2020 ANNUAL REPORT GRANTEES
EQUITY & DEMOCRACY
| Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC) Foundation | General Support Strengthening democracy through research and public education about the ballot measure process |
$25,000 |
| The Bell Policy Center | General Support Public education, nonpartisan research, and policy development to create opportunities for individuals and families to attain economic mobility |
$100,000 |
| Fundraising Support Consulting | $45,600 |
| 20th Anniversary Event | $2,500 |
| Center for African American Health | General Support (COVID-19) Culturally responsive resources for Metro Denver’s African American and Black communities to overcome root causes of health problems |
$25,000 |
| Center for Tech and Civic Life | General Support Connect Americans with the information they need to become and remain civically engaged |
$100,000 |
| Cleo Parker Robinson Dance | General Support Internationally renown dance and educational programs with a cross-cultural approach to creative community development |
$25,000 |
| Cobalt Foundation | General Support and Cobalt Abortion Fund Public education and community organizing projects that promote access to reproductive rights and health care in Colorado |
$65,000 |
| COLOR | General Support Community-based advocacy for Latinx individuals and their families with a focus on reproductive justice |
$20,000 |
| Colorado Center on Law & Policy | General Support Secure justice and economic security for all Coloradans, with a special emphasis on women’s economic self-sufficiency |
$30,000 |
| Colorado Children’s Campaign | General Support (Multi-Year) Advocate for the development and implementation of data-driven public policies to improve child and family well-being in health and education |
$25,000 |
| 2020 Annual Luncheon | $1,000 |
| Colorado Civic Engagement Roundtable | General Support Support for network organizations dedicated to achieving an inclusive, engaged, just, and equitable state for all Coloradans |
$100,000 |
| Colorado Fiscal Institute | General Support Credible, independent and accessible information and analysis of fiscal and economic issues facing Colorado |
$25,000 |
| Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition | General Support (COVID-19) Direct relief for undocumented individuals and families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic |
$10,000 |
| Colorado Public Radio | General Support Comprehensive and convenient non-partisan Colorado Voter’s Guide |
$10,000 |
| Community Resource Center | General Support Guidance, training, and support for advocacy and civic engagement efforts of human service nonprofits |
$25,000 |
| Democracy: A Journal of Ideas Inc. | General Support Building a vibrant and vital progressivism for the twenty-first century |
$5,000 |
| Faith in Action Network | LA RED National advocacy for immigrant communities, with a broader vision for racial and gender justice |
$25,000 |
| Faith in Public Life | General Support (Multi-Year) National movement of clergy and faith leaders united in the pursuit of justice, equality and the common good |
$25,000 |
| Florida Rising Together | General Support Building an equitable and inclusive Florida through community leadership development, civic engagement, and public education |
$50,000 |
| History Colorado | Women’s Vote Centennial Statewide education initiative and programming commemorating the women’s vote centennial |
$15,000 |
| Hopewell Fund | We the Action Foundation Connecting volunteer lawyers with nonprofit organizations to advocate for a more equitable, inclusive, and just society |
$50,000 |
| Impact Charitable | Left Behind Workers Fund (COVID-19) Direct relief for undocumented individuals and families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic |
$25,000 |
| Issue One | Count Every Vote Nonpartisan public engagement effort defending the integrity and safety of America’s voting processes |
$100,000 |
| Latinas First Foundation | Latina Initiative 2020 Multi-generational approach to supporting the civic engagement of Latinas |
$50,000 |
| MomsRising Education Fund | General Support Advocacy and public education on the importance of advancing family economic security |
$25,000 |
| National Conference on Citizenship | Party at the Mailbox Education and resources for local leaders working toward an inclusive community of engaged citizens |
$75,000 |
| New Era Colorado Foundation | General Support Advance progressive change in Colorado through multi-issue civic engagement, advocacy and leadership development |
$30,000 |
| New Georgia Project | General Support Nonpartisan civic engagement and advocacy for people of color in Georgia |
$50,000 |
| New Venture Fund | Center for Secure and Modern Elections Policy solutions and resources to help all eligible voters participate in our democracy |
$100,000 |
| Pizza to the Polls | Food Truck Program Procure, design, staff, stock, and maintain an expanded fleet of food trucks delivering food on demand to people participating in civic life across the United States |
$100,000 |
| Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains | General Support Comprehensive reproductive and complementary health care services, advocacy, and educational programs in the Rocky Mountain region |
$100,000 |
| Patient Assistance Endowment Fund (Multi-Year) | First year of a $1M endowment challenge match was redirected to the Patient Assistance Fund to meet immediate patient needs due to COVID-19 | $200,000 |
| Political Research Associates | General Support Progressive thinking, action, and support of movements that build a more just and inclusive democratic society |
$25,000 |
| PowerPAC Foundation | She the People STORIED Elevating voices and experiences of women of color in the civic discourse |
$25,000 |
| Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ | General Support Restoration of iconic Civil Rights site of Emmett Till’s funeral in 1955 |
$5,000 |
| Soul2Soul Sisters | General Support (Multi-Year) Black Womxn-centered education, organizing, and leadership development with a focus on reproductive justice, and a faith-based response to anti-Black violence in the US |
$25,000 |
| State Voices | General Support Backbone organization for network of nonpartisan state coalitions of grassroots organizations breaking down barriers to civic participation |
$250,000 |
| Take Back the Court Foundation | General Support Research and public education about the viability of expanding the Supreme Court |
$100,000 |
| Tides Foundation | FL Rights Restoration Coalition Ed Fund for Fines & Fees Ending the disenfranchisement and discrimination against people with convictions |
$50,000 |
| Together Colorado | General Support Broad faith-based community organizing, advocacy and policy solutions for local, state, and national |
$25,000 |
| Voces Unidas de las Montañas | General Support (Multi-Year) Advocacy, leadership, and civic engagement by and for the Latinx community living in the Garfield-Eagle-Pitkin tri-county area |
$25,000 |
| VoteAmerica | General Support Public education programs, open platform technology, and access to trusted information to empower everyone to vote |
$150,000 |
| Voter Registration Project | General Support Nonprofit, nonpartisan voter registration and mobilization of under-represented ethnic and socio-economic groups in the United States |
$100,000 |
WOMEN’S ECONOMIC SECURITY
| 9to5 Colorado | General Support (COVID-19) Rapid Response Care Fund prioritizing relief for BIPOC women-led families |
$50,000 |
| General Support | Advance public policies that strengthen working women’s ability to achieve economic justice and equal opportunities | $40,000 |
| The Aspen Institute | Ascend at the Aspen Institute (Multi-Year) National hub for 2Gen ideas and collaborations to move children and the adults in their lives to education success, economic security, and health and well-being |
$100,000 |
| Global Fund for Women | General Support International grants for women’s groups that increase girls’ access to education and advocate for and defend women’s human rights |
$50,000 |
| Hopewell Fund | Paid Leave for All Project Charter Public education and advocacy for federal paid family and medical leave |
$25,000 |
| The Women’s Foundation of Colorado| General Support (COVID-19) Women and Families of Colorado Relief Fund and operating support |
$100,000 |
| Women & Girls of Color Fund | Advancing economic security across Colorado through a new fund for women-of-color-led organizations that serve women and girls of color | $50,000 |
| Women’s Funds Initiative Operating support to expand women’s philanthropy and provide a permanent resource for women and girls in the states where the Chambers family’s oil business operated. |
|
| Women’s Foundation of Oklahoma | $25,000 |
| Women’s Foundation of Montana | $25,000 |
| Women’s Foundation of Montana (COVID-19) |
$25,000 |
| Wyoming Women’s Foundation | $25,000 |
EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION
In early 2020, Chambers Fund announced the sunset of its Early Care and Education (ECE) program area. The board committed to consistent funding for three years (through 2022) for all transitioning grantees. Grantees not reflected below opted for a more compact two-year transition funding cycle. |
|
| Clayton Early Learning | Colorado Early Learning Policy Initiative Leverage Alliance for Early Success national funding for a coordinated early childhood policy agenda in Colorado |
$10,000 |
| Parent Possible | Vroom in Colorado (Multi-Year) Disseminate Vroom tools and messages that help parents and caregivers become brain builders for young children |
$20,000 |
| Tools of the Mind | Colorado Model Year 2 Implementation of the Tools integrated Pre-K to Grade 3 Partner Model in partnership with Denver Public Schools |
$50,000 |
| Honored Commitments |
$175,000 |
| Community Support |
$153,650 |
| Matching Gifts |
$2,980 |
TOTAL 2020 GRANTS |
$3,365,730 |
2020 ANNUAL REPORT HIGHLIGHTS
Unprecedented. That is the first word that comes to mind when reflecting upon the year that was 2020. The world came to a standstill, grappling with two pandemics: COVID-19 and systemic racism. Both continue to wreak havoc with the first highlighting the long-embedded inequities of the second. For Chambers Fund, 2020 was a year of action and reflection. Action came in the form of Chambers Initiative, welcoming Alexandra Acker-Lyons as Director of Strategic Initiatives to advise the foundation on its grantmaking, and Merle Chambers in her personal philanthropy. Action also meant adding COVID-19 relief to our grantmaking, mainly to direct service organizations typically outside our normal priorities, but vital to the recovery of our state. And reflection as we develop a racial equity lens for our grantmaking, adding that alongside a long-held gender-equity priority. We are also committed to understanding – and working against – the historical role of philanthropy in upholding white supremacist power structures and systems.
COVID-19 Relief and Recovery
Chambers Fund prioritizes funding to organizations engaged in advocacy, policy, and systems change over those providing direct services. But there was no ignoring the immediate needs COVID-19 created for families across our state. The foundation made $375,000 in COVID-relief related grants to Colorado nonprofits, approximately one-third of which went to grantees making direct payments to support individuals and families most impacted by the pandemic. Support was focused on assistance to immigrants, refugees, workers without documentation, and BIPOC women-led families, particularly single adult households.
Program Area Grantmaking
With a long-overdue reckoning on systemic racism coming to a head in our country and the philanthropic sector, the foundation hosted staff and board trainings toward the end of 2020 as a start to the ongoing process of building a racial equity lens into its grantmaking. The board prioritized giving to organizations led by or focused on people of color, and under-resourced and under-represented communities.
As part of Chambers Initiative, the foundation substantially increased grantmaking within its Equity & Democracy program area. Chambers Fund focused on national and Colorado organizations engaged in non-partisan voter registration education, mobilization, and messaging efforts to ensure every vote was counted. The foundation also made unrestricted grants to long-time Colorado policy grantees working on various research and advocacy issues ranging from fair tax and TABOR-related fiscal tangles to expanded income eligibility for Medicaid family planning services.
We know the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected women. Alongside pro-democracy funding, the foundation also made unrestricted grants to organizations in Colorado and nationally within its Women’s Economic Security (WES) program area. In 2020, Chambers Fund’s WES grantees focused on improving the lives of women and girls, particularly women and girls of color, through advocacy and policy systems change to create economic opportunity and mobility for women and their families.
Please see our 2020 Grantees list above for more information.
2020 ANNUAL REPORT
FINANCIAL OVERVIEW
At the end of 2019, Chambers Fund changed its accounting period to a calendar year, with 2020 being the foundation’s first full year on this new schedule. All previous annual reports were based on a FYE of November 30.
Assets and Net Assets – Income Tax Basis
For the Year Ended December 31, 2020
| ASSETS | ||
| Cash and Cash Equivalents | $5,238,688 | |
| Investments at Cost | $29,619,497 | |
| Museum Building and Land (net of $2,226,106 in accumulated depreciation) |
$31,688,786 | |
| TOTAL ASSETS | $66,546,971 | |
| UNRESTRICTED NET ASSETS | $66,546,971 | |
| FAIR MARKET VALUE OF ASSETS | $79,384,422 |
Revenues, Expenses and Other Changes in Net Assets
Income Tax Basis For the Year Ended December 31, 2020
| REVENUES | $3,645,845 | |
| EXPENSES | ||
| Grants Paid | $3,365,730 | |
| Other Program or Administrative | $41,287 | |
| Museum Building Depreciation | $861,719 | |
| Investment | $61,211 | |
| Excise Taxes | $44,500 | |
| TOTAL EXPENSES | $4,374,447 | |
| EXCESS (DEFICIT) OF REVENUES OVER EXPENSES | ($728,602) | |