Summer Celebration a Hit!

Many thanks to those of you who were able to attend our annual Summer Celebration held on Wednesday, June 11th at the Belmar Center in Lakewood. Over 300 of our most loyal supporters, member agencies, and workplaces were able to enjoy an evening to celebrate the efforts of philanthropists across the greater Denver community. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the evening in the comments section below. For more on the event award winners, please see the post below.

View Photos of the event here.

-Shares Holder Jason
What's a Shares Holder? Find our here.

More on Nonprofit Collaboration

Hope you enjoy the new section of links to news, articles, videos, and blogs. It's our goal to make it informative, fun, and readable! You can contact me at jason@cshares.org with questions, topic ideas, or feedback.

+ I had an interesting discussion over dinner last night about collaboration versus competition as it relates to nonprofits and charities. Our former CEO, Jesse Wolff, weighed in on the benefits of nonprofit mergers in a piece for the Denver Business Journal way back in 2006!

+ Another great article for you to look at is about the impact of the millennial generation on the workplace. Whether you work in a for-profit or nonprofit, using collaboration tools for communication is going to become a must as Millennials hit the workforce.

+ At Community Shares we regularly discuss how to embrace this change and benefit from it. The My Colorado Project (beta) is a great example of how Community Shares is adapting to meet the needs of tomorrow's philanthropists. If you or someone you know would like to volunteer to help test the My Colorado Project, please email me at jason@cshares.org. My Colorado will launch on August 1.

+ Here's a list of 60+ online collaboration tools and resources. Is your business using a collaboration tool effectively?

+ And finally, checkout why this author thinks that collaboration is just one of many possible strategies, and how competition can be used to succeed as well.

+ Anyone else super jazzed for the Summer Celebration?

Until next time,

Jason

Community Shares Announces Annual Awards

Leaders in the Colorado community and champions of philanthropy will be honored at the Community Shares Summer Celebration on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at the Belmar Center in Lakewood.

To view the full press release, please click here.

We're already 300 strong but a few spots are still available for the Summer Celebration. Please join us to honor these individuals and celebrate philanthropy. To purchase tickets, please click here.

The New Prize for Nonprofit Collaboration

The Collaboration Prize has announced a new award designed to recognize and reward successful collaborations between nonprofits. If you know of a nonprofit partnership that is acheiving a greater community impact because of a collaboration then consider nominating your charity for the award. Employees can't nominate, so it is up to you as philanthropists!

+ The nomination process begins June 1, 2008 and closes at 5 p.m. EDT on July 21, 2008.

+ Learn more about eligibility and selection criteria.

+ Find out what you need to do as a nominator.

+ Download the nomination package (eligibility and selection criteria, selection timeline, nominator instructions, and nomination forms).

Remember, as a philanthropist you can give more than just your personal funds. Nominate your favorite charity today.

Want to get more involved in a charity? See our list of member agencies.

e-Community 6/6/08

Join me in welcoming the new look of e-Community, Community Shares' monthly online newsletter to our giving community!

We will continue to feature Community Shares news and events to keep you up to date on our work connecting Coloradans to the charities and causes you care about most. However, we are adding more content via our new section below, which features links to articles, online videos, news, and blogs around a monthly topic related to philanthropy. You'll learn more about the Community Shares perspective on trends in giving, social venture, and the impact of the nonprofit sector. You'll also have access to more information and resources, as well as opportunities to share your thoughts on how to build a stronger community.

The theme of this month's newsletter is collaboration. With rising costs for fundraising, see this article in the Denver Post, and a high density of nonprofits in Colorado (Denver is ranked 9th in nonprofits per capita in the U.S.), more and more nonprofits are realizing that collaborating to decrease costs is just good business.

According to the authors of, Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, the most effective nonprofits build a network to fulfill their mission.


"Although most nonprofits pay lip service to collaboration, many of them really see other groups as competition for scarce resources. But high-impact organizations help their peers succeed, building networks of nonprofit allies and devoting remarkable time and energy to advancing their fields. They freely share wealth, expertise, talent, and power with other nonprofits not because they are saints, but because it's in their self-interest to do so."


Check out a summary from the authors at Stanford Social Innovation Review.

I believe Community Shares' foundation as a collaborative, cooperative giving fund run by and for nonprofit organizations has been key to our success in better serving donors.

We hope you use the new format of our newsletter to collaborate with us and get involved. Please voice your ideas for how we can increase our impact. Forces for Good states high-impact nonprofits,


"recognize that they are more powerful together than alone, and that
large-scale social change often requires collaborative, collective action."


We couldn't have said it better ourselves!

Best Regards,

Alyssa Kopf
CEO, Community Shares