Lasting Impact through Impermanence
Many years ago, our founders Sam and Nancy Gary made an audacious decision in the world of philanthropy: Gary Community Ventures should not exist forever.
They knew Gary did not need to exist in perpetuity to create enduring impact. So they asked us to transfer all our resources to the community by 2035 and ensure those resources make a lasting, transformative impact on Colorado kids and families. Here’s how we’ll do it.
Transform Systems
We Want to Make Colorado the Best Place To Raise A Child.
To get there, and to ensure equity and opportunity for all Coloradans, we must remove the barriers that hold kids and families back and strengthen the conditions within the public, market and nonprofit systems that shape daily life.
As we partner with leaders across early childhood, education and economic mobility, we will reimagine and reconstruct the systems that families interact with most so that long after Gary is gone, communities can be empowered to drive continued systemic change.
Build Family Wealth
We want wealth to create stability and prosperity for every family.
The uneven access to wealth across demographics doesn’t just hurt individual families – it holds back the whole community from reaching its full potential. Our goal is to use our wealth to create wealth—building opportunities for every Colorado family.
Rather than “spending down,” we will transfer our assets to the community and seed opportunities for families to own homes, businesses, shared real estate and financial accounts that can grow in value and build multigenerational wealth.
Driving Systemic Change
Tools for Transformation
We integrate four powerful tools across our three strategies in order to tackle complex challenges from multiple angles and create longer lasting impact than any single approach could achieve alone.
1
Catalytic GrantMaking
Expanding the impact of public, nonprofit and private partners through funding that catalyzes sustainable change for kids and families.
2
Policy & Advocacy
Advancing legislation that unlocks public dollars to support kids and families statewide.
3
New Ventures
Incubating bold, community-driven programs that can scale and one day be led by public systems and institutions closest to kids and families.
4
Impact InvestMENTS
Using 100% of our capital to invest in solutions that deliver financial return and progress toward our mission.
Don’t Call It A Spend Down
The phrase “spend down” fundamentally misrepresents what we are trying to achieve because it can look more like watching a bank account dwindle instead of using our impermanence to catalyze long-lasting impact.
This absence of imagination robs us and our communities of the profound transformation we know is possible.
We’re not spending down; we’re building up — ensuring every dollar invested, grant awarded, venture launched and policy changed becomes permanently embedded in the fabric of our community. It isn’t about organizational closure. It’s about the emergence of solutions designed to outlast any single institution. We’re transferring not just resources, but the very machinery of wealth creation to communities, and breaking from traditional models with the urgency our kids and families deserve.
While this path challenges philanthropic tradition, it’s exactly the path Sam Gary would have taken. And, it can bring us together on a transformative journey — as we craft a lasting legacy that will endure in a vibrant and thriving Colorado.
Sam Gary
Founder
“I have a conviction that we cannot pass on our responsibilities to future generations. The needs of the moment are great and the opportunities to support meaningful change have never been greater.”