Colorado has never run on scenery alone.
The mountains help. The sunsets do not hurt. A good green chile breakfast burrito should probably be listed somewhere in the state constitution. But Colorado’s real strength has never just been ski towns, startups, stadiums, or whatever buzzword got laminated at the last economic-development luncheon.
Colorado works when people give a rip.
Business owners. Church folks. Volunteers. Donors. Coaches. Nonprofit workers. Neighbors with a pickup. Families who still believe a community is something you build, not something you consume.
That is why I appreciated the Denver Gazette op-ed from Thomas Young and Cole Anderson of the Common Sense Institute. They make the case that charitable giving is not just a nice accessory to Colorado’s economy. It is part of the engine.
Their numbers are worth noticing. They estimate Coloradans gave more than $6.1 billion to charitable causes in 2025 and contributed about 110 million volunteer hours each year. Colorado also ranks near the top nationally for giving, volunteering, helping neighbors, and civic engagement.
That is not pocket change and warm fuzzies.
That is civic muscle.
Now, I will admit something. I have grown a little leery of the nonprofit grift that sometimes shows up around politics. We have seen too many outfits become off-session employment programs for politicians, or convenient ways to launder, um, I mean raise, money for the same crowd that keeps expanding government while asking the rest of us to clap.
But that is not the whole story. Not even close.
Colorado’s nonprofit community is still full of good people doing hard work for the right reasons. Food banks. youth programs. shelters. pregnancy centers. addiction recovery. veteran support. disaster relief. mentoring. counseling. community foundations. rural service groups. And yes, do not forget charitable giving to churches.
That part matters.
If you want smaller government, you have to remember we have a big God.
And you have to rebuild the habits that big government has spent years elbowing out.
For decades, we have trained people to hear every problem as a government program, a tax increase, or a consultant’s 47-page vision document. Something breaks, and the first instinct is to look toward Denver and ask which agency, grant, committee, or acronym is coming to save us.
Sometimes government has a role. Roads matter. Public safety matters. Basic services matter.
But government is a lousy substitute for neighborly responsibility. It can fund a program, but it cannot love a kid. It can create a department, but it cannot sit beside a widow. It can pass a bill, but it cannot coach a team, stock a church pantry, drive someone to treatment, or show up with a casserole when life caves in.
That is what voluntary generosity does.
In normal-person English: communities with people who give are healthier, safer, more resilient, and more worth investing in. Trust is an economic asset. Stability is an economic asset. Churches, nonprofits, volunteers, and local donors are not soft decorations around the “real” economy.
They are infrastructure with a heartbeat.
Colorado is turning 150. That is a good time to ask whether we are still practicing the habits that made this place worth loving.
We will not recapture Colorado’s best decade through nostalgia, branding, or waiting for the right people in Denver to fix everything.
It starts closer to home.
Give where you can. Serve where you are needed. Know your neighbors. Support the good nonprofits. Give faithfully through your church. Sponsor the 5K one more time, even if the T-shirt color is a crime against the eyes.
That is not soft sentiment.
That is how free people stay free.
Source: The Denver Gazette
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