Community Builders: Supporting Equitable Health for Colorado

Community Builders: Supporting Equitable Health for Colorado

Let’s build a healthier nonprofit sector in Colorado – together.

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Are you a Colorado-based nonprofit that is centered on health equity and racial justice? Is your annual budget less than $1 million? And are you seeking new ways to financially strengthen your organization? Colorado Community Builders could be perfect for you!  

Community Builders is a new capacity-building initiative for Colorado organizations that are focused on, and deeply informed by, community while working to address health equity and racial justice. 

Historically, capacity-building and grantmaking efforts have been designed and driven by funders. The efforts created and grants offered have often prioritized well-resourced and white-dominant nonprofits – and have historically excluded many small organizations led by and serving people of color. These patterns of disinvestment have contributed to many of these inequities that we see in Colorado today.   

Community Builders seeks to address these inequities by improving the flow of money and resources to community-centered organizations that have historically been denied them.   

Led by Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) and supported by The Colorado Health Foundation (CHF), this program will be in partnership with participating nonprofits and a community-based Advisory Council. It will focus on the organizational needs expressed by the participants, both individually and as peer groups, and will incorporate customized approaches to consulting, convenings, and the awarding of funding. It will engage partners who are rooted in community and hold expertise that complements NFF’s focus on finance. Through this inclusive approach to the work, we will build on the strengths of the nonprofits working tirelessly to advance health equity and racial justice in Colorado.  

Download the slides for the info session.

Get answers to the most commonly asked questions about Colorado Community Builders.

Apply for Colorado Community Builders

The purpose of the grant application is to better understand your organization and your alignment with the Community Builders initiative. We consider the information included in this application as a "first look" into your work, and do not expect it to be an extensive description of your organization. The application will be open through October 5 and cohorts will be announced in December.

Apply today

Two cohorts of community-centered organizations

NFF and CHF will support two cohorts of organizations through the Community Builders initiative: one cohort of fifteen nonprofits focused on capacity-building and one cohort of six nonprofits focused on organizational transformation.

Download a description of each cohort here

Who is eligible?

Community Builders includes community-centered organizations from across Colorado that are working on issues supporting community health outcomes, social determinants of health, health equity, and/ or racial justice, as well as being fully aligned with the cornerstones and areas of focus of The Colorado Health Foundation. These organizations must have a working annual budget less than $1 million (in operating expenses). Community Builders seeks:   

  • Organizations that are led by and accountable to, People of Color (Arab/Middle Eastern, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African American, Indigenous/ Native American, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American, and/ or Multiracial communities)  
    • These organizations must have their work centered on community as well as being (1) focused on and deeply informed by, POC communities, and (2) have a governing and implementation body (board, executive leadership, staff, etc.) who are predominantly POC.  
  • Organizations based in rural settings  
    • We will prioritize organizations whose work is in service of and better reflects the diversity of their communities. 

Voices from the community – focus group findings

In April and May 2021, NFF conducted six focus groups with 27 leaders from across Colorado. These leaders represented organizations and communities that are POC led by and accountable to communities representing both rural and urban settings. From their perspective, any capacity-building strategy will:    

  • Intentionally prioritize those who have been historically overlooked or ignored.   
  • Prioritize self-determination, and connections, for participants.   
  • Be structured to support individual development, organizational resilience, and systemic change.   
  • Maximize access to, and peer-led, exchange.   
  • Focus content explicitly on equity and racial justice through the lens of financial justice.   

Advisory Council

We’ve convened a three-person Advisory Council, comprising community members committed to ensuring CHF and NFF deliver what is being promised to the nonprofit community through this effort. We will add two additional members to the Council after we identify participating organizations. 

Apply for Colorado Community Builders

Together, we will build on the strengths of the nonprofits working tirelessly to advance health equity and racial justice in Colorado. The application will be open through October 5 and cohorts will be announced in December.

Apply today