Grants

If you have been to any of our events over the past 25 years, you will have undoubtedly met Don Curtis and his wife, Gloria. Both served in the Peace Corps, Don in India and Gloria in Ethiopia. Don served on the board of the RPCVs of Colorado for over 20 years, most recently in the capacity of Treasurer and Membership Coordinator. It is a result of this long-term dedication that our group still exists. To honor his long-term commitment to the our group, the board of directors established The Don Curtis Giving Fund.  The fund name was changed to the Curtis Family Fund in recent years to reflect the dedication of both Don and Gloria to RPCV of Colorado.

Don has been a long-time proponent of our granting program, which has supported countless Peace Corps Partnership projects, as well as other nonprofit organizations whose missions closely match those of the Peace Corps. These include Pedals for Progress, FINCA, and Project Smile.

Funds may be contributed by mail or online. All donations are tax-deductible and you will be issued a receipt for tax purposes. If you are mailing a check, please indicate on your check that this money is specifically for The Curtis Family Giving Fund. Thank you for your support and thanks to Don and Gloria Curtis for all that they have done for our group!

Our mailing address is:

RPCVs of Colorado

PO Box 18995

Denver, CO 80218

RPCVs of Colorado donate all proceeds from the sale of the RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin annual calendar as well as our branded merchandise to the Curtis Family Fund which supports current Peace Corps Partnership projects.

We typically try to help current volunteers in the following ways:

1. We will review information on current PCV projects for consideration of a RPCVCO grant.
2. Depending on the project, we may highlight it in an upcoming RPCV of Colorado newsletter or other communication that goes out to our members and other partners, noting that this is a project that needs funding.

Our group gives out on average of $2000 a year in grants to currently serving volunteers. Depending on the circumstances of the project and the current grant funding levels, the board of the RPCVs of Colorado may award a grant up to $500 or more.

In addition, while it is not a requirement, we will give preference to those requests that:

1. Relate to our 2 year area of focus
2. Have a connection to Colorado (e.g. be born and raised here, have gone to college or other schooling here, have family members here, plan to move to Colorado after Peace Corps)

All requests for funding must participate in the Peace Corps Partnership program. The group is unable to give grants to volunteers who do not participate in the Peace Corps Partnership program. For more information about this program, please visit the Peace Corps Partnership website.

Peace Corps’ guidelines for currently serving volunteers do not allow volunteers to request external funds for Peace Corps Partnership projects. However, Peace Corps will send an email to Returned Peace Corps Affiliate groups regarding projects seeking funds based on a volunteers request.

For currently serving volunteers: If you would like to share information about your project with our group, please ensure that we are included in Peace Corps’ email distribution. We would appreciate it if your email included information regarding a date for when the funds are needed and a link to your PCPP project. In addition, it would be helpful for us to include some information regarding how you are connected to Colorado.

Funding recipients

If your project does receive funding, we would like you to provide us:

1. Status updates, as appropriate, particularly when the project starts and when it is completed.
2. Description of the completed project, along with appropriate photos.

We will publicize this information on our website, our newsletter, and other communications as appropriate, to inform our members and partners about the project that was funded.