Grounded in our values of respect, creativity, engagement, place, and equity, the updated plan was informed by a year-long process of evaluation, listening, learning, and engagement with partners and stakeholders across the state. Through these conversations, we heard firsthand about the strengths, aspirations, and leadership that exist in communities throughout Colorado, as well as the challenges they continue to navigate.
The result is a strategic framework that builds on Colorado’s many assets while responding to issues ranging from educational outcomes and economic mobility gaps to drought, wildfire, environmental resilience, and the evolving challenges facing local news and information ecosystems.
Investing in Colorado’s Future
Guided by our deep commitment to Colorado and its people, the strategic plan provides a clear path forward for both responsive capital and strategic grantmaking. It prioritizes investments that expand opportunity, strengthen civic capacity, and address systemic barriers that have historically limited access to opportunity for individuals and communities.
The Foundation’s approach is rooted in a simple belief: meaningful and lasting progress requires more than grant dollars alone. We are committed to leveraging all of our resources, including grants, investments, convening power, staff expertise, and relationships, to maximize impact across Colorado.
This work is organized around four core focus areas:
- Community Development
- Informed Communities
- Natural Resources
- Public Education
In addition, our Responsive Capital Program continues to support the community assets and infrastructure that help Colorado communities thrive.
Learn more in the Foundation’s Grantmaking Overview.
Strengthening Community Assets Through Responsive Capital
Transforming community visions into reality requires access to funding, trusted relationships, and practical resources. Through responsive capital support, Gates Family Foundation helps communities build and improve the places where Coloradans learn, gather, connect, recreate, and access essential services.
Responsive Capital Grantmaking supports Colorado nonprofits, government agencies, and Tribal Nations working to create and improve community assets that strengthen quality of life, support the well-being of children, youth, and families, and provide lasting benefit for generations to come.
Organizations considering capital projects can access additional guidance through the Foundation’s Capital Projects Planning Guide, a resource designed to help nonprofits and government agencies assess readiness, explore key project considerations, and navigate the early stages of capital projects. Learn more.
Community Development: Expanding Opportunity and Building Community Wealth
Strong communities depend on housing stability, pathways to ownership, community-serving infrastructure, and meaningful resident engagement. The Foundation sees an opportunity to help bridge gaps and support long-term, community-driven change across Colorado.
Community Development funding strategies focus on:
- Affordable Housing
- Economic Mobility
- Shared Community Assets
- Agency and Connection
This work includes supporting resident participation, civic infrastructure, and community leadership while recognizing that lasting change requires both community-based solutions and systems-level efforts. The Foundation is committed to matching the appropriate form of capital to each opportunity in order to scale impact and strengthen outcomes.
We will continue investing in community-level leaders and organizations that are demonstrating what works in urban and rural communities alike while also supporting policies, infrastructure, and flexible capital tools that can help successful approaches grow and endure. Learn more.
Informed Communities: Strengthening Colorado’s Information Ecosystem
Reliable information is essential to strong communities and a healthy democracy. Gates Family Foundation invests in the shared infrastructure, relationships, and community-centered approaches that strengthen Colorado’s local news and information ecosystem.
Through support for local news organizations, trusted messengers, and public-interest media, the Foundation seeks to ensure communities have access to reliable information, diverse perspectives, and reporting on the issues that matter most to their future.
The Foundation’s strategies focus on:
- Trusted Local Information for the Public Good
- Shared Infrastructure that Supports Community Work
- Sustainable Revenue for Long-Term Resilience
- Collaboration that Strengthens the Ecosystem
By supporting sustainable business models, strengthening infrastructure, and encouraging collaboration, the Foundation aims to help local news and information organizations adapt to changing conditions and serve communities for the long term. Learn more.
Natural Resources: Supporting Resilient Lands, Waters, and Communities
Colorado’s lands and waters are deeply connected to the people, communities, and industries that depend on them. The Foundation recognizes an opportunity to support more resilient lands, waters, and communities by connecting promising ideas, trusted relationships, and flexible resources that help durable solutions take root and scale.
Natural Resources funding strategies are centered on:
- Resilient Lands
- Resilient Waters
Because these priorities are deeply interconnected, the Foundation is especially interested in integrated approaches that advance conservation, agricultural viability, community benefit, and long-term resilience.
By supporting partners and systems, testing promising models, and taking strategic risks where appropriate, the Foundation seeks to help scale solutions with broader field-level impact at the intersection of land, water, and community priorities. Learn more.
Public Education: Strengthening Teaching and Learning
Colorado is home to dedicated educators, innovative schools, and communities deeply committed to helping young people succeed. At the same time, there is an opportunity to ensure every student, regardless of background or geography, has access to high-quality learning experiences that prepare them for success in school, work, and life.
Beginning in 2026, the Foundation’s Public Education strategy focuses on improving instructional quality in grades K-8 by expanding instructional coaching systems and strengthening the conditions necessary for excellent teaching and learning at scale.
Funding strategies focus on:
- Instructional Coaching
- Advancing the Teaching Profession
- Strengthening State Leadership, Policy, and Support Systems
The Foundation believes these investments can help create a stronger ecosystem where education policy, state agency capacity, and political leadership are aligned around improving outcomes for students. We remain committed to ensuring teachers have the support they need while encouraging innovation, scaling proven approaches, and strengthening systems that support lasting improvement. Learn more.
Looking Ahead
As Gates Family Foundation implements this updated strategic plan, we remain focused on investing in the people, places, natural resources, and civic institutions that strengthen Colorado communities and create opportunity for future generations.
The Foundation will continue to play a strategic role in helping address immediate community needs while strengthening the long-term systems that communities depend on. Whether supporting youth success, advancing stewardship of Colorado’s natural inheritance, strengthening local information ecosystems, or helping communities build critical assets, our commitment remains the same: partnering with Colorado communities to create a more equitable, resilient, and sustainable future.
The Foundation has also begun exploring how its impact investments, including Program-Related Investments (PRIs) and Mission-Related Investments (MRIs), can complement grantmaking and advance long-term impact goals. We look forward to sharing more about this work in early 2027.
If you have questions about the Foundation’s updated grantmaking strategic plan, please contact the staff member aligned with your area of interest.
Finally, also in 2023 a total of $410,956 previously committed by Gates to the 
A total of $1,110,956 committed to the 
In 2019, the Community Development program committed $932,500 in strategic grants to 13 organizations and $465,000 in responsive capital grants to 12 organizations. New impact investments supporting vibrant communities in 2019 included a $500,000 MRI to 
Our Focus Landscapes initiative, a key element of our Natural Resources program, underwent a comprehensive review, revision, and re-launch in 2019. This initiative was launched in 2011 to help Colorado achieve landscape-scale conservation through the protection of private lands in specific geographies. A great deal of progress was made in North Park, southeast Colorado, and the San Luis Valley, resulting in more than 200,000 acres of farm and ranch lands conserved, along with their associated ecological values. The strategic review process was done in close partnership with the land trust organizations representing those geographies, providing lessons-learned and an exploration of emerging opportunities. The revised Focus Landscapes initiative will first focus on two geographies: 