What do you think of when you hear the word “Giving”? Do you think of money? Volunteering?
Everyone has heard the phrase, “Give and You Shall Receive”. But what exactly do you receive and in turn for what? Although “Giving” is supposed to make us feel good, sometimes it brings on feelings of anxiety, stress, and even shame… especially if we want to “give” but haven’t yet.
Well, Denver Gives is making it very simple for ALL to give back to the Denver community. Our Mission is to “Promote Community Giving and provide valuable resources to local small nonprofits.”
Let’s take a look at the first part of our mission… “Promote Community Giving”.
Denver Gives was founded to give young professionals in Denver a way to give back by simply attending Happy Hours and other fun and unique events. Since more young professionals go out at least once a week to relieve stress and hang out with their friends, simply attending any happy hour that is associated with a charity immediately allows them to give back and thus promotes community giving. If they enjoy it, then they have more of their friends attend and may even tell others at work, etc., and in essence promoting community giving by simply telling others to attend a Happy Hour! Yep, it’s that simple!
At all our events and on our website we have information on volunteering. Volunteering is a way to give back by just offering your skills (physical or working knowledge) to a charity for a period of time. That time could be a couple hours for just one event, or more if you become a member of a committee or the Board of a nonprofit. We all know that volunteering lends to good feelings about yourself and what you are doing, so we won’t go to why people volunteer here, but know that it can be as simple as helping a charity pour beer at a festival (People’s Fair this June 5th and 6th, please visit the Denver Gives Beer Booth!) for a couple of hours. 
Denver Gives is developing some online tools to help bring young professionals and nonprofits together to help make it simpler to Give. You can also visit www.metrovolunteers.org to find more opportunities.
The second part of our mission is to provide NO COST programs and services to small local nonprofits.
Providing programs and services, although we are currently a volunteer organization, we still have expenses, and by becoming a member of Denver Gives for just $35 a YEAR, our members allows Denver Gives to exist, to provide services and programs and pay for our operating expenses. The money raised through our events goes directly to programs and services that we offer to local small local nonprofits at NO COST to the nonprofit.
Don’t think that giving back is something you have to really think too much about or give a lot of time too. Giving is as easy as going to a Happy Hour! So come join us!
