In June 2025, nonprofits started sounding the alarm.
What began as whispers in hallways — stories of grants pulled, donations stalled, and fundraising events falling flat — grew louder. To move beyond anecdote and assumption, the Estes Nonprofit Network launched a valley-wide Funding & Fundraising Survey to capture a real-time picture of the pressure points nonprofits are facing right now.
I wish I could say the alarms were just a test, but the numbers are clear, “Halfway Through 2025, Nonprofit Sustainability in the Estes Valley Reaches a Tipping Point.”
This report, that we’re calling the “Funding Stress Test,” is our response — a pulse check, a warning sign, and a call to act.
We paired survey responses with data from the “2024 Estes Valley Nonprofit Economic Impact Study” to show just how deep the ripple goes into jobs, essential services, local spending, and the $8.2 million worth of volunteerism that nonprofits mobilize each year.
Because when funding falters, it’s not just nonprofits that suffer, it’s community safety nets, local livelihoods, and irreplaceable dollars flowing through the Estes economy.
This report is a call to action for funders, government, donors, volunteers, and nonprofits themselves.
And it’s a commitment from The Network to our community of do-gooders.
The Estes Nonprofit Network is here to train, convene, radically collaborate,advocate, and forge bold, collective solutions.
We’re investing in education, pushing for smarter funding, and, if needed, ready to reignite local relief efforts that put dollars where they’re most needed.
Because when nonprofits are strong, Estes stands strong.
So read the report. Share it. Talk about it. Let’s turn numbers into action, and uncertainty into strategy.