Denver Post Season To Share

Amount

$20,000 – $30,000 typical (average ~$27K across 2023/24 grantees).

Deadlines

LOI: June 30 2025 (portal opens May 15).
Full proposal (if invited): late August 2025 with decisions in November.

Cycle

Annual holiday campaign—applications in spring/summer, grants paid in December.

Effort & Priority

Effort: 4 | Priority: Must Pursue
Expected success: High.

Why It Matters

Season To Share delivers unrestricted capital and high-profile visibility through Denver Post coverage. Funding helps offset VOCA cuts, while the media spotlight can attract new donors and champions.

Eligibility Snapshot

Metro Denver 501(c)(3) serving low-income residents; SungateKids meets the seven-county service requirement.
Programs must align with Children & Youth and/or Health & Wellness priorities—our trauma therapy and prevention qualify for both.
At least 60% of clients must be low-income; gather Medicaid, victim compensation, or TANF indicators to document compliance.
Excludes capital campaigns, endowments, and programs without measurable outcomes.

Application Requirements

Online LOI questionnaire (5–6 prompts); draft responses offline because the portal lacks autosave.
Full Colorado Common Grant-style application upon invitation: narrative, program/organizational budgets, outcomes, evaluation plan.
Standard attachments: IRS letter, board roster, audited financials/990, outcome summaries.
Budget rules: request ≤10% of org budget and ≤30% of program budget.
Total effort: 30–35 hours, including data prep for low-income percentages.

Strategic Fit

Mission alignment: Our services restore stability for children in crisis, directly matching the foundation’s goal of helping families overcome hardship.

Comparable grantees: Child Advocates–Denver CASA, Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center, and Safe Passage CAC have received funding—clear validation for CAC-style programs.

Focus interpretation: Emphasize behavioral health (Health & Wellness category) while noting social-emotional outcomes for kids (Children & Youth).

Competition: Expect strong proposals from health clinics, youth development orgs, and shelters. Distill our unique role as Metro Denver’s CAC serving hundreds of child victims each year.

Relationships: Process is committee-driven; excellence in the LOI and application carries more weight than networking, though strong participation in Colorado Gives Day keeps us visible.

Success Factors

Document low-income reach (≥60%) using concrete metrics.
Link services to academic and social-emotional gains to echo funder language.
Highlight collaboration with schools, health partners, and MDT agencies.
Include an anonymized, hopeful case story to humanize statistics.

Risks & Mitigation

Threshold risk: Failure to evidence low-income percentages can disqualify the proposal—prepare documentation early.
Category fit: Choose Health & Wellness (behavioral health) to align with the clearest mandate; cross-reference prevention work as added value.
Complexity: Simplify impact narrative so reviewers can connect outcomes (reduced repeat abuse, improved school stability) to grant dollars.

ROI & Stewardship

~35 hours for ~$25K (≈$714/hour) plus media exposure and campaign collateral featuring SungateKids. If funded, deliver rapid outcome updates for Denver Post storytelling to cement future support.

Key Resources