Fundraising & Campaigns
Colorado Gives Day opens early giving for more than 5,000 nonprofits, with $1 million in incentives
Giving runs from November 1 to the December 8 giving day. Last year the event raised $56.6 million from more than 100,000 donors.
By The Editors · The Game of Giving
Early giving for Colorado Gives Day opened on November 1, so donors can now give to more than 5,000 Colorado nonprofits ahead of the December 8 giving day, which comes with a $1 million-plus incentive fund.
The Colorado Gives Foundation, which created the event in 2010, set out the plans in an October 14 announcement. PNC is the presenting sponsor. This is the event's 17th year, the Post Independent reported. The organizations taking part are local 501(c)(3) charities working on causes from housing instability to veterans' mental health and domestic violence, the paper said, and donors give online through ColoradoGives.org.
What incentives are on offer?
Four, by the foundation's account. The table is our summary of them.
| Incentive | Funded by | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| $1 million-plus incentive fund | Colorado Gives Foundation, PNC and other sponsors | Boosts every donation made for Colorado Gives Day |
| $250,000 monthly-gift match | Colorado Gives Foundation | Matches the first $100 of each new monthly gift |
| Good for Business Challenge | Gary Community Ventures | Businesses that raise at least $1,000 between November 1 and December 8 are entered to win one of ten $1,000 prizes, split among the nonprofits they backed |
| Airfare drawing | Southwest Airlines | On December 8, a gift of $100 or more to a single nonprofit enters an hourly drawing for a domestic round-trip ticket |
The announcement does not spell out whether gifts made during early giving share in the incentive fund or how the fund is divided, so donors who care about the boost should check the event's own pages before giving.
How big is the day?
The foundation calls it one of the largest online giving movements in the nation. In 2025 the event raised $56.6 million from more than 100,000 donors, and more than $581 million has been given through it since 2010, the foundation says. By our arithmetic, last year accounted for nearly a tenth of that 16-year total, and the average donor gave less than $566.
The incentive fund is small next to those totals. If giving matched last year's, $1 million would add a little under 2 cents to each dollar, our arithmetic shows. Kevin Classen, PNC's regional president for Colorado, said in the announcement that the bank wants to "help every donation make an even greater impact."
What can other giving days take from it?
In our view, the monthly-gift match is the design choice worth copying. Most giving-day incentives reward a single gift, as the $1 million challenge did when UNO raised a record $2.3 million in 24 hours. Matching the first $100 of a new recurring gift pays for something nonprofits value more, a donor who keeps giving after the day ends. Groups planning a GivingTuesday appeal on December 1 face the same question of how to turn one-time donors into regular ones.
General information for donors and nonprofit leaders, not legal or tax advice. How we report is set out in our editorial guide.
