Heart of Colorado Rural Philanthropy Days® – October 28 – 30, 2026
Schedule & Workshops
2026 Heart of Colorado RPD Schedule & Sessions
Wednesday, October 28th
Doors open 5pm, dinner 6pm
Location: FREIGHT, 320 E 9th St, Leadville, CO 80461
Thursday, October 29th
Location: Colorado Mountain College, 901 US Highway 24 Room 219, Leadville, CO 80461
Breakfast/Coffee and sign up for office hours
Location: Colorado Mountain College
Location: Colorado Mountain College
9:20 am – 10:20 am: Professional Workshop Session 1 (Select one topic per session)
Session Summary: Program related investments (PRIs) can be a powerful but underutilized tool in rural philanthropy — and knowing whether they’re right for your project can open doors to flexible, mission-aligned capital. This session demystifies PRIs: what they are, why funders use them, and how nonprofits and community organizations can position themselves to access them. Participants will hear directly from funders who have made PRIs in rural Colorado, specifically in the Heart of Colorado, learn the five key advantages of this financing approach, and leave with a practical framework for assessing whether a PRI is the right fit for an upcoming project.
Speaker: Janice Fritsch, Kenneth King Foundation
Session Summary: Are you a board member ready to help your organization fundraise — but not sure where to start? This training is designed for you! We’ll help you identify strong prospects in your community, understand why people give and how to tap into donor motivations, and walk you through a practical 6-step “Making the Ask” framework. You’ll leave with the foundation of your own “Fundraising Commitment and Accountability Plan” — ready to implement immediately and share with your full board to move everyone into action.
Speaker: Lori Sharp, Founder and Consultant, ThinkSharp! Consulting
Lori brings 15 years of non-profit consulting experience, built upon a successful career in global advertising and marketing, to her role leading ThinkSharp! Consulting. Since founding the firm in Western Colorado, she has established a proven track record of fostering organizational development and securing funding through strategic planning, board development, training and comprehensive grant management. A founding board member of the Montrose Recreation Foundation, Lori’s commitment to community development extends through her dedication to mentorship and training. Her expertise spans critical areas including board development and strategic initiatives that strengthen organizational capacity and community impact. Her relationship-first approach ensures deep understanding of each client’s mission while delivering measurable results with the highest standards of professional excellence. Lori’s work consistently demonstrates that rural organizations can compete effectively for resources when equipped with the right tools and training. She holds a degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Session Summary: Rural nonprofits often rely on grants and annual events that make long‑term funding unpredictable. This session introduces a Benevon‑like, mission‑centered approach to major donor engagement designed for small and rural organizations. Participants will explore how a well-crafted Point of Entry experience can open the door to deeper relationships, how personal follow‑up builds trust, and how a free annual breakfast or lunch can inspire multi‑year giving. Through a high‑level overview and practical examples, attendees will learn how to begin building a sustainable donor pipeline rooted in community connection, storytelling, and shared ownership across the organization.
Speaker: Joe Haines, CFRE, Founder, Joe Haines Consulting
Joe brings over 30 years of non-profit experience across the country, beginning his career in the early 1990s while in graduate school, working with homeless women in Washington, D.C. Throughout his career, he has served a wide range of causes, including homelessness, food security, youth development, environmental education, animal welfare, and the performing arts. With over 15 years as an Executive Director and 10 years as a Development Director, Joe’s leadership experience is both deep and diverse. For the past eight years, Joe has led two rural non-profits in Northwest Colorado. His dedication to rural communities extends to his work on the Northwest Rural Philanthropy Days Committee from 2016 to 2023, where he served as Chair of the Regional Leadership Committee (2017–2021) and co-chaired the 2022 Northwest Rural Philanthropy Days Conference. Joe’s extensive background with rural non-profits gives him unique insights into the challenges and opportunities these organizations face.
Session Summary: Demystify AI for nonprofit professionals, providing clear definitions, examples, and practical tips for using AI responsibly in the grant process. Participants will explore a range of platforms and grant-specific AI tools, consider both the benefits and cautions, and hear insights from Colorado funders about how AI is shaping their review process.
Speaker: Katy Pepinsky, Consultant and Grant Manager, ThinkSharp! Consulting
For over twenty years, Katy Pepinsky has worked with a diverse array of non-profit and service organizations to help build more resilient communities. Most recently, Katy served as the Director of Grant Services at Community Resource Center (CRC), where she led efforts to strengthen the capacity of Colorado nonprofits to access and manage public and private grant funding. Drawing from her experience as a former Executive Director, grant writer, trainer, and facilitator, she brings a deep understanding of nonprofit operations, strategy, and sustainability to her consulting practice. Katy’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has shaped much of her professional work, including the development and launch of CRC’s GrantCorps initiative—an effort aimed at creating more equitable access to grant resources across the state. Katy holds a master’s degree in Extension Education from Colorado State University and a Professional Nonprofit Management Certificate from Fort Lewis College. Through her consulting, she continues to support nonprofit leaders and organizations across Colorado and beyond, offering services in grant strategy, training, facilitation, and organizational development.
Session Summary: Participants will learn about multiple strategic planning strategies to guide their organizations through uncertain times. Attendees will learn practical tools to help with immediate, short-term, and long-term planning, including budgeting.
Speaker: Angela Schreffler, Owner, Centennial Nonprofit Consulting
Angela Schreffler (she/her) is the founder of Centennial Nonprofit Consulting, LLC, where she partners with nonprofit organizations to strengthen their operations, clarify strategy, and build long-term sustainability. With over twenty years of experience in the nonprofit sector, Angela specializes in supporting organizations with strategic planning, board development, financial management, fundraising, and operational effectiveness. Her values of equity, anti-racism, allyship, authenticity, and transparency guide her work with her clients and in the nonprofit sector as a whole. As a consultant, Angela brings a collaborative, iterative, and practical approach—helping leaders identify challenges, explore solutions, and put plans into action. Before launching Centennial Nonprofit Consulting in 2023, Angela spent a decade as Chief Operating Officer at Colorado Nonprofit Development Center, one of the nation’s leading fiscal sponsors, where she coached hundreds of charitable organizations on growth and impact. She has also led nonprofits in the areas of environmental advocacy and community mobility, and served on multiple boards of directors, giving her first-hand insight into the realities nonprofit leaders face.
Session Summary: Leadville and Lake County recently completed one of the few joint city-county comprehensive plans in Colorado. Much of the work that made the plan possible happened before the technical planning process officially began. This session shares how the City of Leadville, Lake County, and nonprofit partner Community Builders built trust and created the structure needed for a joint community planning process in a place where many residents had good reasons to be skeptical. Drawing on more than 1,700 community touchpoints over 18 months, presenters will walk through the practical choices that made broad and deep engagement possible, what it took for the City and County to work together behind the scenes, and what we learned along the way.
Speaker: Brooke Murphy, Project Manager, Community Builders
Brooke Murphy is a planner with more than eight years of experience working in rural and mountain communities across Colorado. Her work sits at the intersection of technical planning and community process design, with a focus on housing, land use, and the civic infrastructure that makes implementation possible. Brooke recently served as project manager for the One Community Project, an 18-month joint comprehensive planning effort for the City of Leadville and Lake County. The project engaged more than 1,700 community members across a phased process that prioritized trust-building and inclusive engagement before moving into policy and strategy. She has also contributed to the Colorado Department of Housing Affordable Housing Toolkit, the One Valley Resilience Roadmap in Gunnison County, and provided housing-related technical assistance to communities throughout the mountain west. Brooke holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado Denver.
Session Summary: Lake County, Colorado is piloting an innovative rural funding model that reinvests tourism-generated accommodations tax revenue into early childhood education and childcare infrastructure. This session explores how tourism leaders, nonprofits, businesses, and local government partnered to address workforce shortages, family displacement, and economic sustainability through destination stewardship. Participants will learn practical strategies for building cross-sector partnerships, aligning tourism and economic development goals, creating public-private funding models, and reframing childcare as essential rural infrastructure. The session will provide real-world examples, lessons learned, and replicable ideas for communities seeking creative solutions to workforce and community resilience challenges.
Speaker: Adam Ducharme, Tourism & Economic Development Director, Lake County Government
Adam Ducharme is the Tourism & Economic Development Director for Lake County, Colorado, where he leads destination stewardship, tourism management, and community-focused economic development initiatives for Leadville and Twin Lakes. Since joining Lake County Government in 2022, Adam has helped advance innovative strategies connecting tourism, workforce sustainability, housing, outdoor recreation, and community resilience. His work focuses on aligning the visitor economy with resident quality of life through collaborative partnerships and regenerative tourism practices. Adam previously worked in hospitality and filmmaking before building his career in rural community development and destination leadership in Colorado’s central mountains. As a father of two young children, he is deeply passionate about affordability issues facing rural mountain communities, particularly childcare, housing, and long-term community sustainability.
Session Summary: Leadville and Lake County recently completed one of the few joint city-county comprehensive plans in Colorado. Much of the work that made the plan possible happened before the technical planning process officially began. This session shares how the City of Leadville, Lake County, and nonprofit partner Community Builders built trust and created the structure needed for a joint community planning process in a place where many residents had good reasons to be skeptical. Drawing on more than 1,700 community touchpoints over 18 months, presenters will walk through the practical choices that made broad and deep engagement possible, what it took for the City and County to work together behind the scenes, and what we learned along the way.
Speaker: Brooke Murphy, Project Manager, Community Builders
Brooke Murphy is a planner with more than eight years of experience working in rural and mountain communities across Colorado. Her work sits at the intersection of technical planning and community process design, with a focus on housing, land use, and the civic infrastructure that makes implementation possible. Brooke recently served as project manager for the One Community Project, an 18-month joint comprehensive planning effort for the City of Leadville and Lake County. The project engaged more than 1,700 community members across a phased process that prioritized trust-building and inclusive engagement before moving into policy and strategy. She has also contributed to the Colorado Department of Housing Affordable Housing Toolkit, the One Valley Resilience Roadmap in Gunnison County, and provided housing-related technical assistance to communities throughout the mountain west. Brooke holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado Denver.
10:20 am – 11:30 am: Professional Workshop Session 2 (Select one topic per session)
Session Summary: Rural nonprofits often deliver exceptional programs but lack access to resources and the operational infrastructure needed for long‑term stability. This session introduces a practical assessment tool that helps organizations evaluate the strength of their administrative, financial, fundraising, communications, and governance systems. Participants will explore common gaps facing small and mid‑sized rural nonprofits, learn how to prioritize improvements, and understand how stronger operations support mission delivery. Executive leaders and board members will leave with a clearer picture of what a healthy, sustainable organization looks like, and how to chart a path toward it.
Speaker: Joe Haines, CFRE, Founder, Joe Haines Consulting
Joe brings over 30 years of non-profit experience across the country, beginning his career in the early 1990s while in graduate school, working with homeless women in Washington, D.C. Throughout his career, he has served a wide range of causes, including homelessness, food security, youth development, environmental education, animal welfare, and the performing arts. With over 15 years as an Executive Director and 10 years as a Development Director, Joe’s leadership experience is both deep and diverse. For the past eight years, Joe has led two rural non-profits in Northwest Colorado. His dedication to rural communities extends to his work on the Northwest Rural Philanthropy Days Committee from 2016 to 2023, where he served as Chair of the Regional Leadership Committee (2017–2021) and co-chaired the 2022 Northwest Rural Philanthropy Days Conference. Joe’s extensive background with rural non-profits gives him unique insights into the challenges and opportunities these organizations face.
Session Summary: What would happen if your Executive Director left tomorrow? Is your organization ready? This session for both board members and executive leadership explores how to build a succession plan that protects your mission — without disruption to programs or the communities you serve. We’ll cover topics such as where critical knowledge lives, what to document now, policies and procedures and how to prepare for both planned and unexpected transitions. Remember: having a plan doesn’t mean you’re planning to leave. It means you care enough about your organization to make sure it’s ready for anything.
Speaker: Katy Pepinsky, Consultant and Grant Manager, ThinkSharp! Consulting
For over twenty years, Katy Pepinsky has worked with a diverse array of non-profit and service organizations to help build more resilient communities. Most recently, Katy served as the Director of Grant Services at Community Resource Center (CRC), where she led efforts to strengthen the capacity of Colorado nonprofits to access and manage public and private grant funding. Drawing from her experience as a former Executive Director, grant writer, trainer, and facilitator, she brings a deep understanding of nonprofit operations, strategy, and sustainability to her consulting practice. Katy’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has shaped much of her professional work, including the development and launch of CRC’s GrantCorps initiative—an effort aimed at creating more equitable access to grant resources across the state. Katy holds a master’s degree in Extension Education from Colorado State University and a Professional Nonprofit Management Certificate from Fort Lewis College. Through her consulting, she continues to support nonprofit leaders and organizations across Colorado and beyond, offering services in grant strategy, training, facilitation, and organizational development.
Session Summary: Is your organization dreaming of a new facility, major renovation, or significant equipment purchase? This session is for both staff and board members contemplating or launching a capital fundraising campaign. We’ll walk you through a practical road map — from fundraising feasibility to closing gifts and celebrations — drawing on real-world examples from rural Colorado nonprofits who have navigated the highs, lows, and hard-won victories of campaign work. You’ll leave with tangible resources and strategies you can apply immediately. Plenty of time built in for questions of the campaign consultants and peer conversation.
Speaker: Lori Sharp, Founder and Consultant, ThinkSharp! Consulting
Lori brings 15 years of non-profit consulting experience, built upon a successful career in global advertising and marketing, to her role leading ThinkSharp! Consulting. Since founding the firm in Western Colorado, she has established a proven track record of fostering organizational development and securing funding through strategic planning, board development, training and comprehensive grant management. A founding board member of the Montrose Recreation Foundation, Lori’s commitment to community development extends through her dedication to mentorship and training. Her expertise spans critical areas including board development and strategic initiatives that strengthen organizational capacity and community impact. Her relationship-first approach ensures deep understanding of each client’s mission while delivering measurable results with the highest standards of professional excellence. Lori’s work consistently demonstrates that rural organizations can compete effectively for resources when equipped with the right tools and training. She holds a degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Session Summary: This workshop is for nonprofit leaders who want to understand how to get to “Yes!” when they ask a donor to make a major gift to their organization. This 90-minute workshop will take leaders responsible for making Asks of donors through the practical steps and emotional journey of the Ask. The entire experience will be to model the process, discuss emotions that occur, ethical concerns and the importance of data retention. The course also explores stewardship as a core economic driver of retention and long-term growth. Participants will examine the lifecycle of donor engagement, identify gaps in stewardship practices within their own organizations. Through small-group practice and candid discussion, attendees will strengthen their comfort with the journey to the one-on-one Ask.
Speaker: Courtney Johnson, Philanthropy Advisors
Courtney Johnson is an Executive and Board Coach, guiding them through cultural change, board tensions, and organizational growth. From major cities to rural communities, she has spent her 25-year career strengthening the organizations that hold our communities together. Her work centers on a simple but powerful idea: An organization’s internal health shapes the trust that sustains its mission.
Session Summary: You don’t need a polished database to start benefiting from AI—you just need a plan. This session is for organizations that feel behind: maybe your “data” lives in spreadsheets and mail merges, or maybe it barely exists at all. We’ll start with the foundational basics of identifying and organizing the information you already have, then walk through a step-by-step roadmap for adopting AI in realistic phases—beginning with quick wins and building toward more strategic uses over time. Designed specifically for the realities of rural organizations with limited staff, budget, and infrastructure, this workshop sends you home with a clear, achievable next step rather than an overwhelming wish list.
Speaker: Jackie Holt & Craig Dreiling, Co-Founders, Altavar.ai
Jackie Holt is the co-founder of Altavar.ai and an Advisory Solution Consultant specializing in artificial intelligence, automation, and data strategy. She has more than 20 years of experience helping organizations use data to make better decisions and improve outcomes. Jackie holds a Master’s degree in Data Science and an MBA, and has worked across industries including healthcare, financial services, retail, energy, and technology. Throughout her career, she has led analytics, business intelligence, and AI initiatives ranging from small organizations to global enterprises. A longtime supporter of nonprofit and community initiatives, Jackie is passionate about helping organizations understand how emerging technologies can be used responsibly, safely, and practically to increase capacity and better serve their communities.
Craig Dreiling is the co-founder of Altavar.ai and a technology consultant with extensive experience in software development, data analysis, and artificial intelligence. Craig holds a Master’s degree in Data Science and an MBA. He has worked with organizations ranging from grassroots nonprofits to large enterprises, helping them better understand and use information to solve real-world problems. Craig’s work focuses on making technology approachable and useful for non-technical audiences. He specializes in translating complex concepts into practical tools and strategies that organizations can implement immediately.
Session Summary: In 2023, Colorado didn’t just pass a bill—it changed how state funding decisions get made. House Bill 23-1223 requires state agencies to align, prioritize, and direct funding toward what actually improves youth outcomes. This session shows how that shift works in practice—and how you can use it.
You’ll see how Colorado is using shared data to identify where investment is needed most, align funding across agencies, and focus on upstream factors like safety, connection, and opportunity to reduce youth violence, suicide, and delinquency risk. More importantly, you’ll learn how community organizations can plug into this model. The Colorado Youth Wellbeing Index (CYWI) turns local realities into actionable data that helps drive funding decisions—not sit on a shelf. It reflects community input, highlights priority populations, and creates a clear pathway to connect your work to statewide funding priorities.
Speaker: Renu (Re) Gupta-Fitzgerald, CPH
Renu (Re) Gupta-Fitzgerald is the Grant Prioritization Program Manager for Colorado’s HB23-1223, where she facilitates a statewide task force charged with helping agencies and community partners align funding around youth wellbeing, prevention, and community need. Her work centers on making grant systems more compensatory, accessible, coordinated, and useful for the communities they are meant to serve, especially smaller, rural, and historically overlooked, community-rooted organizations. As a member of Grantmakers In Health, Renu is committed to strengthening the bridge between public health, philanthropy, and localized leadership so that investment decisions are guided by both data and lived community experience.
Session Summary: Financial management can be overwhelming for nonprofit leaders. This session helps nonprofit staff and board members hone in on the key pieces of information that are most important in maintaining financial health and advancing critical mission-based work. The session will include break-out groups and peer learning, using sample financial statements.
Speaker: Angela Schreffler, Owner, Centennial Nonprofit Consulting
Angela Schreffler (she/her) is the founder of Centennial Nonprofit Consulting, LLC, where she partners with nonprofit organizations to strengthen their operations, clarify strategy, and build long-term sustainability. With over twenty years of experience in the nonprofit sector, Angela specializes in supporting organizations with strategic planning, board development, financial management, fundraising, and operational effectiveness. Her values of equity, anti-racism, allyship, authenticity, and transparency guide her work with her clients and in the nonprofit sector as a whole. As a consultant, Angela brings a collaborative, iterative, and practical approach—helping leaders identify challenges, explore solutions, and put plans into action. Before launching Centennial Nonprofit Consulting in 2023, Angela spent a decade as Chief Operating Officer at Colorado Nonprofit Development Center, one of the nation’s leading fiscal sponsors, where she coached hundreds of charitable organizations on growth and impact. She has also led nonprofits in the areas of environmental advocacy and community mobility, and served on multiple boards of directors, giving her first-hand insight into the realities nonprofit leaders face.
Session Summary: Leadville and Lake County recently completed one of the few joint city-county comprehensive plans in Colorado. Much of the work that made the plan possible happened before the technical planning process officially began. This session shares how the City of Leadville, Lake County, and nonprofit partner Community Builders built trust and created the structure needed for a joint community planning process in a place where many residents had good reasons to be skeptical. Drawing on more than 1,700 community touchpoints over 18 months, presenters will walk through the practical choices that made broad and deep engagement possible, what it took for the City and County to work together behind the scenes, and what we learned along the way.
Speaker: Brooke Murphy, Project Manager, Community Builders
Brooke Murphy is a planner with more than eight years of experience working in rural and mountain communities across Colorado. Her work sits at the intersection of technical planning and community process design, with a focus on housing, land use, and the civic infrastructure that makes implementation possible. Brooke recently served as project manager for the One Community Project, an 18-month joint comprehensive planning effort for the City of Leadville and Lake County. The project engaged more than 1,700 community members across a phased process that prioritized trust-building and inclusive engagement before moving into policy and strategy. She has also contributed to the Colorado Department of Housing Affordable Housing Toolkit, the One Valley Resilience Roadmap in Gunnison County, and provided housing-related technical assistance to communities throughout the mountain west. Brooke holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado Denver.
Location: Colorado Mountain College
Food truck lunches
Location: Colorado Mountain College
Location: Tabor
Location: TBD
Friday, October 30th
Location: Colorado Mountain College
Location: Various locations (more information TBA)
Location: Airport Hanger
Panel session with Funder Q&A
Location: Airport Hanger
Informal Activities TBD