Denver, CO – Latino Community Foundation of Colorado (LCFC) celebrated five years of developing and leveraging resources and leadership to strengthen Colorado’s Latino families and communities at an event held at the Denver Art Museum on November 15.

The event – sponsored by Ready Foods, Denver Health, The Piton Foundation, Western Union Foundation, World Wide Money Exchange and others – featured prominent community leaders including: Lieutenant Governor Joe Garcia; Rose Community Foundation President and CEO, Sheila Bugdanowitz; LCFC Grant Review Committee member and Mental Health America of Colorado President and CEO, Don Mares; and, LCFC Board Chair and Innov8 Solutions Managing Partner, Ron Montoya. “The Latino Community Foundation of Colorado makes a difference and finds the right kinds of programs that really do benefit the community,” says Ron Montoya, the LCFC board chair. “Every dollar we raise goes directly to the community.”

The nearly 200 attendees enjoyed a video, presentations on the accomplishments of the LCFC and a paddle raiser which raised tens of thousands of dollars for the organization, including $10,000 matched dollar-for-dollar by Ready Foods and the entire amount matched fifty cents on the dollar by Hispanics in Philanthropy. The night concluded with a cutting of an anniversary cake by Ron Montoya, LCFC Board Chair, and a rendition of Las Mañanitas, a traditional Mexican birthday song, by the event’s emcee, Belen De Leon of 9News.

Housed at Rose Community Foundation, the LCFC grew out of a three-year initiative of Rose Community Foundation in partnership with Hispanics in Philanthropy. The goal of the LCFC is to expand the amount, impact, and leverage of individual giving by Latinos to the community. Two local partners also joined the effort, The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation and the Western Union Foundation. Since inception, the LCFC has provided 60 grants totaling more than $875,000 to Latino nonprofit organizations throughout Colorado. In 2011, the LCFC launched Colorado Latino Age Wave which invests in and advocates for innovative services and programs that support the well-being of Denver’s Latino older adult populations.

Rose Community Foundation supports efforts to improve the quality of life throughout the Greater Denver community through its endowed grantmaking programs, and by advising and assisting donors who wish to make thoughtful charitable investments to better the community. The Foundation has granted more than $187 million since it was founded in 1995.