Advocacy | Partnership | Impact
Impact Report
2022
2022 Total Funding - $2,322,200
Youth Advocacy Project – $710,000 (26 organizations)
Environmental Justice Project – $190,000 (9 organizations)
Equitable Access to the Arts Project – $100,000 (5 organizations)
Behavioral Health in the Schools Initiative – $130,000 (3 Routt County School Districts)
Legacy Fund – $648,000
Capital Fund – $250,000
Discretionary – $194,200
10 Year Anniversary – $100,000
The Youth Advocacy Project champions community partnerships that create equitable opportunities in health, education, and well-being for youth and families to achieve their optimal potential.
The Equitable Access to the Arts Project partners with community organizations to provide vibrant and meaningful arts and culture opportunities for under-resourced youth and adults throughout Northwest Colorado.
The Environmental Justice Project advances fair and equitable practices and policies, influenced by the collective voices of the broader Yampa Valley community, to benefit the local environment and its inhabitants.
In partnership with UCHealth and the Yampa Valley Medical Center Foundation, final funding of the five-year Behavioral Health in the Schools Initiative was provided to the South Routt, Hayden, and Steamboat Springs Schools Districts, including the North Routt Community Charter School, to increase wellness outcomes for youth and families.
CSFF Discretionary Funds provide resources to increase capacity building opportunities for organizations. Funding may support systems and trainings that enhance the strength, impact and sustainability of an organization.
Legacy and Capital Funding supports organizations and community initiatives of which the founders of the Foundation, Michael and Sara Craig-Scheckman, are personally passionate.
Legacy Funding:
- African American Policy Forum
- AmericaShare Micato Harambee Center
- Brooklyn Aikikai
- Center for Constitutional and Human Rights
- CMC – Bear River Park and Student Support Services
- CrearConSalud, Inc.
- Historic Routt County
- National Center for Youth Law
- Queens College
- ReproCollab
- Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
- Southern Poverty Law Center
- Steamboat Mountain School
- Yampa Valley Housing Authority
Capital Investment:
- Integrated Community and Routt County United Way Nonprofit Center
- Perry-Mansfield Julie Harris Theatre Renovation Project
- UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center Emergency Department
Ten Year Anniversary Gifts
Kris Andersen joined the CSFF team in August of 2011, and in honor of her long-standing and committed tenure, Sara and Michael Craig-Scheckman and the CSFF Board dedicated $100,000 of funding for Kris to contribute $10,000 to ten Youth Advocacy partners in honor of her ten years of service to CSFF.
- Advocates of Routt County
- BookTrails
- Mind Springs Health
- REPS
- Rocky Mountain Down Syndrome
- Rocky Mountain Youth Corps
- STARS
- Steamboat Reading
- Yampa Valley Autism
- Yampa Valley High School
photo: BookTrails Literacy Adventure Camp
Highlights
In addition to our funding partnerships, CSFF embraces opportunities to create long-term systemic change by working with others to identify solutions to complex issues. Below are just a few highlights of CSFF’s growth and other endeavors in 2022.
New Faces
All four of Michael’s and Sara’s daughters took on new roles at CSFF in the past year. Rachel Scheckman and Maddie Craig-Scheckman completed their terms as Associate Board Members and were elected to serve as full voting Board Members in December. Also in December, Rebecca Scheckman and Dawn Scheckman were elected to serve as Advisors to the foundation. CSFF is proud to have multiple generations working together and sharing their perspectives to enhance the efforts of all of our funding projects. In addition, CSFF expanded its staff in February with the addition of Bonnie Hernandez, who has brought a wealth of expertise in impact measurement and community development to CSFF and our funding partners.
2022 Feedback Project
In early 2020, CSFF decided to transition into the Trust-Based Philanthropy (TBP) approach to grantmaking and operations. The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project describes the approach:
At its core, trust-based philanthropy is about redistributing power—systemically, organizationally, and interpersonally—in service of a healthier and more equitable nonprofit sector. On a practical level, this includes multi-year unrestricted funding, streamlined applications and reporting, and a commitment to building relationships based on transparency, dialogue, and mutual learning.
Two years later, CSFF wanted to assess progress toward this approach and to better understand how we can hone and deepen our practice of the TBP values and philosophy. We also wanted to learn more generally about our effect on Routt County and how we might enhance our impact in our community. Subsequently, we launched our inaugural feedback and evaluation project in the summer of 2022. To listen and learn from our constituents, we surveyed our community partners and later held a follow-up focus group to capture ideas for improvement. The learnings from this process were invaluable to CSFF as we continue our journey into trust-based philanthropy, and partner suggestions led to notable changes in both our grantmaking and engagement approaches. We hold tremendous gratitude for the contributions and candor from our funding partners and community collaborators.
Understanding Community Needs
Meaningful community impact involves numerous stakeholders coordinating their efforts to address a common need. In 2022, CSFF invested in two feasibility studies to gain a better understanding of the needs in early childhood education and youth behavioral health. In partnership with First Impressions, CSFF contracted with ECE Insights to identify the current and future early childhood education needs in Routt County, as well as the most efficient structure to manage the complex advocacy efforts, service delivery and funding opportunities in the ECE field. Additionally, CSFF along with UCHealth, the Yampa Valley Medical Center Foundation and the Health Partnership, contracted End Grain Research & Evaluation to conduct a landscape scan of behavioral health in the Yampa Valley and to lead the community in developing a shared language and context for strengthening the behavioral health system in our region. These studies will help our community, and CSFF, identify the best path forward to strengthening youth behavioral health and early childhood education in Routt County.
Nonprofit Board Leadership
CSFF continued its commitment to building the capacity of nonprofit organizations through enhancing the leadership skills of local boards and board members. Chris Chopyak and Meg Satrom designed and led a four-part summer series focused on mastering change. These sessions were designed specifically for board members to keep their organizations relevant, forward-thinking and responsive to ever-evolving circumstances. In the fall, CSFF hosted small peer-to-peer discussions with topics brought forth from the group to talk about board recruitment, engagement and retention as well as strategic partnerships. Resources from the Nonprofit Board Leadership Initiative are available on the CSFF website, which you can access here. We look forward to advancing this initiative for the next several years and seeing how board members will implement those leadership skills within their organizations.
If you are interested in learning more about CSFF, our funding partners, community engagement, or our philanthropic philosophy, please give us a call at 970-879-0148; we would be glad to hear from you.