Now’s a great time to make your donation go further
By Maryellen Thoren
We’re almost there.
The response to the community campaign to support the Climax Molybdenum Leadership Center at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville has been terrific.
In addition to grants from two major Front Range foundations, the campaign committee has collected approximately $52,000 in pledges from local individuals and groups. Thanks to this generous support, the total fundraising efforts have now reached 89 percent of our $200,000 goal. The total giving now stands at $178,000, with only $22,000 left to raise.
Generous support has been received from such groups and individuals as committee chair John Wells, the Leadville Trail 100 Legacy Foundation, Merilee Maupin, Pam and Greg Smith, the Elks Lodge 236, and the faculty and staff of the Timberline Campus, to mention just a few.
However, one $30,000 challenge grant from the Denver-based Gates Family Foundation will be awarded only when our entire fundraising goal is met. So that means that the remaining $22,000 is critical for us to be able to earn those matching dollars.
Donations toward the leadership center also earn added tax advantages for contributors. The college capital construction project was awarded the status of Colorado Enterprise Zone. The state’s program encourages job creation and capital investment in economically challenged areas by providing tax credits to businesses and projects. The leadership center will be open to public use and can be utilized for large group events in, or coming to, Leadville to help invigorate our economy.
Any gifts to the leadership center are fully tax deductible but also provide an enterprise zone tax credit (or money off the bottom line) on a state tax return in the amount of 25 percent of the donation. The combined effects of the federal and state tax deductions, plus the enterprise zone credit, reduce out-of-pocket costs for donors. Depending on a person’s tax bracket, donors could earn credits and deductions anywhere from $45 to $65 on each $100 donation. To learn about the specifics of your situation, please contact your tax advisor.
More information about making a donation toward the leadership center, including a gift in honor or memory of a loved one, is available at www.cmcfoundation.org or 970-947-8355.
Everyone in the community is invited to attend the ceremony to dedicate the Climax Molybdenum Leadership Center at 3:30 p.m. Friday, July 16, at the Colorado Mountain College campus in Leadville. For more information, please contact Mollie Sorenson at 486-4206.
Maryellen Thoren is a 15-year resident of Leadville, longtime active community volunteer and nine-year member of the CMC Foundation Board. She also served as an adjunct instructor of small business management and economics at the Leadville campus for five years. Her professional background includes working in management at AT&T for 27 years and at her own international consulting firm for 10 years.
NOTE: This guest column originally appeared in the July 8, 2010, edition of the Herald Democrat newspaper in Leadville.
