Caring for Denver Foundation

Address: Kaleidoscope Collaborative Center, 1035 Osage Street, 8th Floor, Denver, CO 80204
Phone: 720.647.6380
Web: www.caring4denver.org
Email: info@caring4denver.org

Caring for Denver Foundation is a taxpayer-funded, independent foundation created with overwhelming voter support to address Denver, Colorado’s mental health and substance misuse needs. Caring for Denver has funded more than $111 million in the areas of alternatives to jail, community-centered solutions, and youth. 

Its funding priorities were created as a result of a citywide community engagement process, where Denverites shared their real-world experiences and helped the foundation identify focus areas in its grantmaking. Caring for Denver continues to engage the community in every aspect of its grantmaking process from refining work and priorities in funding, to reviewing applications, to defining meaningful measures of success.

The foundation is on a mission to address Denver, Colorado’s mental health and substance misuse needs by growing community-informed solutions, dismantling stigma, and turning the community’s desire to help into action.

Program Information:

Caring for Denver Foundation concentrates on the following focus areas:

Youth—support for nonprofit community organizations and city agencies that provide resources to reduce crisis, address trauma, and increase the mental well-being for Denver, Colorado youth coping with life stressors. It also seeks to increase involvement by family and allies in ways that help youth address their trauma, mental health, and substance misuse needs.
Community-Centered Solutions—support for trusted community organizations and partnerships that prioritize access, cultural relevance, and connections. It also supports providers, caregivers, and peers with resources and training to take care of themselves and meet community needs.
Alternatives to Jail—preventing people with substance misuse and mental health conditions from unnecessarily interacting with the criminal legal system. And for those who have, to support their recovery with access to a wide range of community support to prevent reentry.

Financial Information:

Total Assets: $88,594,400 (FY22)
Amount Dedicated to Health-Related Grants: $40,078,089 (FY22)

Special Initiatives and/or Representative Health and Human Services Grants

Caring for Denver is dedicated to building the sustainability of the nonprofits the foundation funds through capacity building initiatives. In order for grantees to be successful in their programmatic work, Caring for Denver Foundation invests in their organizational development, leadership, and systems; strengthens their storytelling and communications materials; and strengthens their ability to report on outcomes as well as process measures. The following investments support these areas:

The Hadanou Collective Capacity Building Support for Caring for Denver Grantees—To provide 20 separate engagements of capacity building/organizational development support to Caring for Denver Foundation grantees. Each engagement will be customized to organizations’ individual needs in the areas of strategic clarity, fundraising, etc., depending on need. ($552,500)

Rocky Mountain Public Media, Inc. Supporting Grantees with Storytelling Resources—RMPM will support the work of Caring for Denver grantees with storytelling to increase awareness and cross-collaboration of mental health and substance misuse issues and impacts in each grantee’s community sphere. ($200,000)

Capacity Building for Evaluation and Learning—To provide training and support for up to 70 grantees to build capacity around collecting and using data for sustainability via three pathways: 1:1 technical assistance, a cohort training program, and peer-led learning workshops. ($508,538)