Rose Community Foundation Releases New Strategic Plan

Focused on advancing inclusive, engaged and equitable Greater Denver communities through values-driven philanthropy.

DENVER, CO — Rose Community Foundation today released a new strategic plan and vision that will guide the Foundation moving forward. The full plan is available on the Rose Community Foundation website.

The Foundation’s new strategic direction reflects the dramatic demographic changes in the Greater Denver area. The plan is designed to meet the evolving needs of the region’s growing and increasingly diverse population, while remaining grounded in the Foundation’s rich history of living its values through grantmaking, advocacy and philanthropic services.

The plan’s key elements include an updated mission, vision and set of values, as well as new goals and strategies to guide the Foundation’s work moving forward. Developed and adopted through collaborative dialogue among Foundation board of trustees and staff, the following identity statements mutually reinforce and support each other. Taken together, they define how, why and where Rose Community Foundation aims to lead, invest and partner.

Mission: To advance inclusive, engaged and equitable Greater Denver communities through values-driven philanthropy

Vision: A thriving region strengthened by its diversity and generosity

Values: Justice, equity, diversity & inclusion, empathy, generosity, transformation through collaboration and community

“The Foundation’s board of trustees engaged in comprehensive learning, reflection and planning over the course of 2019, collectively asking and answering questions about the region’s pressing needs and opportunities and, in complement, elucidating the Foundation’s vision for how it will serve the region in the future,” said incoming Board Chair Steven A. Cohen. “The board appreciates that serving the community effectively in perpetuity requires remaining responsive to evolving community needs.”

President and CEO Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, added: “The plan’s essence represents a natural evolution in Rose Community Foundation’s 25-year history, and we are excited that this new approach offers greater organizational flexibility, responsiveness and cohesion in addressing the multi-faceted challenges and opportunities facing the Greater Denver community. This strategic plan encourages the Foundation to leverage the varied tools at its disposal to advance a more inclusive, engaged and equitable region – tools that include grantmaking, policy and advocacy, investment strategies and resource generation.”

The strategic plan also recognizes and responds to the importance of cross-cutting opportunities and responsiveness. The challenges faced by the Greater Denver community do not fit neatly into buckets, nor do the solutions. As such, the Foundation is removing the silos that have historically defined its work, and instead, will organize its efforts in pursuit of three important and ambitious impact goals. Along with continued grantmaking in the region’s Jewish community, the Foundation will advance the following goals:

  1. Advancing equity and justice
  2. Fostering an inclusive and engaged Greater Denver
  3. Increasing resources dedicated to strengthening the region

Grant opportunities aligning with these new goals will still exist in the historic areas in which Rose Community Foundation has funded, and opportunities will become available in some important new areas as well.

Rose Community Foundation remains committed to dedicated grantmaking in support of the region’s Jewish communities. The Foundation’s Jewish history and animating Jewish values will not only continue to guide its future support of the Jewish community, but will inform the Foundation’s priorities, culture and approaches across all its work.

Throughout 2020, the Foundation will operationalize this fresh grantmaking approach by developing the specific priorities, parameters and processes that will guide its grantmaking in the future. The Foundation will also enhance its commitment to supporting its donors and donor-advised fundholders, including curated funding opportunities aligned with their giving priorities and exploring opportunities to leverage impact with other donors through pooled or collaborative grantmaking.

“With the publication of this report, Rose Community Foundation ends its strategic planning journey and begins an exciting new phase for the organization, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year,” said Lent. “We are eager to shift our focus now to setting the necessary pieces in place as we animate the ideas spelled out in this plan. We greatly appreciate the longstanding and continued partnership with the Greater Denver community as we enter an important new chapter.”

Read the full strategic plan.


About Rose Community Foundation

Rose Community Foundation strives to advance inclusive, engaged and equitable Greater Denver communities through values-driven philanthropy. The Foundation envisions a thriving region strengthened by its diversity and generosity, and it utilizes the varied tools at its disposal – grantmaking, advocacy and philanthropic services – to advance this aspiration. Since its founding in 1995, the Foundation has granted more than $304 million to 1,901 organizations and initiatives, including $44 million in facilitated grantmaking from donor-advised funds. The Foundation has also supported nearly 70 nonprofit organizations in creating and growing endowments to sustain their vital work into the future, currently stewarding $31 million in endowed assets. The Foundation has $300 million in total assets under management, with annual grantmaking of nearly $25 million.