensified, and community needs outpace existing charitable and government resources. Additionally, individual charitable giving in Denver lags behind comparably sized metropolitan regions. As a community foundation with experience working with donors from across generations, Rose Community Foundation is in a unique position to help cultivate a culture of generosity, growing the philanthropic resources available to better meet community needs and supporting donors in giving at the intersection of their interests, values and opportunities for local impact. We have untapped potential to expand, diversify, and more deeply engage the donors with whom we work. We recently surveyed donors about their experiences with Rose, and that input is informing our operational planning for enhancements to donor services.

What does this new plan mean for Rose Community Foundation staff?

The staff has had a great deal of input into this new strategic plan, the values that underpin it, and the mission and vision it works to achieve. In the coming months, we will be working to align staff roles with the new goals and strategies. While some staff positions will evolve, no roles will be eliminated. We are also adding some critical new roles in the future to ensure that we can effectively implement the plan.