Fellowship at One Colorado

Hello! My name is Luke Ortiz-Grabe, and I am a member of the class of 2025 at Colorado College. I am an International Political Economy Major from Highlands Ranch, Colorado. I have a strong history of working in the nonprofit industry, collecting skills such as project management, donor research, and grant writing. I have also acquired proficiency in multiple donor and customer relations management software. In my studies at Colorado College, I have taken various classes focusing on economic development methods within the Global South, particularly in Latin America. I believe that development studies will be essential to future global economic success and cooperation, and having a comprehensive understanding of contemporary development methods is critical to my future career success. I am also a Bonner Fellow at Colorado College, where I dedicate my time to community engagement, and I am currently an intern with Community Health Partnerships on the Pikes Peak LGBTQIA2+ Health Equity Project.

This summer, I had the opportunity to participate in a hybrid position as a Development Fellow at One Colorado, which is located in Denver and works within the LGBTQ+ advocacy space in Colorado. One Colorado is the state’s leading advocacy organization dedicated to advancing equality for LGBTQ+ Coloradans and their families. They effectively advocate for LGBTQ+ Coloradans and their families by lobbying the General Assembly, executive branch, and local governments on issues like safe schools, transgender equality, relationship recognition, and LGBTQ+ health and human services. My role at One Colorado was as a Development Fellow, where I learned about the current donor layout of the organization and played a crucial role in the success of multiple fundraising efforts. In particular, I organized volunteers and set up at the Pink Party in June and managed the Silent Auction and AV Program for the Prism Awards in August. Besides my work in development, I assisted with One Colorado’s Food Access project in Pueblo, Colorado, and was a member of the review committee for the 2022-23 GSA Leadership Council.

The goals I set for my internship were numerous and spanned a variety of tasks and goals that I outlined for myself throughout the internship. My largest goal was to expand into other areas of the organization besides development so I could leave the internship with a well-rounded sense of LGBTQ+ advocacy in Colorado. To accomplish this, I made sure to connect with each department within the organization and maintain open lines of communication so that I was aware of opportunities and projects I could work on as a part of the organization. Through this, I was able to interact with almost every department of One Colorado and successfully left the internship with a holistic sense of its mission and values. Further, I kept in mind fundraising metrics from previous years and set goals that surpassed previous numbers but were also realistic and obtainable. Through harnessing a competitive spirit, I was able to surpass almost all fundraising goals that I set for myself, which was extremely beneficial for the organization.

Before working at One Colorado, I had minimal experience with nonprofit development and donor management. However, the instruction and opportunity to learn about multiple aspects of nonprofit development allowed me to acquire and develop these skills. Through my work, I successfully gained competency in fundraising platforms such as One Cause and Customer Relations Management software like Salsa. I also built upon some previous experience in events management by helping to plan and successfully host the two largest fundraising events for the organization, which will certainly aid a career in nonprofits in the future. Finally, I enhanced my skill in survey analysis further, which I did by helping the organization finalize state endorsements from their survey.

My main focus was coordinating the volutneers throughout the event the day of, and also ensure check-in ran smoothly. I assigned the volunteers tasks for set up and clean up, taught the volutneers how to use our check-in system, and ensured that check-in ran smoothly by responding to any issues that arose.

My time with One Colorado has made a substantial impact on me and will undoubtedly have a considerable effect on my future. First, my time with One Colorado was my first time working in an office that was not entirely remote due to COVID. My experience allowed me to understand what an office job could mean for my future and allowed me to develop a work-life balance. I also gained and enhanced many relationships within progressive non-profits across the state of Colorado. These connections have helped strengthen my work in LGBTQ+ Health Equity in Colorado Springs by sparking ideas and opportunities for future involvement. Finally, my time at One Colorado allowed me to become a part of a tight-knit community and introduced me to a fantastic group of people with whom I will stay connected in the future.

As for the key contributions I made to One Colorado, I had initially set out with a goal of building capacity and improving the organization's operations wherever possible. In the area of development, I researched and selected a new silent auction and event management software that led to a direct increase in donations and bids in previous years and raised the highest-value silent auction in the organization's history. In my other work, I secured a donation of over 150 seed packets for the food access project in Pueblo and completed survey analysis that led to successful endorsements for the 2022 election.

For this internship, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to live at home with my parents, who provided many of the necessities I needed in my life (such as shopping for food to cook or buying house essentials). I lived approximately 45 minutes from the office; however, I could take the light rail for the days I needed to go into the office using the public transportation pass One Colorado provided. My daily regimen on days when I did not go to the office would usually be waking up at around 9 am to shower and eat breakfast before beginning work at 10 pm. I would then work until about 6 pm, taking breaks for lunch and other necessary things in between, where I would then wind down with dinner, a run, and whatever else I needed to do with my day. For days I needed to head into the office, I would pack my lunch the night before and arrive at the train about 45 minutes before I needed to be in the office. If I needed to go around multiple places in Denver, I would also take my bike on the light rail to quickly get from one place to another. I would then work similar hours to my work-from-home days.

I learned that working consistent hours was extremely beneficial in creating an effective work-life balance, as it allowed me to plan my schedule out far in advance and set aside time to meet up with friends and do other things I enjoy. I spent much of my summer hiking and learning how to longboard, and I feel like I was able to accomplish both despite working 40 hours a week. I also learned that I enjoy a consistent structure as I find the chaos of a perpetually shifting schedule stressful and not conducive to a healthy work-life balance.

My work with the Prism Awards were by far the largest tasks that I had as part of my fellowship with One Colorado. I was entirely in charge of soliciting silent auction items and managing the event platform, which took up the majority of my time. I also trained all volunteers with how to use the check-in and check-out features of the platform, and troubleshooted many of the issues they came across. Finally, I managed all Audio Visual needs during the awards portion of the event, which involved making sure videos ran smoothly and slides transitioned at the correct times.

Though I am still undecided on where I see myself in the future, my fellowship with One Colorado provided valuable insight into a nonprofit career that I will continue exploring. First, my fellowship confirmed and strengthened my desire to devote myself to the Pikes Peak LGBTQ+ Public Health Project internship I will be completing this academic year. The LGBTQ+ community experiences vast amounts of marginalization and health disparities within the Colorado Springs area. Seeing the positive work One Colorado and other community leaders accomplished for LGBTQ+ Coloradans made me even more driven to participate in a project that will uplift fellow LGBTQ+ people in my community.

Furthermore, I now want to explore other internship and career opportunities that state-level and national nonprofits offer. The connections I made at One Colorado will undoubtedly be extremely valuable as I continue with these next three years of college. Many opportunities to gain experience and connect with nonprofit leaders in the state are now open to me. Though I am still uncertain what I will do once I graduate college, the lessons and experiences I gained through my fellowship at One Colorado continue to help narrow the path moving forward.

One piece of advice that I think is essential for students who wish to follow in my footsteps is to develop organizational strategies that can assist with managing the many moving parts. Event planning and silent auction solicitation require organizational strategies that work for you. Though One Colorado does a fantastic job prepping you with organizational techniques, you must ensure they work for you. Additionally, I would recommend that you ensure that you have a personal connection to the organization's mission statement. Much of the work is talking from personal experience and advocating for change that affects a marginalized community within the state and many of your fellow coworkers. A personal connection hopefully ensures that you are committed to the organization's work and find it fulfilling. Finally, I recommend reaching out to other departments besides Development within the organization. One Colorado drives many different initiatives across the state, and by keeping consistent dialogue with these different departments, I had the opportunity to engross myself in various impactful projects and work.

Feel free to connect with me on all major social media and LinkedIn @lukeortizgrabe or email me at l_ortizgrabe@coloradocollege.edu!