Philanthropy

Amy and I have helped start several non-profits over the last 30 years. While our Anchor Point Foundation covers a wide range of initiatives, most of the projects we’ve co-founded have been based in Colorado and focused on either entrepreneurship or the environment. One of my greatest joys is funding small, startup nonprofits that other people create, which inspire me. I was on a call Friday, being interviewed by Connie Loizos about my new book, Give First: The Power of Mentorship . We were catching up on some personal things, and she mentioned that one of her sons, Natty Gove, a sophomore at Redwood High School, had started a nonprofit called the Tech4Youth Foundation . I looked it up on the web and kept the tab open to look at after our call. ...

Boulder has been our home for 25 years and we love it. Amy and I support numerous local non-profit initiatives through our Anchor Point Foundation . The following video captured my attention this morning and resulted in a bathroom-sized donation to Growing Up Boulder . Bella and Mads – well done! You can call us Brad and Amy (not Mr. and Mrs.). This is a gift is in y’alls name. Vanessa Schatz – brilliant! ...

Amy and I just finished allocating our 2020 year-end charitable contributions from our Anchor Point Foundation . Given our charitable contributions around Covid and Racial Equity throughout the year, we were extremely overallocated going into our end-of-year gift cycle. This morning I got a note from a Jenny Thompson who said: I’m writing today because I only just learned that cash donations are 100% deductible this year as part of CARES. ...

Today, Amy and I are announcing a matching gift from our Anchor Point Foundation to the Startland News’ Give A Start donor campaign. We will match any contributions from this point forward, up to $25,000. Since 2015, Startland News has helped Kansas City entrepreneurs shout their triumphs from the rooftops — a critical piece of storytelling as the local startup community evolves beyond good ideas written on napkins to the home of powerhouse startups and nine-figure exits. ...

If you have a job, have been working from home, and haven’t been spending extra money on Starbucks (or local) coffee, lunch or dinner out, or other random things you spend money on during the day while at work, please consider making a donation to the Colorado COVID Relief Fund today. All contributions made today up to $250,000 will be matched by an anonymous donor. GivingTuesday usually happens the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Amy and I have been involved in Boulder for many years, going back to the first year when the yellow Culture of Giving squeezy balls were part of the campaign. ...

As the world shifts underneath us around Covid-19, Amy and I have focused our immediate philanthropic efforts on our local community in Boulder County. If you have the ability to contribute anything philanthropically, helping locally will make a huge difference right now. While many of us are hunkered down at home, we’ve got numerous frontline providers at hospitals and in the community out in public helping us all get through this. ...

If you have an office in Denver, just five miles away from you is a food bank operating out of a warehouse month to month just so it can help anyone who comes through their doors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7l0LAR8JvI&feature=youtu.be Community Ministry of Southwest Denver has provided food, children’s clothing, school supplies, energy assistance, food boxes, and holiday gifts for young children for over fifty years. Nice. But, the building and land that Community Ministry has leased for decades is up for sale. ...

Earlier this year Amy and I, along with a number of other local friends, supported the rollout of a new organization in Longmont called Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll) . EforAll is a nonprofit organization that partners with communities nationwide to help under-resourced individuals pursue their dream of starting a business. They believe everyone should have the opportunity, resources, and support they need to successfully start their business. Its programs include a free, full-year Business Accelerator that utilizes a cohort model and includes intensive business training and mentorship as well as quarterly community pitch contests. ...

Over the years, I’ve written about my belief in the importance of giving back to your communities and #givefirst . In this spirit, one of the key organizations my partners at Foundry Group have helped create and nurture is Pledge 1% . In 2007, we were a founding member in the predecessor organization to Pledge 1%, called Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado (or EFCO). EFCO started as an experiment here in Boulder, not unlike Techstars and Startup Week /Weekend that got their start in our backyard. In 2014, Pledge1% Global launched as a joint effort between Foundry Group, The Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado , The Salesforce Foundation and The Atlassian Foundation which we helped seed financially and continue to support. ...

The modern computer science education movement, commonly referred to as Computer Science for All or #CSforALL , has been gaining momentum nationwide since 2004 and is poised to be the most significant upgrade to the US education system in history. History is recorded and codified through the journalism, social media, and public policy, and tends to emphasize the voices of those already in the public eye. Moreover, we know that media frequently amplifies the loudest voice in the room, and often misses the contributions of those without social capital and power, including women and minorities. Recent films like Hidden Figures and The Computers show this phenomenon by documenting the lost history of women’s contributions to engineering and technology fields. ...