AN ESTATE GIFT ENSURING SUPPORT FOR THE NEXT 100 YEARS AND BEYOND
Terri Konrad was ready for a career change when she saw a job posting for a role in philanthropy – one where she didn’t meet all the requirements, but she was determined to apply anyway.
She got the job – the first of many times she said “yes” to opportunities before knowing exactly where they would lead.
In that role, grantmaking sometimes had to share space with broader business priorities. When Terri learned about a job opportunity at The Denver Foundation, one distinction stood out: At The Denver Foundation, impact and community came first.
Terri spent more than a decade at The Denver Foundation, visiting nonprofits, talking with community leaders, and designing educational sessions for grantees to strengthen their capacity and share learning across organizations. She helped lead the Community Grants Program, our signature program that continues to run today. In 2011, the Association of Fundraising Professionals recognized her as Outstanding Professional Grantmaker of the Year. Her time on staff was the first chapter in her longstanding relationship with The Denver Foundation.
BACK TO SCHOOL, AGAIN
Peter Konrad, Terri’s husband, also entered philanthropy through his career. Terri and Peter met while they were both teachers in Aurora. When Peter became a school principal, fundraising for the school became a key part of his role. Through this work, he developed a growing curiosity about how funding decisions are made and the broader financial ecosystem behind them.
In the face of uncertainty, both Terri and Peter moved forward with small, deliberate choices that led to deeply impactful careers.
When he applied for a job in philanthropy, he was on the shortlist but didn’t make the final cut because he was told he lacked the financial background. “I decided the thing I had to do was get that financial experience. This was after I had gotten my PhD, but I went back to school at Metro State and took accounting classes for my CPA license,” said Peter. That decision eventually led Peter to his role as the Chief Financial Officer at The Colorado Trust and, from there, to a career advising foundations across the region on their grantmaking.
In the face of uncertainty, both Terri and Peter moved forward with small, deliberate choices that led to deeply impactful careers.
Their personal giving followed a similar pattern.
FROM TIME AND TALENT TO TREASURE
In the early 2000s, Peter decided to take a chance on an investment opportunity. “I had $5,000 sitting around that I thought I could invest,” he recalls. He put in the money. It felt silly, but a number of years later, it was worth $30,000.
“It was kind of ‘found money,’” Peter says, “and when Terri was at The Denver Foundation, we always thought it’d be nice to have a donor-advised fund with our family.” The fruits of Peter’s investment launched the Konrads’ donor-advised fund at The Denver Foundation, planting deep roots for community giving well into the future.
Each year, they sat down together to consider where their giving could go next, but for them, it was more than just a decision-making exercise. They involved their children so they could learn not just where the money goes, but why, and they visited the communities their gifts supported. They saw what these grants made possible, both locally and internationally, from places in their neighborhood, like the Bluff Lake Nature Center, to international causes, like schools in Guatemala that support young Indigenous women.
The Konrads’ connection to Bluff Lake Nature Center runs especially deep. Peter serves on the Finance and Capital Campaign Committees and is a regular birder at the site. Over the years, he has introduced Bluff Lake Nature Center to new partner organizations and mentored staff, helping strengthen the organization from within. Most recently, the family has helped raise significant funds for the capital campaign supporting its campus improvements project.
EXTENDING IMPACT FORWARD
Over time, the Konrads began to consider what their philanthropy could look like beyond their own lifetimes. They evaluated it like any investment, seeking to support efforts with the potential to grow, solve meaningful problems, and create lasting value.
As The Denver Foundation celebrated its 100th anniversary, the Konrads decided to give part of their estate to The Fund for Denver, our permanent endowment, established by and for the community. According to Peter, the choice “felt like a no-brainer.”
“The Denver Foundation is an organization that learns, grows, and keeps in touch with the community. We don’t know what the world’s going to look like in 10 years or 50 years, but if you want to have money managed and given away by anyone, wouldn’t it make sense to give it to an organization that is really in touch with the community, is a learning organization, and has a philosophy and a track record of having done a very good job for 100 years?”
“It’s not just that the people here are professional. They’re engaged in the community. They’re in touch with what the real issues are.” -Terri Konrad
“It’s not just that the people here [at The Denver Foundation] are professional,” Terri added. “They’re engaged in the community. They’re in touch with what the real issues are.”
In 1925, our founders created an endowed fund to support Metro Denver for generations. They started it with a $1,000 gift, not knowing that 100 years later it would grow to $1.9 billion in grants to the community.
Today, the Konrads are making a similar choice by supporting that same endowed fund, The Fund for Denver, in their wills.
It’s the continuation of a pattern across the Konrads’ careers and lives: small choices that, over time, compound into something far greater than what’s visible in the moment.
Learn more about planned giving: denverfoundation.org/donor-services/estate-and-planned-giving/
Photos: Peter and Terri Konrad, fundholders. Photo credit: Armando Geneyro
