EXPERIENCE 136 | Making Impact at the Crossroads of Community and Philanthropy with Kristin Todd - President & CEO of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado

Kristen Todd joined the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado in April of 2021. Continuing a career of impact in the realm of philanthropy. Prior to joining the Community Foundation, she spent over 15 years with Daniels Fund based in Denver, but serving much of the Rocky Mountain region. And before that was with El Pomar Foundation in Colorado Springs. In today's episode, listeners will learn all about the behind the scenes of foundation work and particularly the differences in how these various organizations operate and what makes the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado so special. Their mission is to create a transformational community impact. By inspiring philanthropy and engaging the region, and they do this in multiple ways. Some are financial with endowments and donor-advised funds and more, and also cause matchmaking and the others are focused on convening and connections. The Community Foundation is a leading voice in embracing regionalism in Northern Colorado, helping diverse communities with their own agendas. Work together to solve difficult challenges. Kristen has had a high impact and interesting journey of every stop of the way, from growing up in New Orleans to college in Georgia, and then a season working with a lobbying firm in Washington, D. C., and far smarter than your host, so settle in and learn from and about Kristen Todd, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado. Welcome back to the Low Co Experience Podcast. My guest today is Kristen, um, Todd, I'm going to start over. I was like, crap, I forgot her last name. I'm glad you do that. Okay. Oh, straight faces. Welcome back to the Loco Experience. My guest today is Kristen Todd, and Kristen is the president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado. And Kristen, let's just get started by asking, what's the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado? Thanks, Kurt. Um, I'm really pleased to be here. So thank you for the invitation and, and ready to, yeah, just talk philanthropy here. So I don't know about that. But I love, I'm relatively new to this community. I've been here about two years. Okay. And love it. So it's one of my first questions is, I remember when you first got the role, There have been an interim for just a little while. Is that right? For the search? Yes, there was a board member who stepped in in an interim capacity. Uh, and in between when Ray Carraway, my predecessor, um, left to run another foundation in, in New Mexico. And so there was a little bit of time with an interim. And, uh, and I joined the foundation in April of 2021. Okay. Well, yeah, that's a, it's a great community. I suspect that. The more you learn, the more you love. It is. It is a really, it's a magical place. And, um, I'm one of those newcomers who wants to claim it as my own. So, and shut the doors after I've gotten here. Yeah, you're one of those. But, I get it. Yeah. We definitely have a lot longer commutes than we used to. And, uh, but, The term is pretty strong still it is it is and one of the um, one of the things that the community foundation really focuses on is the importance of thinking of ourselves as a region. And so that may come up in our, in our, in our talk today, but, but that, you know, so Thank you. Community Foundation of Northern Colorado, technically we're headquartered in Fort Collins, we serve all of Larimer County, but our work extends beyond that. And so we do a lot of work regionally that extends into Weld County and really looking at both Weld and Larimer as a region and how can we, the, the royal we, do a, do a, do a better job to in thinking about our, our challenges, um, regionally and, uh, you know, and certainly the, the big thorny challenges of our time are not going to be solved in silos and, and so how can we do that regionally? So I, I consider myself a, a citizen of Northern Colorado. We actually landed in Timnath. And so my family and I live in Timnath, work in Fort Collins and serve, um, and serve the entire region. Well, the event that we saw each other at this morning was a good example. In Greeley. The NoCoWorks announcement of the kind of a regional partnership to address labor challenges. Exactly. And I actually am pleased to be on the steering committee for NoCoWorks, which was, you're right, launched today, a big regional effort to really look at workforce, pipeline, education to workforce, uh, and to look at all of that regionally. And it's a perfect example of, um, I think one of the quotes, um, somebody Somebody said this morning, was that more than 40 percent of the residents of Northern Colorado cross boundaries every day. And so, we, we really are one, and we're a region, and so, so many of our neighbors maybe live in Greeley and work in Windsor, or live in Windsor and work in Loveland, or Loveland. Mm hmm. Right. Yes. It's obviously a regional economy and, and we can't have cities being like, well, you're stealing all the good labor force with your high wages and whatever your low housing costs. Right. I think our theory is a rising tide. Lips all boats. And so if one community is doing well, we're all doing, we're all doing well. And so how do we, how do we, how do we tackle some of our issues like water and affordable housing and workforce and, and some of those big issues that, um, that again, we will not solve individually. Um, by community, by community, and we really need to, to think more globally. And so you're a foundation, like, so how does a foundation go about addressing those things? I mean, you, you're a house for money, right? In many cases, right? So the way I answer that, Kurt, and, and, um, I have tried over the last two and a half years to perfect the 32nd elevator speech about the Community Foundation, and it's a challenge because we're a complicated organization. Um, but what I've come to is that this is that I talk about our work in two primary buckets. The first bucket is more traditional Community Foundation work. We are a charitable. financial institution and we house assets for the greater good. So we have about, um, just shy of 200 million under assets that we invest on behalf of donors in the community. I remember when you crossed 100 million. That wasn't that long ago. I know, exactly. We haven't rung the bell for 200 million yet, but we're very close. The bell's warmed up. The bell is warmed up. Shined up. Uh, and so we help. We, that rep, those dollars represent about 600 different funds and those funds represent people, families, companies that choose to do their philanthropy through the Community Foundation. And these are like donor advised funds? Donor advised, mostly donor advised funds. We have some scholarship funds. We have things called field of interest funds, which have a particular focus area like education or the environment. We have... designated funds where a donor can actually name the specific non profit and then it just funds that organization. I remember we had an endowment when I was with the Matthews House. We got one of those from you guys. We have about 80 different non profit organizations have either their endowment and or, uh, their operating reserves invested with us. So all of those assets which are invested for the greater good of the community, um, we serve, I laugh and say that we can be the philanthropic easy button. So we are the philanthropic advisor. We help organizations think about their impact, what types of things would they like to fund? Um, what, what, what problem in the community or in, you know, what societal Issue or challenge are they trying to solve? And then we help match them with organizations that are doing good work. Mm. And so that whole side of our business is traditional community foundation work. Um, philanthropic concierge, if you will. Yeah. Yeah. We're the philanthropic experts. We try to inspire philanthropy all for the good of the community. So I'm sure part of your job is just getting to know all of these great non-profit organizations. Absolutely. Who does what and who competes with who is awesome. sensitive a little bit. Love that part of my job. And so that is where a community foundation and this community foundation in particular, all of us are deeply rooted in the community. It's our job to know what's going on, what nonprofits are doing, what, what projects are happening, what capital campaigns, what initiatives are taking place so that we can bring those. Um, and as we get to know the donors, we, we learn what they're interested in and so we can play a little bit of a matchmaking role. So this is just a quick out of the blue question, but I've kind of wanted at times to have like a scholarship fund where if somebody had some hard times or something with their business or whatever, we could cover them through with membership for a season or something. Could I do something with Community Foundation for that? Like I'm not a nonprofit. Right. Well, you don't have to be a nonprofit to start a fund, but. For a donor advised fund in particular, the, the money that's distributed out of the fund is required by the IRS to be charitable. So it's easiest when it goes to a 501c3 nonprofit organization, because then by virtue of that organization receiving the funds, it's already been deemed as charitable. If the dollars want, if you want the dollars to go to something that is not charitable. Mm. A charity, then you can do it, but it takes a few extra steps to actually prove and track that it is charitable, um, if it's not going to a 501c3. a little on that tomorrow. Maybe we can have a long coffee someday. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So I've talked about the first bucket. Oh, yeah. And really the question that you asked me was, how do we get involved in regional, you know, community initiatives and what's a community foundation. So that's right. So that's the whole second bucket of work that we do. And outside of that work that we do with the donors and the funds and those assets under management, we consider ourselves a, a a community catalyst, a community convener, a community, a trusted advisor, where we've earned a reputation over the years. And we, um, in a good way, in a good way, we've had a good reputation. So we are almost 50 years old. And so we've earned, um, we've got a lot of credibility. We've got credibility of being an independent. entity that can come with some and sometimes enter into a conversation that might be thorny, it might be challenging, it might be difficult. And the Community Foundation, while we aren't the expert, we can be the organization that brings the experts together to talk about it. It doesn't even have to be a thorny issue. An example of something that we do quarterly that we've done, really, I think, for the last seven years is we bring Um, the mayors, the city managers and the mayors pro tem from Loveland, Fort Collins, Greeley and Windsor together quarterly just to Build relationships and talk and, and this, this started back when it was not fashionable to crossover I 25. Yeah. And collaborate. And does Windsor have to sit the little kids' table and Yeah. No. Okay. Just kidding. Windsor. Um, and so we've, we've, we bring them together. You're like, we'll sponsor this. We'll even pay for lunch and everything. We pay for, we pay for breakfast. This one happens to be breakfast. But, um, it's funny, like the, the meeting actually happens after the meeting, right? It's one of those, and you see that, um, These folks really have built a trust and built relationships and they're now talking about, Hey, let's get together and, and, um, and get all of our water people together and have some conversations about what we should do about water. Um, sustainability in our region. In fact, the water work that we've done was an offshoot of the, of the meeting of the mayors and city managers. And so we, we do that. We, um, we actually, um, sponsored a study on education pipeline to pathways to employment, which is what led me to be on the no co works steering committee. And so we worked with the chamber and the world trust to do an asset map of all of the all of the things happening in the region, the two county region that help kids find pathways to employment. And so apprenticeships and internships and getting a better understanding of who's doing what and recognizing that as a region, every Okay. School district doesn't have to offer the full right array of opportunities. But what if each, you know, what if every, everybody's got open enrollment? Basically everybody has open enrollment. Yeah. Or each. Particular areas take on something, take on a focus. So those are some examples of things that the Community Foundation can do on that regional scale. We're working right now on a community indicators report that will be regional in scope, which we think has never been done before. Is it a health check? Kind of. We're calling it, it, it, we've just named it and it's going to be called Northern Colorado Intersections. Okay. Pursuing regional well being. Well being, but in a very broad sense of how are we doing as a region, where are we doing well, where are we starting to see some cracks, what do we need to pay attention to if we want to continue to be this thriving, prosperous region, what do we need to pay attention to? And then that can be a catalyst for us to host some community conversations. Do you think of Northern Colorado as kind of together we can compete with the Denver's and the boulders of the Not that we want to compete with them, but that we're, we're stronger together with our closest friends. We are so much stronger together. And I really believe that. And, and I came from Denver, uh, and I lived in Denver. So you hope we win I was in Denver for, um, almost 20 years before I moved here. And Denver used to be held up. As the model of, um, you know, the metro Denver area, seven county region that worked collaboratively. I think Denver's really having some struggles right now. Um, But I think that, that looking at the model that worked then is something for us to, to look at. Yeah. Um, and just to, to really understand that we are stronger together. We brother, it's all gonna grow together. We're all gonna grow together. Like it or not, weld in Larimer counties have the highest growth rate in the state and some of the highest growth rates in the country. Well, a lot of the concentration is right along the county line of new growth and stuff, so. Exactly. So it's our reality and it's not growth. You know, growth is not good, growth is not bad, growth just is, and how do we, how do we want to respond to it as a community so that, um, we can get ahead of it and be proactive rather than reactive. So uh, can we talk about your team a little bit? Yeah. What kind of resources do you have in this shop to make all these amazing things come together? So we have a staff of 15. Oh, wow. Okay. And, um. That's bigger than it used to be. It's, yeah, it's grown. I mean, you're bigger than you used to be. So, I think as, as the assets have grown over the years. So does the staffing needs. Yeah. And I bet it was like seven or something the first time I was aware of the organization. Yeah. With Ray at the helm, of course. Yeah. So, I feel so fortunate. Um, the staff is amazing and, um, kind of a combination of folks who've been in the community a long time and some folks who are newer to the community. And also, uh. broad range of folks who have non profit experience, folks who have um, donor relations experience, um, just a really, really great group. Because ultimately kind of giving to you for the foundation, whether they have a specific cause in mind or not, is like a different option than giving directly to that organization for maybe its annual operating budget. Absolutely. And so what we like to kind of, and because people come to us and say, well, why would, if I want to support, Um, Project Self Sufficiency, or we'll use Matthew's House. The Fall Jam is next, uh, this Sunday. I'll let you know about that at the end. All right. Yeah. So if I want to support Matthew's House, why would I not just write a check to Matthew's House? Why would I do my philanthropy through the Community Foundation? And what I would say to that is, neither is right, neither is wrong. Those are both amazing answers. Helping nonprofits who are working to make the quality of life for others better in our community, win, win, win, win, right? If you will. If you are wanting to think about perhaps long term philanthropy, or long term legacy, or multiple organizations, or your philanthropy over time, um, it probably makes sense to think about it setting up a fund through the Community Foundation. Then you can choose the organizations that you want to give to. You can choose the Matthews House. One year you can choose a different organization. The next year it's year already all tax qualified and instead it's already all tax qualified. And so a lot of times what you'll find is somebody who, um, has what we call a qualifying event, which might mean that you've sold a business or you've got an influx of, inherited a bunch of money from, inherited a bunch of money. So do you want. Your money to go to your community or do you want the money to go to Uncle Sam? And so, so if you want the money to go tax planning event to the community, it can be a tax planning event. And so you set up your charitable fund in that period of time where you've got that influx of cash, you've got some tax benefit, and then you've set up your charitable account where you can do your giving over a period of years. Yeah. You get the full tax benefit in year one, you can add to it over the year. Well, you can kind of choose your assets too, right? Like if you've got some stock that's really appreciated, you can do some fancy stuff and not pay that capital gains, let the nonprofit not pay it either. That is awesome. That's another big time where we see people come to us where they want to avoid the big capital gains tax. I've got 20. Yeah, exactly. I've got... Um, a charitable asset, and then do your giving from there. From that pot. From that pot. For the rest of your life. For the rest of your life. Exactly. If it's big enough. Um, a lot of times other, another event that people would think about is in their estate planning. And so they want to think about their legacy after they're gone. And so they can set up a fund through the community foundation that can honor their legacy. Um, Absolutely. You don't do trust assets, though, necessarily, like for kids or minors or stuff like that. That's more like a Western Trust Western Trust Bank. Right. Gotcha. But you can, right, exactly. So, so a lot of, so I think that that would be the difference of going directly one time to an organization versus thinking about your charitable legacy or your longer term. So you're really focused on being, for, present in mind when those qualifying events happen in people's lives and having them know about you first, hopefully, and stuff. Right, right. And then, and then we can help them spend those dollars in the best way charitably, um, that fits their passion. Yeah. And, and introduce them in many times to the joy of giving. I had you, uh, Mention your team and then I didn't really ask you much about'em. Sure. What can you give kind of a, maybe you don't wanna call a people by name'cause you might forget somebody or whatever, but like, what do people do? Like, what are some of the key roles in the delivery of this mm-hmm. service that you described. Yeah. So I'll start with our, and you can mention'em too if you want, if want to. Yeah. Well, I'll start with our, our, our finance and ops team. Mm-hmm. Sure. Um, because so much of we, what we do as we've been talking about, it's complicated, right? Right. We've got the investment side. We also are. are processing, in many cases, something that could be complex assets, could be closely held stock, real estate. We actually took in a cell phone tower easement and then turned around and sold that and turned that into a charitable asset. We've taken in water rights, gold coins, mineral rights, you name it, real estate. So we've got a really great finance and ops team. Jordan Cook leads that, leads that team. Yeah. Yeah. He's awesome. They're all awesome. Um, and, and so we, so Jordan has a team, um, with Art Sidney, Clevenger is our controller, Brooke Vance is, um, our newest staff member who's, who's awesome, who's a staff accountant. And then, um, Cody Farrar is our operations, uh, officer and, and then Francie, uh, is our front desk, um, who is, yeah. She sounds like a super friendly person. She's amazing. Yes. She's amazing. I'll plug her. She has a little side catering business called Francie Pants. And so she takes care of us. I'll, uh, I'll pop in there sometime Francie and say, Hey, yeah, you should. Francie. It's been a while. Francie's awesome. So that's our ops, our finance and ops team. And then we have got our, um, our, um, development and philanthropic services. And so that's the group that is working, um, when we have new donors who are interested in coming in and setting up a fund and the group that, that stewards the, all of the existing funds and helps them connect to. to, um, their charities, their charities of choice, you know, last time I, we were talking, you really talked about homeownership being so important and stuff. If you ever thought about Habitat or whatever. Yeah, exactly. And, um, and so James Hamilton had heads that team, the development philanthropic services team, um, Mary Erickson, who you might know from Matthew's house. Yep. So she's just, um, switching roles. Actually, I wasn't the board when she was there, but yeah. What's she switching into? She's switching to work, um, in development. So she has been our communications officer for the last two years and, and is just assuming a new role, um, working with James's team in development. And then Elizabeth Messerly is also part of that team and working directly with our donors, uh, Carrie Miller and, um, Sandra are, philanthropic services, um, specialists. And so they are processing grants and working with donors and, and kind of making some of the detail work that making the wheels run. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and so that's our philanthropic services team. Then we have our communications and community engagement. So Claire Bouchard. Oh, sure. I'm sure everybody knows Claire. It's fun to go anywhere with Claire because Claire knows everyone. But so she's probably your community guide since you've been here. Absolutely. She's connected me to so many, um, important community organizations and people and helping me navigate where I should be and what I need to be doing. So Claire is amazing. She heads up our communications and community engagement. And, um, so that work that I described where we're convening and working and the community indicators report. Yeah. So, so Claire heads that up. Um, and then, um, Robin Goldie is our, also a part of our communications team. Cool. Hi, Robin. And I'm trying to think. I hope. And then, and then John Chaptolaine is, um, so we also, we haven't talked about this. Yeah. Yeah. The six far northeast counties as well. So all of, so John Chaptalain lives in Haxton and he is, he's our eastern arm. Is it a different foundation or the same foundation? It's the same foundation. Yep. They're a kind of a, they're a subset of us, but it's the same organization. He doesn't want to drive all the way to Fort Collins all the time. Yeah, exactly. But he, he's in once or twice a month. That's cool. I'm a farm kid from North Dakota, which is basically the same as. Sterling or, you know, that thereabouts in the, in the regional area. Yeah. So, uh, well, that's, uh, really a broad scope of. People, services, delivery, um, they're all... And one other person, she's on maternity leave, so I, that's why I wasn't thinking, but, um, but Catherine Buhols. Hi, Catherine. Who's, yeah, I think she's the one I'm... Glad you're back, or back soon. Not, but hopefully. By the time this... Come back! Hurry, come back, Catherine! By the time this episode comes out, you might be back on. So, um, you came from, uh, prior foundation work, if I remember right. That was Daniels? So, I was at the Daniels Fund for 18 years. Oh, wow. Yes. Can you describe that briefly? Yeah, you bet. Um, and it might make sense, I'll back up one step further if I may. And so, when I First moved to Colorado, it was in the mid nineties, and I moved to Colorado Springs. Okay. Um, to work for Elmar Foundation. Okay. So another, they're familiar with that lived spring private foundation for Yep. Okay. So, worked at Elmar for about eight years and that was really my, my entree into the. Philanthropic space and really understanding what a foundation is and what foundations do. Um, and so I was there in the Springs for eight years. And then when the Daniels fund got up and running, um, Phil Daniels passed away in the year 2000. so he was like the seed, just like probably Pomar was the seed. So, yep. So Spencer Penrose. Oh, Penrose. It's the, um, who's the one who started the benefactor, Spencer and Julie Penrose were the benefactors of El Pumar Foundation, uh, and then Bill Daniels, cable entrepreneur, cable pioneer. Um, he died in the year 2000 with no children and, um, four or five, I'm not sure, um, ex wives. That was always the, and he would, he would make jokes about how he wanted to come back to life as one of his ex wives because they were very well taken care of. Um, but. But the main, main, my point was that, um, that he left, he left his estate, which at the time was worth about a billion dollars to start the Daniels Fund. I see. And so not too long after that, I moved from Colorado Springs to Denver to start working for the Daniels Fund. Maybe we should, um, Move back even further because we like to jump in the time machine all the way back to like, uh, kindergarten sometimes. Oh, kindergarten. Yeah, where were you in kindergarten? Um, so I grew up in Louisiana. Oh, wow. I don't hardly hear the accent. I know. Well, here's, here's why. So, my mom grew up in Ohio. And my dad is Dutch. And so I grew up in a household, even though they met in New Orleans, and I grew up in New Orleans. They, neither of them had a, had a New Orleans or a Southern accent. The kids at school didn't rub off on you I guess not. I guess not. And then I, so, but I went to the, I went to college at the University of Georgia and picked up, apparently picked up a little bit of a Southern twang, because when I would go home to Louisiana to visit, they would make fun of my Southern accent. I'm like, what's wrong with this picture? Louisiana is making fun of Georgia, I don't know. But yeah, so I grew up in New Orleans. That's an interesting, uh, community to grow in. What were your folks doing there? Yeah, so my dad, um, was a, a maritime engineer. Okay. And so he came over to the states, um, in his early twenties. And ended up, he's the only one of his family that came to the states. So I grew up with all my, his side of the family, all in Holland. Very cool. had an opportunity to travel quite a bit to see family growing up. But because New Orleans is a port city, sure, that's what brought him to New Orleans. And he and my mom met at a party in the French Quarter. And, you know, so the rest is history. But, um, but yeah, so Yeah. It was a fun place to grow up. It's a different place to grow up than, you know, New Orleans obviously has a reputation. Sure. And it, well deserved, but it, but, you know, you don't experience that every day growing There's neighborhoods and it's not always Fat Tuesday. Exactly. All that. Right. So, but it was a really fun place to grow up. And my family's still there. So I get to go back and visit. You have siblings as well? I have one younger brother. Okay. Who's two years younger than I am. He's still there. My mom is still there. My dad passed away about four years ago. I just listened to a documentary series on the Mississippi River, and I really didn't... Recognize like 90% of like the Midwest agriculture comes down the river. It's a big a pile. Yeah. And, uh, and all the, it's important, the soil. And I didn't really realize the delta goes all the way up into Arkansas virtually and stuff. It's, it's a fascinating, the geography. Yeah. The geography's. Interesting. Yeah. Did you, uh, were you a city girl? Did you, uh, get out into the bayou or anything like that? I actually went on a swamp tour just last year when I was visiting for the first time. It was the first time I was, I was much more of a city girl. Um, and it's funny, I remember, I'll never forget this, when I first moved to Colorado and I was at El Pumar Foundation, um, part, I was part of the El Pumar Fellowship program for two years. And, um, part of the deal was everybody went on an outward bound trip together. Oh, okay. It would talk about outside of my comfort zone, and so it was... You were gonna pee outside? Yeah! Like, what? I have to sleep in a tent by myself? There was like this 24 hour solo, and I was... Oh, wow. Anyway, it was, um... It stretched you, it sounds like. It had an impact. Oh, it stretched me. Yeah, the second, the first year I hated it. I was so uncomfortable and I just, everything was new and different and stretched and outside of my comfort zone. Um, so I made a commitment that year two, I was going to go into it with a better attitude and really embrace it. And I did, and I had a great time. I like it. Um, tell me about, uh, young Kristen, uh, I'm imagining, uh, a student starting at first grade. Guilty as charged. Yeah, no, I was a good student. Um, I was, you know, I was one of those kids that was always a rule follower and a people pleaser. And so I always, you know, did what I was supposed to do. My brother, not so much. It's the job of a younger brother. Exactly. Yeah. I think that the older sibling, you know, I was, I think the quintessential older, older sibling. Um, but yeah, I was, I was a good kid. In sports, were you, uh, involved with business? A little bit of sports. Um, I was, did, played softball as a kid. Did some gymnastics. Oh, really? Um, synchronized swimming when I was, when I was really young. That's pretty cool. Which is something different. Yeah. Um, yeah. And then I, um, went to the University of Georgia. Okay. Yeah. You mentioned. Yep. To, for my undergraduate degree. Was that a big adventure for you? It was. I, um, so I remember at the time I wanted to go, all, most of my friends were going to go to LSU. That was sort of like the path. And I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to go to LSU, but I did want to go to a big SEC football school because it's just so much a part of like growing up in the South. I mean, if you haven't been to an SEC football game or grown up in the South. You probably don't know what I'm talking about, but I was just in a conversation where like people were talking about Auburn and Alabama, Auburn people that Alabama bumped into each other. Bar. Yeah. Clemson. Yeah. I mean there's something really magical about s e c football. Yeah. And so Fair. That was, I wanted to do that. So I ended up, I had some, my mom's side of the family lived in and around Atlanta. Oh, cool. And so I ended up, um, and here's, yeah, family close and here is, I will give you a dirty little secret. Um, yeah, so I was a good student, but when I was in high school, I was a little bit lazy and I was, I hated to write. I was, um, it just was really something I hated to do. And I, part of the reason why I ended up at the University of Georgia is because I didn't have to write an essay as part of my application. That's hilarious. It's like super embarrassing. Oh, they I didn't have to write an essay. And so I was like, oh, we'll go there. Um, it's super embarrassing. Um, but. Anyway, it was great. Loved it. Had family nearby. It's kind of an ideal situation where you're definitely way out of the nest. You're, whatever, six hours away or something. About six or seven hours away. And have met, I was in a sorority, and so did... did that whole, um, did that whole part of college. And some of my very, very best friends, probably not some of my very, very best friends to this day are sorority sisters from Georgia. And in fact, I'm headed out on Friday to a girl's trip. Yeah. My husband keeps saying like it used to be once a year and this year I think we're on number five. Just. It just keeps, you know, just circumstances are what they are. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. So, great, great friends and great time in Georgia. Yeah. Yeah. Can you describe, um, that scene there? Is that a college town? Yep. Athens, Georgia. Oh, yeah. I've heard of that. And just, um, Not too far from Atlanta, I guess. About an hour northeast of Atlanta. Sure. Just It's kind of Fort Collins ish, um, in a way, far enough away from the big city, far enough away. This, you know, really quaint university town. It is very humid, um, and music town. So REM, B 52s, Indigo Girls, those were all the, the bands that were popular. And from there, when I was there, in fact, I remember sitting at a bar in Athens, Georgia next to Michael Stipe. Wow. Very cool. Yeah. And he's a weird dude. I'm sure. He's a really weird dude. Um, but really great, you know. I'm sure the B 52s guy is a pretty weird dude too. Probably. Never met them in person. Fair. But, um, but yeah. So that was a fun time to be there. The football team was not good when I was there. And, you know, now... Rarely. We're too... Yeah. You know, two years in of being national champion, so it's good to be a Georgia Bulldog right now. I've always cheered for Georgia. Yeah. Yeah. Just seems like kind of one of the, you know, always tough, but never quite the winner. So to see them be the winner, uh, a couple of times. I took my son, just this past January, we were in LA for the national championship game. Yeah. With some of my college girlfriends. That was one of the girls trips. Fair enough. I like it. So what were you, uh, studying? And uh, what was that launching point from there? So, yeah, interesting. I, I have a really, really useful degree in art history. Yeah. Um, and. I know a lot of, uh, waitresses and bartenders. I know. So. Um. Excuse me. I think, it's funny when I think back to that time. I started in the business school. I thought I was going to be an accountant. And then got there and I was like, Oh, these classes are kind of boring. Like I want to take all those interesting history and literature and you know, all of the things. And so I had a, I took a, an elective class in art history and I just fell in love. And I was like, and I thought at the time I would go to law school. Which, ultimately, I did not. But I thought, it doesn't really matter what my undergraduate degree is in because I'm going on to graduate school, probably law school, and so I just decided to make that my major. What made you think law school already? I, well, because I need a plan. I'm, I'm, I'm somebody that needs a plan. Yeah, something to point toward. I need something to point toward. You can change it, but you need to point toward it. And so I think, in hindsight, I think my, my plan for law school was more about needing a plan than it really was. Right. That I wanted to be a lawyer. I didn't put a lot of thought into it. Yeah. Yeah. I went to college for engineering because I needed a plan, kind of, and everybody said, well, you're smart at math. You should be an engineer. Okay. I don't know what that means. Right. Right. Um, so yeah. So degree in art history. Um, moved to Washington, D. C. out of, right out of school. Okay. With some friends. Was convinced that the, that the. Demand for art history majors is high there. Exactly. Well, I thought the Smithsonian would be like lining up to hire me, but. Internship, at least. Exactly. So, um, and I ended up starting working for a, um, a lobbying firm. Oh, wow. And, um, That was a way to kind of be adjacent to law, I suppose, or whatever. A little bit. Yeah. And it was just, I mean, frankly, to be completely candid, it was just a job. Yeah. And my friends that we, we, a bunch of us moved there together and a lot of them were working on the Hill. Yeah. And, and I was offered a job in a lobbying firm, and I was like, oh, this sounds interesting. Oh, they like, uh, Not to be offensive, but I'm sure it was true, uh, tall, well spoken, beautiful women that charm people. Well, here's where, here's where this is interesting too, I think, um, because when you made a comment earlier, I don't sound like I'm from Louisiana. So when I moved to DC is when I think I really realized I had a little bit of a southern accent Sure. That I had picked up, and it was where I made a conscious decision that I was like, okay, I'm tall, I'm blonde, I'm a woman with a southern accent. Right. I can do whatever I want. do I want, but do I want that? Yeah. You know, do I want that? Interesting. Like so did you move to DC in part to get. No, but when I moved to D. C. I realized that I didn't want to have a southern accent. I wanted to be taken seriously. And I think sometimes when you're a woman and blonde and you show up with a southern accent, that maybe people don't take you seriously. Yeah, probably. I've always taken you seriously, for what it's worth. Yeah, well thanks. But I didn't notice your accent. So I made a conscious effort to lose it. Yeah. And over the years, it's, it's, you know, I think it's gone away. Although my husband says when I have a couple glasses of wine, it comes back. Girl's trip, it's thick. Exactly. Well, and plus you're talking with your Georgia friends, probably. Right. Or at least other Southern friends. Right. So, well, that's fun. It sneaks in. So, into this lobbying firm you go, and long time there before this chapter? No, I was there, so I was there only two years, and part of that time was, so this was the um, early 90s. Okay. Yeah. And. George Bush was running for re election against Bill Clinton, so it was the 1992 presidential election, and through my work at the lobbying firm, I was able to, had an opportunity to go work on the presidential campaign for George Bush. Okay. Um. And so George Bush, senior Bush 41 and, um, and I was like, yeah, like that's cool. Yeah, that'd be cool. And so I did advance work, which means that I traveled around the country, lived in a suitcase and, um, was always maybe five or six days ahead of the president setting up the logistics for campaign events and working with secret service and the, uh, the person who runs a recycled cycles now who owns recycled cycles. was Chief of Staff for Rick Scott from Florida. Ok. So, and that's where he started his, cut his teeth in politics was doing advance work and he described it all to me and I'd never really heard about it, but it was pretty cool. Grueling. It's grueling. Really physically challenging. And you'd never want to do it if you were like older and had a family, right? Yeah, right. But I'm, you know, I'm 22 year old kid right out of college and I was like, sure. Pretty challenging, new city every time, all that. Yeah, yeah. But it was fun and it was exciting and um, and I think that's... Um, where, you know, certainly I didn't continue in politics, but it was, it was part of, I think, realizing that I want to be involved in policy work and, or kind of the greater good and what's going on in the community. Yeah, exactly. Um, and so, um, So Bush lost that election to Clinton, and so... Partly because of me. I voted for Ross Perot. Oh! That's when I first wrote. Okay, yeah. Shame on you. Well, I don't apologize. Yeah, yeah. Everything. Well, that was Perot, right? Uh huh. That was, yeah, that was the year that, yeah, that was Perot. Um, so anyway, so that, it was a great experience, and then I was kind of faced with, okay, now what? What's next? And so, um, another door opened, and I picked up and moved to Connecticut. Okay. Because, you know, when... When there's a shift in president, particularly when it's a shift in party, the whole town changes. And so, um, so I, there really wasn't many opportunities for me in Washington. You've been branded. So, um, so The lobbying firm was okay, but the Yeah. Or maybe, I don't know. Yeah. Um, so another connection that I had with the lobbying firm, though, Connecticut had just won the bid to host the 1995 Special Olympics World Games. Oh, cool. So this is now 1992. Um, the games were going to be three years, um, three years hence, and they were just putting together a staff to start organizing for the, for the games. And so I was like, all right, that sounds interesting. So I applied for and, um, and, um, got that position and moved to Connecticut. And it was a three year job. And I think that's really like, as I think back on my trajectory and where I really caught the nonprofit mission driven. being part of something bigger than myself was, was that experience working for Special Olympics. Very cool. How was that? Like, like how many people and like, what kind of a production is that behind the scenes? I mean, three years in the making. That's what I was surprised to know how long it was. Um, yeah, largest sporting event in the world in 1995, we had 7, 000 athletes from 135 different countries, and more than 100. Wow. Clinton was there. Wow. Um, he opened opening ceremonies. He has all these Blowfish. Yeah. Oh. Um, so it was. Before he went country. Yeah, before he went country. And, um, and so my job was, we had a tall ships festival. We had all kinds of like ancillary, um, special events and activities and, um, entertainment that were. you know, kind of attached to the games, like a week or a couple of weeks long, it was 10 days from opening close opening ceremonies to closing ceremonies. And yeah, and that was, I think, very formidable to me in terms of, of being again, like being a part of something very impactful and mission driven. And I, uh, when I was a young, so I was, I was a shorty, I was five foot one until end of my sophomore year. And then I all of a sudden got tall my last two years of high school. But after that happened, you know, I kind of had this, you know, I was tall, fairly good looking, extra smart, funny, well liked, and I had a guilt about that almost. And that's part of, part of the reason I've always kind of been. intentional about giving back in various ways and through nonprofit service and ambassadorships and stuff. Did you have any of those kinda inklings out of curiosity? No, I think it was different for me. I think it was, um, and I wouldn't have recognized it at the time. But I think again, sort of upon reflection, it, it filled something it filled, I wouldn't say a hole, but it, it filled my cup. It was, it was fulfilling in a way that I hadn't experienced before. I mean, and, you know, I, not that I was selfish, but that's the word that comes to mind. I mean, I grew up with You know, a fair bit of privilege and, you know, didn't really want for anything and, and so to, to really recognize that, um, that there's so much need out there and that Um, you can and should step up and, and have impact on other people. And so I think that, that that was what, you know, that, that I really felt and internalized through that experience. Yeah. And I knew that that's... It was more of a values hierarchy than a, than a, than a guilt response or whatever like that. That's fair. And so I, I thought, you know, this is what I want to do. And I don't know exactly what that looks like. Sure. It's, it wasn't about, though I loved working Yeah. Yeah. with people with disabilities. And, and, and that was a big part of it. And I, I played on a unified soccer team and it was, you know, I did all the things, but what I realized it was for me, it was more about being a part of a, of a, of a, of a cause and being part of something that felt real and impactful. Uh, and so that's, It's really driven, you know, from that point forward, right, exactly. From that point forward, then I, you know, then my next job was El Pumar Foundation. And so then we've picked up where we kind of made full circle. How did you find that role and what moved you to Colorado? Were you targeting Colorado? So I, um, met my first husband in Connecticut when I was there for Special Olympics. And so by the end of the games, we were engaged and had decided we were going to, you know, We were gonna, we were off on an adventure and so, um, we were both looking for jobs. You knew you had a certain timeline on your job. Yeah, exactly. My job was a three year job. And so at the end of that three years, um, and so we started looking and he ended up, um, Uh, being offered a position first in Colorado, in Colorado Springs with USA Hockey, um, so the national governing body. And so we picked up and moved to Colorado Springs and, and then I started, you know, subsequently started working at El Pumar Foundation. Yeah. Yeah. That's, uh, probably a quite a bit of culture shock from anything you'd experienced before. I mean, you had the South or whatever New Orleans is, Georgia, but UGA influence and then DC land, which is. It's a whole different planet. A whole different. And then all of a sudden out into, uh. The Wild West. Kind of the Wild West. And even Colorado Springs is wild because it's got like. Um, you know, parks that you can get lost in, in the middle of town and stuff like that. And the mountains right there looming. I hadn't been, um, hadn't spent much time in the, in the West. I had been out skiing once when I was 10 to Keystone. And I remember, you know, I, it was so impressionable at that time. And I just remembered like driving West on I 70 in the mountains, it's just like, um, and so yeah, it was pretty amazing to, to think now I'm going to live here. And, um, And so I have to start, you know, adopting the Western ways and outdoors and hiking and biking and all of the things. And I already shared my first experience with Outward Bound. So I didn't embrace it initially, but I've certainly embraced it since then. Very good. Very good. And how many years at El Palmar? I was there eight years. Okay. Um, were you in a leadership track right away or? So I participated, El Pumar has a two year fellowship program. And so it is a, it's a training kind of a, a program for recent college graduates where you are the staff of the foundation, but there's also an educational component built in. So I did that for the first two years. That's how they keep underpaid people. Exactly. It's like a long term internship. There you go. Um, and then I was asked. to stay on. And so by the time I left, I was part of the senior staff and was overseeing the grant making at Alpamar Foundation and then was recruited to come up and do the same thing at the Daniels Fund and oversee the grant making. So Like Daniel's fund gets popped with this billion dollar inheritance, and I assume that everything's kind of mission driven almost, like somebody wrote some notes about what they want to do the money with, and then it's, you figure it out, or? You figure it out. Um, interesting. So, and I'll, I'll, I'll give you sort of the compare and contrast. So at El Pomar Foundation, Spencer Penrose died in 1937. His direction that he left was do good for the people of Colorado. That was it, that was it. Bill Daniels, on the other hand, dies in the year 2000, leaves his estate with, you know, with so... Um, with, with an amazing amount of specificity. So he said that of the, um, of the charitable distribution each year, 30 percent will fund a scholarship program. 70 percent will fund a grant making program. The grant making areas that I want you to look at are aging, amateur sports, um, um, alcohol and substance abuse, disabilities, education, youth development, homelessness. So very specific. And he also said, I'd like you to fund in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah. And he laid out the certain percentages that would go to each, each state. So, so just kind of interesting. Cause he had lived in those various places or that's where those companies. Exactly. Those were places that were important to him. And, um, and so he was very specific about... He's like, my legacy is this fund. It is. So it's going to do what I say. Yeah. A little bit. And as it should, right? And with a big broad net. Right, right. I mean, it funds a lot of things. And I would say to kind of continue the, the compare and contrast a little bit. So both El Pumar Foundation and the Daniels Fund, both private foundations, one donor. You're, you're really working on behalf of the legacy. You're not trying to get more money from other people. Not trying to get money. And the earnings. Right. And El, um, El Pumar was statewide, so all of Colorado. Daniels Fund for states. And then fast forward to the Community Foundation and Community Foundations are different animals. But I love it. And what I love about it is deep connection to one community. And so at the Daniels Fund, well, while the Um, resources are vast and the grant making budget that I oversaw was 50 million a year. Right. Like how do you, you'd go pretty fast if you did that here. Yeah, exactly. Um, but even with those resources, when you're funding all of those areas in all of those states, I often felt like it's harder to see the impact and, you know, often felt like you were, you know, a mile wide and an inch deep, whereas a community foundation is about a community. Yeah. And you are deeply. Rooted and looking for impact in the community. You're working with the donors. You are helping them with their philanthropy, but it's about the well being of one community. Yeah. And I really am enjoying that. I first got more aware of the Community Foundation when I was serving on the board of the Matthews House, actually, and we got a grant for I think we've spent most of the price of a Stratop planning session. Right. With Mark Orfin. With Mark Orfin. And it was amazing and, and Stratop's amazing. I just connected with a, with a Stratop facilitator the other day, and it reminded me of that season. And it made a big difference for the organization, uh, you should know, or whoever is responsible for that decision. I'm glad to hear that. We've just recently relaunched that program. Oh, is that right? And expanded it. So what we realized is that not. Every organization, not every nonprofit organization, is ready for STRATOP. At least not a full one, yeah. Right, so, so we still have that opportunity with Mark, and um, and you can apply, a nonprofit can apply, and the foundation will pay for half, and, and the nonprofit pays for half, and you can work with Mark. And we came up with, with five other options that are with different consultants, so not Mark, but other people where, you know, a nonprofit who really wants to work on their digital marketing or a non profit that needs to do some change management and some staff building and team building or um, wants to work on their, their systems and their, their data infrastructure. Um, so there's different, different offerings, um, for different non profits. Now do you... Like, how do you decide who those partners are, or whatever? Those consultants? Yeah, kind of. So, we started with Mark, because we had a relationship with Mark through the Stratop, and then we, um, looked at, we did a survey of non profits to see what kinds of things would be helpful. In addition to a Stratop, maybe some smaller pieces. What other things would be helpful. And then we went out and found some local consultants. Cool. I get it. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. So, um, I guess what I'm hearing from you is, this is, in some ways, More fun, even though the, the Daniels. Job had a lot of impact. This is a lot easier to see the impact. Mm-hmm. I would say that. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and you've, and you're, you are part of the impact because you're part of the community. Yeah. And it's a little bit different where, you know, I wasn't recommending grants in another state. You're actually recommending grants for your own community. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and, and even just, even in a city like Denver, it's big enough. Mm-hmm. but Northern Colorado, you know, Fort Collins and Northern Colorado is, is. small, especially when you've got kind of an eagle's eye view, like the Community Foundation has to have to know what's going on. It's, it is, um, that is one of the things I love most is that eagle's eye view and being able to connect people and, and efforts that sometimes when people are so, you know, when passionate people are so far in the weeds doing the great work that they do, they 30, 000 foot level. And so I think that's another role the Community Foundation can play. So, what's, uh, some of your goals for the Community Foundation in terms of your role, your team, is there other things that you want to start doing that you're not doing now, or things like that? Yeah, well, um, I hope my team's not listening because... They say I have too many ideas and too many new things I want to do. But we've started a lot of new things. Um, but I'll start with the framework. When I first got here, we spent some, the board spent some time with me and we, we looked at, um, what is our 10 year vision? And so. Clearly, the foundation has a long history, almost 50 years, but let's, let's look to the future and stand on the shoulders of who came before me and others, but not look at 50 years when it comes as an ending line or anything like that. Let's, let's create some like big audacious, some, you know, BHAG goals, the big, the Jim Collins, big, hairy, audacious goals. And so our big, hairy, audacious goals for the next 10 years are to more than double our impact in the community. Um, and that means that we are currently granting, um, well, let me back up and say over the last 10 years, the community foundation granted about 85 million into the community. Over the next 10 years, we want to grant 225 million into the community. And in order to do that, we've got to grow our assets under management to 500 million and we're in 10 years and we're currently just shy of 200. And. Again, it's not about the money. It's not about having more money under assets, but that's how we'll have more impact in the community. And so we want to invite more donors and fund holders to choose to do their philanthropy through the Community Foundation so that we collectively can make a bigger difference in the community. I'm an idea guy too, and one initiative that you might consider, if you haven't already, you may have. We've had a lot of people moving here, buying houses with cash that are from California, New York, whatever, and they don't feel like they're part of the community at all, although they love it. Like, if you could figure out who those people are, you could give them an opportunity to both find community and bring their substantial assets to bear. Absolutely. So I think we're slowly trying, if you have any ideas or, you know, how to find them, but one story I'll share is that, um, there are a lot of families, wealthy families moving into the TPC neighborhood in Berkley. And so one of our board members, um, lives out there and, um, and brought. Uh, a woman, uh, connected us to a woman who lives, who lives there and was a new resident there. And she wanted to start an organization called NoCo Cares and start a group giving, a giving group of the neighbors in, in the TPC neighborhood. And so they've raised thousands of dollars. They're doing it through the Community Foundation. And then they, um, they have lunches. Once a quarter and invite nonprofits in so they're learning about the nonprofits in the community and then they're collectively supporting those nonprofits and it's, you know, it's It's neighbors in that community that probably otherwise would have more trouble connecting, um, into the community. Well, people are lonely and, you know, the, the leaders and owners of business are sometimes lonely for peers and wealthy people are sometimes lonely for peers. And so being able to build community, uh, in that way. We've also seen, speaking of business, some great, um, examples of businesses that do their employee engagement or their employee giving or their corporate, foundation, their corporate giving through the community foundation. So a company can set up a donor advised fund and then use a committee of employees to decide where the money goes. Oh, that's really slick. So, uh huh. So Group Gives, um, the group real estate is a great example of that and it's called Group Gives. Yeah. And, um, and so the company contributes, the individual brokers contribute into the fund and then they, and then they collectively decide and they not surprisingly have chosen to work on affordable housing. Yeah. Um, but so it, there's a great model, great models of. companies doing their corporate philanthropy and how little can you work with, like 10, 000? Yep. You can set up, you can set up a donor advice fund. You can set up with 25, 000, but you can set up, um, a designated fund for 10, 000. Um, so there's different. Yeah. Different, different types, different levels. Yep. You can endow it. You can not endow it. There's really, I think what, one of the things I really, really love about the Community Foundation is that this notion of making philanthropy more accessible. So you do not have to be, you know, a billionaire like Bill Daniels. to be a philanthropist. Anybody can be a philanthropist. And, um, you can set up a donor advice fund for 25, 000. And many people will say, wow, I thought it was out of my league, but I could do that. Um, or my family could do that or my business could do that. Um, and for some people that still is. That still is unattainable. However, then there are other ways to be involved and like the, like the group giving model where you get together with, you're part of a team that assembles the 25, 000 and then does some group, some group giving. Um, one of the ideas and things that we will launch in this next, um, in this next year. Yeah, exactly. Um, which reminded me because we're, we feel like there's an opportunity. Yeah. To, um, well, this community has been so blessed with. Pillars of the community, generous folks who have helped, you know, really steward this community over the years. And what are we doing as a community to pass the baton? And so I think that's a role the Community Foundation can play is how do we, how do we encourage the next generation of philanthropists? And so. Specifically, we're targeting young professionals, so kind of the 20 to 40, um, you know, loosely, um, age group. They still need to buy a house and they have some other things, But how can we get them thinking about it? And, and so one of the things we're looking at, at kicking off in the new year is, um, is kind of a leadership Fort Collins kind of model where a group of young philanthropists would, would join together and go through a curriculum for a year. And then they would all pay a membership fee. Let's and we haven't put final numbers to it. But let's just say hypothetically, if each person put in 1, 000, and then there were 20, of the cohort was 20. So then you have 20, 000. And then we get that matched by another generous donor. Yeah. And so then the group of young philanthropists, young professionals have 40, 000 to learn about different things in the community and make a grant. Yeah. Um, and then we can probably in what we're thinking is that we can incentivize. Would it be a class or would you stay in it? be 4, 000 a year in or 500 bucks a year or something. Right. So we're, we're playing with some ideas on how to, yeah, the alumni rate, or maybe if you then, you know, if you set up your own donor advice fund within three years of having gone through the program, maybe we have some matching funds from a donor that can help people get to the 25, 000. Because there's got to be other people. Inspired to inspire others to give. Right. So we're playing with some ideas, but we absolutely see a role of the community foundation is to inspire new philanthropy. Do you think that that youngest generation doesn't have the same instinct of kind of gratitude giving As has been in most of our, you know, in our generation and before, probably it's, I hate to say different. I, I mean, I hate to, to use broad sweeping generalizations. Yeah. Um, I see. I see things that are, that are hopeful and inspiring and I also see things that cause me concern. Yeah, fair. So I see a little bit of both. Alright, fair enough. Um, what do you think the future of uh, Community Foundation is beyond that? A hundred million. Do you have some other like strategy plans? What, what are those? Mm-hmm. I get or com combo question perhaps, but what are those hard spots within our regional mm-hmm. kind of world right now that are on your mind, if not already in your funding pipeline? Yeah. Well, I think that, I wonder in this world that we find ourselves in where it is increasingly. Um, what role could the Community Foundation play to bring people together? Yeah. Um, and, and, and I don't know that, that's, that's just a, you know, a concept in my head at this point. I see a problem. But there's a problem. And how can, you know, how can we help, you know, With civil discourse and, and there's probably risk in it, in it too. Mm-hmm. because they're gonna think like, Ooh, which side are you on of this quabble? Right, right, right. And I think we, you know, we again, are really careful to say we're neutral. Right, right. We are. We're Switzerland, maybe we're Switzerland, Um, but let's, and I don't think this community is as bad as some communities. No. I think we really do a good job of that. And you know, as we continue to grow and become more diverse, I think that there are, You know, there could easily be cracks in that and reinforcing behaviors and silos. You know, I, I certainly tend to look at X posts and different things and whatever and like things that then therefore feed the content that I am fed, you know, and it's hard for me to even, I have to go looking for. the other side, right? So I don't know I wonder if I you know, I think the Community Foundation has a role there to play I'm not sure what that looks like yet. Yeah, I think that You know, there's this whole new, whole, um, world, I mean, donor advised funds, if you look at the national statistics, growing like wildfire in terms of, of, of, of charitable vehicle. Vehicle. When I first learned about him, I was like, Oh, that's sweet. Yeah. And so, and, and, and now that, and, and it's a largely unregulated. charitable vehicle. So, um, our friends in Washington are looking at, um, I think, I think they're in, yeah, I think it's a, um, it's a solution in search of a problem in my opinion, but, um, but there's certainly some, some energy in Washington. And so that takes some of our time because we've got to, we've got to look at that. Call your old friends at the lobbying firm. Exactly. There you go. Um, but then there's also the, all of this opportunity about, You know, impact investing and how to really creatively use the assets that we have. And it doesn't always have to be a direct grant in the way that we know it. It can be loans. It can be, um, you know, so that you're recycling the dollars. It could be some of, some of each. And so are there maybe some creative things that philanthropy can do in more of a venture philanthropist mindset? That's intriguing. And that, that could have impact. So I think that's an area worth exploring. Another question I wanted to ask is how, the investments that you make, I mean, you're buying stocks and bonds and mutual funds and stuff like that, I suppose, and you've got fund managers and whatever. Is it all one big pot, like everybody throws their money in your pot, or is it a mix of things based on your risk tolerance and stuff? So you, um, as a fund holder, you get to choose one of three. Um, and so they're very creatively named the conservative balanced and growth pools. Ooh. Yeah, I know. Like we really thought hard about this. Your caterer girl named that a little fancier. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and so in our, um, our, Um, investment advisors are, um, FNBO, which we've used for two, more than two decades. And so the dollars are all invested in those three pools, but they're all thrown together in those three pools and managed as three pools. So your overall blended return on assets is kind of a mix of the, or whatever, an average of those three pools and that's kind of all your donors decisions. Right. And if you, exactly. And so you, as a, as a donor, you can choose one of those three pools. And then we have a investment policy statement that provides guardrails and guidelines to Kurt Spieler and his team at FNBO that do the investments. And, um, and so, and, and And you could replace FNBO if you wanted to if they started being jerks or quit performing well. Yeah, but we love them. Don't worry Kurt. Um, but no, but yes. And then we also have, um, we have a carve out of, um, alternatives and we use a company in Denver called, um, Innovest. Oh, like other types of things that don't fit specific stocks or things like that. So a little bit more, you know, hedge funds and private equity and, and things a little bit outside of the. Yeah. Of the norm. And so, yeah. The bank, uh, comfort zone. Yeah. So we, so we have a different company that does that. Fair enough. And, and yeah. And our philosophy is that, you know, these are already charitable dollars. Right. And so we want to invest them for, for conservatively in general for preservation. Just do it. Like we want to have growth, but we also want, we don't want to lose principle. So that's the overarching philosophy. Other um, things about this world of foundations and philanthropy that you would have our listeners know? Um, I think, I think take to heart that anybody can be a philanthropist and it is a, it's a big kind of scary, intimidating word, I think, but really it just means love of mankind and it means giving back and that can be, that can be money. Yeah. I tell people sometimes that I, I work, I'm working really hard cause I'm trying to. Study to be what I want to really be one day as a philanthropist. Yeah. But time, talent, treasure? Well, yes, I'm giving some of that away, but not very much treasure yet. Yeah. It doesn't have, but that's my point. It doesn't have to be treasure. It can be time. It can be talent. It can, it can be a little bit of treasure. And I would say to all the listeners to say, start small and, and, and, you know, philanthropy I think is a learned behavior. You don't just know how to do it. And so, um, if you want to be engaged and you haven't had a model for somebody to show you how to do it, then, you know, Let us help you. That's what we're here for. I like it, is to help people understand philanthropy. Okay. So now, um, Uh, we always talk about faith, family, and politics, so we're moving into those closing segments now. Okay. And you can take them in any order and say as much or as little as you would like. Okay. So, uh, one, I'll just say, and we're back. Okay. Does it matter where I put this? No, you can put it there. Okay. If you're more comfortable. You want me to put a little bit more in there? We've got another 40, 30 minutes. Okay. Yeah, especially the swing is very easy. That doesn't make any noise to speak of. If you start touching this thing, it's like noisy. Okay. And we're back. Now we get to enter into the dreaded closing segments of the Loco Experience. I've heard rumors. Or exciting. Some of them have been pretty interesting, for sure. Um, so we always talk about faith, family, and politics. And, uh, take them in any order. And as little or as much, uh, you're already Switzerland. So everybody knows that. But, uh, tell me about what that does. What those topics inspire for you, or where would you like to start? Sure. Why don't we start with family? Sure. A lot of people do that. Yeah. Talk to me about, you mentioned a first husband already, but I, I haven't heard about how, when you kicked him to the curb and when you found the new one or anything like that. So, um, yep. So, uh, let's see. I think we divorced in 2001. Okay. So, been a while. Not too long after you moved to Colorado, I guess. And, um, and so we had one son, Liam, who is 24, almost 25. He lives in Greeley. Okay. And, uh, and so, and then I remarried in 2018. Oh, wow. 17 years or something like that. Uh, yeah. No, I'm sorry, 2008. Oh, I lost a decade in there. Still. Seven years is a good, long time As a single mom, I guess. Yep, yep. So single mom for, for a bit there. And, um, and my. Well, here's an interesting tidbit. Both my first husband and my second husband's name is John. Oh, that's fun. Well, there's a lot of Johns out there, but yeah, that is a pretty interesting, uh, I suppose when you met him, you were like, kind of sweet of him, and you're like, oh, John. Yeah, I know. Actually, my, uh, my wife's twin sister is Erin. And she, uh, divorced from, um, Josh, my friend Josh, who lives in Colorado Springs, actually. And now he's married to Erin. Yep. Uh, also a beautiful blonde lady. And he just couldn't get away from the Erins. You got the Johns. Funny how things, yeah, funny. So, um, so yeah. So, so remarried in 2008. Okay. Um, when I moved to, so I met, The, my new, my current John, the New John, um, when I moved to Colorado. And so the story there is he's a petroleum geologist and has spent most of his career in oil and gas. Um, but of course there's boom and busts with oil and gas, and so he was, had decided he was going to give real estate a try um, and that was just when I was moving from Colorado Springs to Denver and a mutual friend of ours introduced us cuz I needed a realtor so our joke is that he sold me a house and then he moved in I like it that's, uh... and... Nice of you to trust a startup realtor too. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, so that's the best thing you can do for a friend, by the way, is refer them to your friends when they're just getting started in real estate or in investing kind of thing. It's so hard to get started in those careers. It is hard. Yeah. It's all referrals. So it was charmed, uh, right from the start with John. Yep. So, um, and so do you guys have more children too? We have one. Um, so we have a. We have a whole pass of kids. So John has four kids. Okay. From previous marriage. Yeah. And I have Liam one all older. Yeah. And then we have Charlie, who's 12. Okay. And so Charlie's in seventh grade and he's got a few more years with he yet probably got a few, yeah, few more years. He's at um, he's at the new Tim Middle High School. Okay. And oh yeah, I go by there pretty regular. Yeah. He's on the middle school JV football team. Love it. Uh, and so that's where I've. I'm running carpool, it's my night to pick up all the kids from, from, um, football practice. And uh, yes, it's been a good move for our family. He's liked it. The transition to Fort Collins, he really, he's got a bunch of great buddies. He's a sports kid. And so he's got a bunch of good friends and they are all, you know, they play currently on the football team together, but they, you know. Um, but yeah, it's been a really nice transition and so we all really love it up here. Did John stick in real estate or did he move back into petroleum? No, so he went back into oil and gas, which he did. So yeah. So again, we laugh and say that, you know, temporarily, so he could find, yeah, so we could meet. And then he went back into oil and gas and then frankly, oil and gas is, is a industry that, Yeah. He might get laid off again in the future. Is, yeah, is struggling. And so he has, um, come more or less. Struggling locally here, especially. Mm hmm. Yeah. Not much going on in Colorado. Yeah. With oil and gas. And so he just, yeah, it was a good time. And so he's more or less retired. And enjoying kind of just doing Consulting when somebody calls him and wants him to do something that's just sort of doing whatever. Doing his thing. So, uh, what would it What would you say about, about John too, was it that, that really drew you to him, uh, during those earliest days? Yeah. Um, great sense of humor. Yeah. And, um, and he knew a lot about a lot of things when a time, in a time when I needed to know. So I'm brand new to Denver, and he had lived, he'd grown up in Denver, and so he was like, Yeah, he was a rookie realtor, but he was a huge resource, and so that was really helpful in that period of time, and so I relied on him a lot, and um, And he's like, all I gotta do is be nice and tell his gal stuff, and she likes me, and so that's, What would you say he said about you? Why did you spend that extra time on his best client? Oh, I don't know. He said I had a firm handshake. I have said that about people, but yeah, anyway, I like it. So we always do a one word description of the kids. Oh, of the kids. Okay. Would you like to attempt that challenge with Liam and, I'm sorry, your youngest? Uh, Charlie. Charlie. Um, Liam, I would say is, um, unique and Charlie is well rounded. So like almost opposite Latin. They are 180. Interesting. Well, um, do you want to describe the uniqueness a little bit of Liam? He's just... He's, he's his own critic. He's his own. Yep. He does his own thing. He's going to do it his way. And, um, and so, yeah, he's, he's taught me a lot. It's been a journey. And I, you know, learned long ago that Liam was going to take his own path. Yeah. And it was not going to be the path that, that you would have that I would have for him, but But he's a smart kid and he has got a good heart and he will be successful. He's just gonna Might bump his head a few more times. Gonna bump his head a few more times, but he's mostly paying rent on his own. That's good. So he's kind. He's mostly launched. He's probably ahead of most 24 year olds in today's world. Yeah, probably so. What about, uh, Charlie? How would you expound upon this well rounded young man? He's so responsible. He really is responsible. He's twelve. He's twelve. I appreciate that. And, um... And it's a, it's a, it's a breath of fresh air because it's not what I experienced with Liam. And he's just, he's, gets good grades, he's smart, he's athletic, he's got his friends like him. He's just really, you know, he's kind of the whole package. Easy button kid. He's an easy button kid. Yeah. Fair enough. I got one, one easy one and one that has tested me. Fair. Well, I was probably the tester with my mom. Yeah. Uh, so, anything more you'd like to share on the family side? Uh, faith or politics? Faith or politics. So, so, politics we've kind of dabbled a little bit. Brushed against. Yeah, and I would say, politics is interesting right now. It's a, it's a crazy world and, um, Do you have a Trump or a Biden bumper sticker on your car? Neither. Just kidding. Neither. Um, If you did, I wouldn't. Yeah. I, ugh. I don't know. Like, I've been, I've been. I've been a Republican all of my life and, and I don't think, and I don't know that either party now a days, um, serves... You're a closet libertarian. There's an increase in... Yeah, maybe so. I mean, I just don't, I don't feel like, I don't feel like the Republican Party represents me anymore. And I feel like... But I think that I feel like that's both sides, like we've, we've gotten so out of control. And at the end of the day, I'm more of a pragmatist and middle of the road, like, how do we get things done? Right. And if we need to compromise, and it seems like we're kind of designed to not get things done and for the ruling party to punish the other party in some fashion and vice versa. I just don't like, I don't like where politics has gone in the last You know, whatever decade. Yeah. I really don't, I don't like the nastiness. I don't not like the vitriol and I don't feel like either party truly represents the values of the people anymore. Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah. The people that criticized Trump and, and that whole situation. Yeah. And he's definitely a polarizing force. Yeah. But he was a symptom of a prior illness. Right. I think that's true. Um, I think that is true, and I'm not a Trump fan. And at the same time, I would say that he probably did some good things, right? And, but, but his, he's hard to tolerate. His bedside manner could use some improvement. Yeah. And he's an obvious narcissist. Right. No question. Like the only reason I semi trust him is I know he wants to go down in history as best president ever. So at least I know he's going to try for that. Right. Um, and I don't know what I, I, I want to often think about the future of our Yeah. A largely two party system. Yeah. And I think we've outgrown it. I wonder. And, and what the future holds, I'm not sure. There's a lot of little micro efforts right now, uh, you know, there's like a unity party thing and, and what's his name has like a freedom caucus thing. And there's, there's different little efforts, and the Libertarians will always get one percent because you know, nobody ever wants to donate money to the Libertarian Party. That's why they're Libertarians. Right. Right. Do that. Yeah. Uh, but I, yeah, it's an interesting time in, uh, there's, there's some crisis and the, and the parties have consolidated. Right. You know, like even Robert F. Kennedy can't, couldn't possibly get a debate with, with Biden and there's all this like. If you want to go through our primary, you're going to have to follow our rules. Right. And, and I just don't know that what that serves. And I've always been, you know, I've always been more in the middle. In fact, I, it was back in my Colorado Springs days when I actually was a little bit more, I helped run a campaign and was a little bit more politically active than I am now. And I would jokingly call myself a tax and spend Republican, which I, right, so I'm like sort of like, I'm in the middle, right? Like I tend to be very fiscally conservative, but at the same time on social issues, I'm, you know, much more open to, um, but I'm, you know, generally for smaller government is better. And, but I just cannot stomach where we've come as a country. Some places. need investment in our country, um, you know, some of the inner city challenges and, and frankly, even going down to the, the race riots and things like we haven't, the, the, the big cities haven't done a good job of creating, you know, they talk a lot about equal opportunity and stuff, but you kind of jacked up your regional economies. It's, it's in such a way in your education systems that there is no possibility of that. Right. Right. And how do we, how do we fix that? Right. I don't, you know, I don't have the answers. We can't pour money on it. Right. I don't. We'll just get more corruption out if we pour money on it. Yeah. And how do we fix the systems and how do we The cultural thing. Yeah. As much as anything, I think. Unfortunately. Yeah. It's hard. I don't have the answers. Yeah. Well, I'll leave you alone. Um, any, any aspirations? Are you going to join our city council at some point or, uh, do you have, cause you're, even though you're not political, you're political. I would, I would never say never. Okay. I like it. I would vote for you for what it's worth. All right. Thanks. Um, faith is our third, uh, shall not talk about topic that we shall talk about. Okay. Uh, what would you like to say in that department? Yeah, I would say, so I've never, my family's never been, um, like an organized religious family. And so I didn't grow up. Never, ever, never went to even Christmas church or no, a little bit growing up. Yes. So like Probably Easter, Christmas, um, Presbyterian. That's if I were... Fair enough. Right? So... The three word, uh, description. Yeah. And so a little bit growing up, but, but never was, organized religion was never a huge part of, of my life growing up. And what I would say as I've... As I've grown up, grown into an adult and kind of, you know, decided how I want to live my own life and values and where you're not just sort of reacting to what your mom and dad say you have to do. Right. I would say that I am more spiritual than religious in the sense that, I mean, I absolutely believe in, in, you know, there's a creator and I believe, um, I've had some really interesting experiences, um, since my dad passed away and I believe he's out there. Yeah. I really, uh, I really, really do. So you think that we have souls and probably there is a heaven and stuff. Yeah. Do you put Jesus in a box or is he figuring out your calculations? I mean, it's hard, yeah. I mean, I. And I wouldn't say I put him in a box, but I mean, I think he's part of it. Part of the equation. He's part of the equation. That, that try you and God thing or whatever the Presbyterian said on Easter and Christmas doesn't make sense. I think that as, as humankind, like we have to make sense of things and so we've created stories and, and metaphors and, and, and, and, I mean, Jesus is the king of the parable for sure. Right. Right. Anybody got better parables than Jesus? Right. Exactly. Exactly. For sure. Um, and so I. You know, I, I don't know that I see it exactly the way that we've created it. And like the pictures of what God and religion, yeah, but I believe exactly this. Otherwise you're probably going to burn in hell. No, I, but I believe that there is a, that there's a maker and a creator and that there's something bigger out there. And I also find it fascinating and. And disheartening that there's so much strife over fighting about it. Fighting about it. Agreed. And, and it's, we all as humankind and different cultures have made up our own stories, but really it's probably all the same story. Yeah. With different interpretation. But this tribe, we tribe and your tribe is your tribe. Right, right. It's hard to fascinat, hard to make, make sense of That's a fascinating, like, it probably even translates to the political sphere and just the. Because, you know, when you study like deeper history, like tribes are tribes, you know, and that 300 or 500 people that were in your tribe were the enemies of every other population group for control of resources and different things. That stuff gets wired pretty deep. And then we started learning how to talk and stuff like that. So here is, here is an interesting, I don't know why this just popped into my head, but there's a group out there that that is a nonprofit that is working to Take citizens in space. Okay, and I bring that up because what I hear and someday Maybe I'll have an opportunity to do it, but that it changes your perspective. Like we think that we are Like the all knowing and you know Our way is the right way and our beliefs are the right beliefs and that there is something that happens When you are in space I'll go, if I can get a sponsorship, I'm definitely down. Yeah. And you see the earth and realize how, how little we are in this massive universe. And I think it changes your perspective of my way is the right way and your way is the wrong way. And these different belief systems, because it's, there's just something magical and something really that shifts when you see. I already told you I was good at math, so I have like 8 billion people, I'm already kind of aware of my significance, uh, but I imagine that, well still it's like the space trip if anybody's listening out there, for sure. Yeah, sponsor us, we'll go, we'll go, and then we'll evangelize and spread the word about changing perspectives. You guys should all go, yeah. I think, uh, they say taking mushrooms does the same thing. We did that once on the Loco Experience, but uh, maybe next time you come on, we'll talk Yeah, maybe. We'll see. Yeah. Okay. Um, the Loco Experience is our final segment, and that's the craziest experience of your lifetime that you're willing to have your... Uh, husband John, here, are you repeating, or your child? Liam don't care, but Charlie... Well, okay, I'll tell a, I'll tell a little quick one and then I have a, and then I have a better story. Okay, I like it. But um, but so, one of the craziest things that will stand out is when... When John and I realized we were pregnant with Charlie, and because here we are, like, I was, I was 42, and he's 14 years older than I am, so like, we weren't planning to have children, like, we were, like, I wasn't even sure that it was possible. I didn't realize you were so much older than me, frankly, uh, yeah, okay. Yeah, I'm 54. Wow. And, um, And so, when, I will never forget, like, he brings me the pregnancy stick, right, the at home pregnancy stick, and I just, I remember, yeah, some F words came out of my mouth, because I just could not... Were you, you were married? Yeah. You were together? No, we were, we were married. It was done deal. It was done deal. But it was just like... It's not part of the plan and I was like, I didn't think like, yeah, exactly. I was like, so anyway, that was, that was kind of a crazy thing that, you know, we became, oh yeah, no, we were happy, but I was just like, I was so surprised. I was like, you can't be, well, I'm glad that he was happy too. Yeah. No, yeah. Like I'm sure he thought he was done. Yeah. Yeah. That time. Yeah. If you were 42, he was. 56? Yeah, he was 56, and we, yeah, so, um, yeah, so we often, you know, we did the, we did it all again much later in life, and there's, in hindsight, you know, like there's beautiful things about that. For sure, yeah. Um, but I just will never forget that moment where he brings me the stick, and I was just like, oh, my goodness. My wife just turned, uh, we don't have any kids, we've posted exchange students and stuff, but she just turned 43, and I can only imagine. Yeah. Like what that conversation would be. Yeah, it was, it was quite a shock. I think we'd be down, I think it'd be a different than we expected, but yeah, I mean, you have to just get over the shock because it just, like I said for sure, like we thought we were, you know, we were past that phase um, and almost an empty nester and we were like, okay, we're gonna do this all again. Um, so anyway, so that was a fun, crazy thing. But, but a beautiful thing. And then the one I was going to share, and I don't know that this is crazy, but it is a, it is a memorable time. And when I was working at Alpamar and I had an opportunity to go on, um, A citizen trip that the Department of Defense sponsored, it's called JCOC, Joint Orientation Joint Chiefs, something or other, I don't remember, but it's all branches of the military. And so the whole idea was to help So, I had this opportunity and went on this five day trip, and you're all over the country, and you're going to, you know, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and bases, and doing all of these crazy things. But the craziest thing, the most memorable, was I got to land on an aircraft carrier out in the Atlantic. Oh, wow. And landed, yeah. And then spend a couple hours, like in a fighter jet? In a fighter jet, like No, it was actually, it was a male carrier. It was a cod they call it. It was kind of this clunky, um, um, airplane where they deliver the mail. Sure. Um, but literally landed on the aircraft carrier. And then the, the, the, the more intense part was like when you get catapulted off of the, of the aircraft carrier back up into the air and you're like, you know, That's quite a G force, but an opportunity. It was an amazing opportunity. And, um, and so that just, you know, not necessarily think like, did it blow your mind? Like the different technologies, the technologies. And I think what blew my mind, you know, you get to spend time with everyday soldiers. And so like out on the, out on the carrier, we spent. and there's thousands of young soldiers that you get to talk to. And, you know, throughout the trip we got to, you know, you're speaking with officers and, you know, high level folks and the, you know, enlisted folks. And, and, and I, one of the takeaways from that trip was, um, How, that, that we have soldiers who are on food stamps. Right. Sort of the, like, the most, the easiest way to say it. Like we don't Well, and living in Colorado Springs was, you know, cause there's that big army base there and Fort Carson. And that was definitely, you know, the families surrounding Fort Carson and fed by Fort Carson weren't the most No. And Uh, well funded ones. No. And here they are You know, putting their lives at risk for us and you'd think we could do a better job. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, but that trip will always stick with me. And there were so many memorable experiences, um, as part of that trip, but the aircraft carrier was the, was the craziest. I like it. Do you have any local experiences planned? Other than the girl's trip this weekend. Um, yeah, girl's trip this weekend. Yeah, shh. So, uh, if people are listening and they're like, you know, it's time I set up that donor advice fund or whatever, uh, where do they find the Community Foundation at? Um, nocofoundation. org. Okay. And, um, or, you know, call us. Come see us. Yeah, yeah. We can make it easy. That's our job. They can talk to you on LinkedIn, I suppose. Yeah, yeah. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm on Facebook. Can, Kristen Todd. I don't know what my... Yeah, you can find me. Search me. You can find me. I'm out there. Yeah, you will find me. And then come see us. Awesome. Well, thanks for the service and the work that you're doing. I'm glad to have a, uh, very capable, very passionate person at the helm of our, of our local community. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thanks for the, again, for the invitation.