The Imagine! Foundation

In the late 1990s, Imagine! (then Developmental Disabilities Center) realized that they were facing new and worrisome challenges in serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Statewide waiting list of people who needed services was growing longer each year. Imagine! recognized an opportunity – that this community is willing and enthusiastic about creating solutions to problems facing our own citizens. In 2000, the Imagine! Foundation, a separate 501c3, Type 1 Supporting Organization, was formed to raise private funding and grow the community’s awareness of the benefits people with intellectual disabilities bring to our community. Creating the Imagine! Foundation provided an avenue to bring in community leaders with specific goals of raising money and awareness to provide services to people with IDD in Boulder and Broomfield counties. Essentially, this established the Imagine! Foundation as the fundraising arm of Imagine!.

The value of establishing the Imagine! Foundation as a separate but supporting nonprofit with its own Board of Directors cannot be overstated. Most nonprofits have a Development Department and a Board Development Committee, usually consisting of 3-5 board members. Over the last 22 years, more than 80 community leaders have served on the Imagine! Foundation Board, extending education and fundraising into the community at large with impressive results. Imagine! Foundation Board of Directors has raised over $12.4 million. As educational ambassadors, their efforts have helped transform Imagine! from being a well-kept secret to a widely-known, well-supported nonprofit serving people with intellectual disabilities with innovative supports that extend well beyond meeting basic needs.

The Imagine! Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization, Employer Identification Number 84-1540910.