APRIL 2023 CIRCLE FUND NOMINEES
CLIENTS! Check your email for the ballot to vote for this quarter’s Circle Fund. Click links below to find out more about the organizations that our community nominated!

Acts of Grace Foundation
Careflight Comfort Kits
Clifton Christian Church Foodbank
Colorado Dream Hunts
Elevate Kids
Food Bank of the Rockies
Foster Alumni Mentors
Grand Valley Equine Assisted Learning Center
Grand Valley Young Life
Harmony Acres
Horizon Drive Optimists
Junior Service League
Meals on Wheels – Mesa County
Mesa County Passages
Mesa County Search and Rescue
PEER Kindness- Montrose
Reformers Unanimous Recovery Program
RiversEdge West
Riverside Educational Center
Senior Engagement
Special Olympics-Western Region
Toilet Equity
Forever Our Rivers Foundation
Save-A-Life Life Jacket Program
Strive
Veterans Art Center

 

JANUARY CIRCLE FUND RECIPIENTS
Thank you to everyone who nominated online and to our clients for voting. Below are the four organizations that split this quarter’s Circle Fund! Click on their names or images below to learn more about them!

$2,500
Colorado National Monument Association
Colorado West Pride

$5,000
Kids Aid – The Backpack Program

$10,000
Roice-Hurst Humane Society

 

Check out interviews with our past Circle Fund recipients on our YouTube page. Videos with our latest recipients coming soon!
                                                                         

THE STORY OF THE CIRCLE FUND

The Goal:
To be able to give back significantly from our earnings, right here in our own community, and really be able to make a difference.

Since the inception of our Circle Fund and our first event in June of 2019, we have given a total of $248,500 to our Circle Fund Recipients, so that they can continue their mission (please see recipients below).

The idea for the Circle Fund germinated while I was out on my daily hikes and trail runs, while listening to podcasts. One of my favorite shows is How I Built This with Guy Raz. In particular, I loved the episode about the founder of Toms Shoes, and how he found the right formula for combining a for-profit business model with a strong element of giving back to those in need. I kept thinking about ways we could do this. I know of agents who vow to contribute $25 or $50 per closing to their favorite charity.  I also know of many organizations to which we could contribute, such as a group that helps build homes in South America, that encourages agents to donate a set amount from every commission. I wanted to do more. Agents take a lot of risk, and therefore we are paid well for handling the sale of such a large asset.

As I hiked, I thought, and ruminated, and got excited about the possibilities. And it came to me that we could involve our clients in deciding where our funds would go. It started to take form. Thanks to The Giving Club for their inspiration! I decided to take it to my team and let them know what I had been thinking about. 

 

Not surprisingly, because I have the best team on the planet, they all said “We have to do this!!” So we set out on a course to make it happen. We decided as a team that we would collect 2% of every commission check and put it in a fund, to be distributed to local non-profits every quarter. We started our own brokerage firm so that we could save the money that we were paying to work at a large firm, and so that we could cook our idea into our business model without having to ask anyone else or pay anyone else. We are 100% independent and Grand Valley focused.

 

So every quarter we invite our treasured clients and friends to an appreciation party, and they get to nominate and vote on the spot for their favorite local  non-profit organization. For our first event, we gave the entire amount to one organization, but as our team grew and our sales grew, we had more money to give, and so decided to give one large check and two small checks, to the top 3 vote-getters. It is such an incredible privilege to be able to give back in such a way, and I can’t tell you how much fun we have doing it! We have actually had some of our clients and friends contribute more to the organizations to which we are giving, on top of our Circle Fund donation. We have the best clients!!!

 

We don’t think that you should hire us because we give money back to the community. We think you should hire us because we are the best at what we do, which is help people with their real estate needs in Western Colorado, whether buying or selling. But we think you might care that we care.  We care about our community and the people who live here. We open doors. We create connections. We build community. Join our movement with The Circle Fund.

-Christi

 

PAST CIRCLE FUND RECIPIENTS

Click images below to find out more about these great Grand Valley non-profits!

 

 

  

Please note that any organizations that have previously received The Circle Fund grand prize are not eligible for nomination for two years after winning.