The Mesa Land Trust: Collaboration and Marketing Pay Off on Western Slope

The Mesa Land Trust had hoped to raise about $15,000 on Colorado Gives Day — a modest increase from the year before.

“I was quite surprised when our efforts just about doubled what we did previously!” says Mary Hughes, development officer for the Land Trust.

The Land Trust’s mission is to protect agricultural land, wildlife habitat and open space in Mesa County. It currently protects 64,000 acres.

The Land Trust has participated in Colorado Gives Day since 2010. Those first years Hughes used email and Facebook for marketing. “More recently, I made a real effort to integrate Colorado Gives Day with all our mail appeals and communications through the year,” she said. “That made an impact on what we were able to raise.”

At the same time, a group of Western Slope nonprofits came together to help promote their participation with Community First Foundation and Colorado Gives Day. The group grew from nine members to 22 nonprofits in just one year after highlighting Community First Foundation’s role as a connector and resource for nonprofits.

“We saw huge growth there which gave us the opportunity for more publicity throughout the county,” said Hughes. “We were fortunate to have some of the bigger nonprofits participate which was good for the visibility of all the organizations.”