In a world sometimes focused on profit margins and bottom lines, it’s tough to overstate the significance of nonprofits—organizations driven by purpose rather than profit. The success of nonprofits, however, relies largely on the support they receive from businesses and local residents.
Here at Colorado Springs Lifestyle Magazine, we regularly highlight opportunities to give back. In this issue, we asked three nonprofits with different missions to talk about why local support matters. Below are the responses from Goodwill of Colorado, Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region and Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado, edited for length.
People work hard for their free time and money. Why is it important to give back to local nonprofits?
Goodwill: Nonprofits like Goodwill of Colorado provide targeted and strategic services and support to the most vulnerable populations in our community. When you invest your time and/or resources in Goodwill, you are directly investing in the lives of others.
Humane Society: Nonprofit organizations depend on donations to carry out their mission to keep doing the fantastic work that they've been doing. In HSPPR's case, we're an independent, local nonprofit that doesn't belong to any national humane societies or animal welfare groups and we rely on donations from our community.
Care and Share: Our dollars are not going as far these days with the current economy. More and more people are finding themselves in the position of not having enough to cover high food costs after paying all other expenses. That is exactly why it is more important than ever to help non-profits like food banks during times like this.
Please give our readers a snapshot of the different ways people can donate their time or dollars to your nonprofit.
Goodwill: Making financial contributions online, participating in our Annual Dinner and An Enchanted Weekend charitable events, lending their time and expertise volunteering at our retail operations or program sites and, of course, shopping and donating gently used household items at our statewide stores and attended donation centers.
Humane Society: Volunteers are at the heart of HSPPR's success. … They work side-by-side with shelter staff to provide manpower for programs that improve the quality of life for shelter animals. … Because HSPPR takes in more than 27,000 animals a year, space is limited. ... That's where our foster volunteers come in! Donate. …Your dollars help animals who need to see a veterinarian before becoming available for adoption, get spayed/neutered and vaccinated, work with a behavior specialist if needed, provide toys and enrichment during their stay in the shelter, and so much more.
Care and Share: Whether it be with monetary donations, food donations or volunteering your time, every bit helps! You can go to our donate page and either make a one-time donation or you can subscribe to allocate a certain dollar amount each month. To find volunteer opportunities, you can visit our volunteer page. You can also set up a food or fund drive in your community, business, school, etc.
What are the benefits to the Colorado Springs community?
Goodwill: By supporting Goodwill of Colorado, you are supporting the Colorado Springs community socially, economically and environmentally. Goodwill employs nearly 1,200 individuals in the Colorado Springs/Pikes Peak region, many of whom had barriers to employment before joining our team. ... We also operate a wide range of local programs and services providing education, training and job placement opportunities. … Goodwill also is ... diverting nearly 86 percent of locally donated items from landfills.
Humane Society: HSPPR is here to help the homeless and abused pets in Southern Colorado. We offer compassionate care to animals, support safe communities, and provide socially conscious sheltering for every animal that comes through our doors.
Care and Share: Supporting Care and Share Food Bank benefits our community in many ways. Not only does it support our mission that “No One Should Go Hungry” by helping to support our neighbors with food insecurity, but it also creates connections, brings people together for a great cause, shows our neighbors they are cared for, and builds hope for the future.
What makes your organization different from other non-profits?
Goodwill: Goodwill of Colorado helps transform people’s lives by providing education, training and job placement programs which annually help nearly 150,000 Coloradans overcome barriers to personal and economic independence.
Humane Society: As an open admission shelter, no animal is ever turned away at HSPPR. Passionate and dedicated staff care for animals in distress, provide medical care for abused and injured animals, reunite lost pets with their owners, find loving homes for homeless animals, investigate animal cruelty, and enforce animal ordinances.
Care and Share: Care and Share Food Bank has been a core part of Southern Colorado for decades. With our ability to purchase food at a lower cost, we were able to distribute almost 23 million pounds of food to over 250,000 neighbors last year through our 291 partner agencies. That is a huge impact!
Goodwill of Colorado: https://goodwillcolorado.org/ | @GoodwillColorado
Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region: https://www.hsppr.org/ | @ HumaneSocietyPikesPeak
Care and Share: https://careandshare.org/ | @CareAndShareFB
A quick search of the Secretary of State’s online database turns up 1,840 charities registered in El Paso County alone. That’s a lot of organizations relying on kind-hearted local folks’ hard-earned money and time to operate.
