Moving Fort Collins Forward! Campaign a Huge Success
The Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce’s recently completed Moving Fort Collins Forward! campaign was a huge success. How big? Well, against a goal of $550,000 Chamber volunteers raised $600,912! Additionally, against a goal of 100 new members by the end of the year, we are currently at 96.
As a reminder, this annual campaign is used to raise about half of the money the Chamber will need in the following year. The money goes toward programs, events and key strategic initiatives. An example of the latter is the Fix North I-25 Initiative. The goal there was to raise $100,000 for lobbying for the money to widen I-25 to 3 lanes each way between Highway 14 and Highway 66 just north of Longmont. About $70,000 has been raised so far with other pledges still being considered.
Moving Fort Collins Forward! is driven by volunteers and we had an amazing group leading the campaign. Chamber Chair Chris Otto, partner in the audit, tax and consulting firm EKS&H, set the tone, and we had two strong and effective Campaign Co Chairs, Yvonne Myers, Columbine Health Systems and John Carroll, Ed Carroll Motor Company.
Their work as campaign leaders was backed up by a group of Vice Chairs that lent their names and support including Eric Adams of Wells Fargo, Mark Driscoll of First National Bank, David Everitt of Everitt Companies, Dr. Tony Frank of Colorado State University, Kathy Jack-Romero of The Fort Collins Coloradoan, Lucia Liley of Liley, Rogers & Martell, Curt Richardson of OtterBox, Rick Sutton of Banner Health, Kevin Unger of University of Colorado Health and Bob Wilson of Columbine Health Systems.
What really makes the campaign work are the team captains, and we had some great ones including:
- Auto Dealers (Dellenbach Motors, Ed Carroll Motors, Tynan’s)- John Carroll
- Bank of Colorado – Karis Harmon and Kayla Myers
- Banner Health/Kaiser Permanente – Dawn Paepke and Dan Dennie
- Brinkman Partners – Pete Meyer
- Columbine Health Systems – Yvonne Myers
- Elevations Real Estate – Chris Hardy
- First National Bank – Ken DeSimone
- Flood & Peterson – Brett Kemp
- Food Service of America – Greg Yancey
- Guaranty Bank – Rich Pearson and David Fritzler
- Home State Bank – Debra Kelly
- Red Carpet – Bethany Cox and Craig Vollmer
- UC Health – Amy Kolczak
- Wells Fargo – Eric Adams and Kevin McDonald
And, of course, I need to mention the top individual producers and teams, right!? Altogether there were 70+ volunteers involved in the campaign, and the top individual producers were:
- Ninth Place Individual: Ken DeSimone, First National Bank
- Eighth Place Individual: Pete Meyer, Brinkman Partners
- Seventh Place Individual: Gina DiGiallonardo, Columbine Health Systems
- Sixth Place Individual: Kim Martin, FMS Bank
- Fifth Place Individual: Brett Kemp, Flood & Peterson
- Fourth Place Individual: Amy Kolczak, University of Colorado Health
- Third Place Individual: Dawn Paepke, Kaiser Permanente
- Second Place Individual: John Carroll, Ed Carroll Motor Company
- Top Producer, 2014: Yvonne Myers, Columbine Health Systems
All of the teams were impressive, but the top four producers were:
- Fourth Place Team: Chamber Red Carpet Committee
- Third Place Team: Kaiser Permanente/Banner Health
- Second Place Team: Auto Dealers Team (Dellenbach Motors, Ed Carroll Motors, Tynan’s)
- Top Producing Team, 2014: Columbine Health Systems
To a person, the Chamber staff all supported the campaign, but a special ‘thank you’ to Kim Medina. She is the Chamber’s Director of Membership and is the Moving Fort Collins Forward! campaign manager. She’s the glue that holds the whole thing together.
And last but not least, a big thanks to all of you. Over 400 companies and individuals made investments during the campaign. Because of all of you, the Chamber is poised for an impactful 2015. Because of you, the Chamber just completed the most successful fund raising campaign in its history.
