Last month, residents and nonprofit organizations were shocked when the Colorado Springs Indy announced that the newspaper would no longer be working with the IndyGive! campaign, which the Indy’s publishing company launched over a decade ago.
The newspaper made the announcement in the April 20-26 issue in their “Voice of Reason” editorial section. The headline read “Indy Severs Ties with IndyGive! campaign, Legal Options Being Explored.”
In the article written by founder John Weiss, senior adviser Ahriana Platten, and publisher/executive editor Amy Gillentine, they explained that the publishing company would not be partnering up with the campaign as it had in years past. Therefore, for the campaign this year, Colorado Publishing House (CPH) will not endorse or promote the fundraising efforts in any of their publications.
The CPH family of publications includes the Colorado Springs Business Journal, Colorado Springs Independent, The Fort Carson Mountaineer, Pikes Peak Bulletin, The Southeast Express, The Transcript, and The Space Orbital which services Peterson and Schriever Space Force bases.
In the article, the representatives from CPH said that the reason for the split is due to the new board members who now operate the campaign. “Over time, the original community board members left, and unfortunately their replacements no longer adhere to IndyGive!’s original tenets and missions,” the editorial article reported. “Moreover, IndyGive! has become increasingly disorganized and dysfunctional. The last two executive directors left abruptly mid-campaign. On the advice of legal counsel, we are unable to air all our concerns at the present time but suffice it to say we no longer can vouch for the integrity or honesty of IndyGive!’s current board members.”
The CPH team said that they tried to voice their concerns to the new board without any luck. CPH wanted to put distance between the two organizations until a Memorandum of Understanding could be drafted but IndyGive! went ahead with starting their 2022 campaign without reaching an agreement with CPH.
The Maverick Observer reached out to officials from the Give! campaign, but their public relations department never responded to comments.
IndyGive! Background
The IndyGive! campaign was started in 2009 as a way for the CPH publications to help support the local nonprofits in the Pikes Peak Region. The purpose of the campaign ran by CPH’s Pikes Peak Community Foundation was to connect CPH’s over 100,000 readers to local nonprofits.
Since its inception, the campaign has helped over 200 local nonprofits with funding. On the IndyGive! website, several testimonials can be found telling stories of the help the campaign has given to local nonprofits over the years.
In 2015, the foundation turned the campaign over to a community-run board due to IndyGive! getting too big for CPH to handle. Since its inception the IndyGive! campaign has helped nearly 250 organizations and raised over $16 million for local nonprofits.
Local Nonprofits Speak Out About the Change
After CPH made its announcement, many of the people running nonprofit organizations who were part of Give! in the past had mixed feelings. Some seemed to be concerned about CPH cutting its ties with the campaign, while others thought it wouldn’t negatively affect their organizations.
According to Elisa Santos, the new executive director of Adult Daybreak, which is an adult day program based out of Woodland Park, the Give! campaign raised around $20,000 for the organization last year. However, after attending the campaign’s first meeting, Santos decided to not be a part of the campaign for 2022. She said that people who wish to donate can reach out to them directly this year through their website.
“I was kind of skeptical about continuing because I am new and I didn’t feel the meeting was very effective,” Santos explained. “I talked to my team here and the former executive director, and I just felt like given the tumultuous nature, maybe it was best not to participate this year.”
But other people connected to nonprofits in the region feel differently. Others seem to think that the change will not affect the amount of money that gets raised during the Give! campaign.
“IndyGive! has been really good to us and it keeps getting better every year,” said Charleen Bader of Happy Cats Haven, a cat shelter in Manitou Springs. “I don’t think that the change will affect how much money we raise, but I can’t predict the future.”
According to Linda Buffetti with the Colorado Springs Therapeutic Riding Center, the Give! campaign has helped the organization tremendously in the past. She said that not only has the campaign helped the organization financially, but it has also helped them find volunteers, and donors and given the media coverage.
“This year is going to be different,” Buffetti said. “I did go to a meeting that they had, and I really don’t anticipate it being drastically different. The one thing that I think will be different is that we won’t have the print that we had with the Independent. And that is a big one, but with the other over 20 media partners IndyGive! has, I don’t really anticipate anything too different.”
