Community members celebrated local nonprofits and 2026 Community Grantees at Here for Good event

Community members showed up for a doubleheader of events celebrating local and regional nonprofits hosted by Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley (CFGV) on Wednesday, August 12.

An estimated 150 community members, including nonprofit staff, board members and supporters, attended CFGV’s Fifth Annual Here for Good Nonprofit Celebration hosted in the Steddy Theater at the Center for the Arts. Serving as a capstone at the end of a busy summer season for local organizations, Here for Good celebrated organizations working to nurture community in the Gunnison Valley.

Attendees connected with each other, entered drawings to win grants for their favorite organizations and watched a brief video highlighting 2026 Community Grantees. CFGV awarded a combined $250,000 to 52 applicants this year. CFGV’s board and donors committed to dramatically increasing the funding available for grants over the last five years. “In 2022, we awarded $162,300, so this year’s total of $250,000 is a 54% increase compared to five years ago,” explained Lauren Kugler, CFGV executive director. “Local nonprofits bring people together, create opportunities and solve problems, accomplishing extraordinary things along the way. Here for Good is a celebration of the tenacity, commitment, compassion and hope community members bring to this vital work.”

Here for Good also featured CFGV’s popular $1,000 grant drawing, where a lucky attendee won the opportunity to award the grant to the organization of their choice. This year’s winner chose Gunnison Sanctuary Housing to receive the $1,000 grant. A second grant drawing was added this year in which each attendee designated organizations they attended in support of as they checked in at the door, with organizations receiving proportional entries in the second grant drawing. Through this second drawing, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory received a $1,000 grant on Wednesday afternoon.

For a full list of 2026 Community Grants recipients, visit cfgv.org/nonprofits/grantees/#2026-grantees.

Meanwhile, 24 women participated in a pop-up giving circle at the Center for the Arts. An eight-member host committee contributed to a $10,000 grant pool to award a grant to one of the five participating organizations based around the theme of Stability, Well-Being and Belonging for Women and Children in the Gunnison Valley. Representatives from each of the organizations – Gunnison Sanctuary Housing, GVH’s Mountain Mama’s Café, Gunnison Valley Mentors, Juntos Por Gunnison and Project Hope of Gunnison Valley – attended the luncheon and explained how their programming aligned with the focus area selected by the host committee.

After a lively discussion, the participants voted on which organization would receive the $10,000 grant contributed by the host committee. However, enthusiasm ran high in the room that day, with attendees ultimately committing an additional $20,000 to round out the grant pool available. They awarded two $10,000 grants to Juntos Por Gunnison and Project Hope of Gunnison Valley and divided the remaining $10,000 between the other three participating organizations.