2016 Great Divide Giving
With the help and support of our neighborhood and community, Great Divide has been a part of the fabric of the growth of Denver since 1994. Without these people and their continued support, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do today. We are lucky to call the great city of Denver home and we hold this city near and dear to our hearts. Each year we strive to support and give back to the local Denver community through donations, sponsorships and volunteer hours. As the oldest packaging brewery in Denver, Great Divide has forged a handful of long-standing relationships with community partners and with its recent growth, the company is now in the position to support these organizations that have worked to make the city a better place for many years.
In 2016, Great Divide contributed 300 barrels of beer for nonprofit affiliated events, logged 300 hours of community service, and raised $95,012.43 in donations for 31 different local non-profits through the Tap Room Giving Program. With the donations gathered from sample flights in our Tap Room and Barrel Bar in 2016, we have now raised $470,000 since the Tap Room Giving Program’s inception in 2011.
“The Tap Room Giving Program has allowed GDBC to contribute to non-profits working through complicated issues like the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and Metro Caring while also expanding new partnerships. The program is really centered around supporting community initiatives and organizations that provide opportunities to better the Denver community all while aiming to bring people together to try different beers and start a conversation about how they might be able to get involved”, says Wright about Great Divide’s tap room donations.
The Tap Room Giving Program has also created a space for community building through event sponsorships like United Way’s Turkey Trot and Levitt Denver’s future pavilion in Ruby Hill Park.
This year, we had the opportunity to be the official beer sponsor for the Mile High United Way Turkey Trot for a third year. We have been fortunate enough to participate as a sponsor for the Mile High United Way Turkey Trot for the past few years. Each Thanksgiving, thousands of participants run in the Turkey Trot to raise money towards work that will help pull families and individuals in our community out of poverty. Every 21+ runner receives a free Great Divide brew in the beer garden after the race. This year, 180 cases of beer were consumed by deserving Turkey Trot runners.
2016 was also our first year as the official beer sponsor for Levitt Pavilion Denver, a local non-profit focused on elevating the local music scene and increasing accessibility to free live music through the construction of the new Levitt Pavilion in Ruby Hill Park. This past summer Levitt hosted a free concert series at Civic Center Park featuring 5 different performances with Great Divide beer. We are excited to continue and grow this partnership in 2017 when the construction of the new pavilion is completed and will showcase over 50 free shows.
Another way Great Divide gives back is by donating our time and efforts through volunteer hours. Our staff as a whole logged 300 hours of community service in 2016 through individual and team efforts. Urban Peak, a non-profit that provides a full convergence of services for youth ages 15 through 24 experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of becoming homeless, was one of the handful of organizations where the Great Divide staff volunteered as a team. This year we spent 50 hours of volunteering with Urban Peak helping to serve meals and organize donations.
“It’s a really special thing to work for a company that has been engrained in the Denver community for so long and that cares about more than just beer. In addition to the brewery donating more than $2 for every barrel of beer produced and integrating hundreds of barrels of beer into not-for-profit fundraising events throughout the year, a good portion of employees volunteer their time to various organizations in the city and state. From creating fundraising events to working with community gardens and providing support to organizations that are included in the Tap Room Giving Program, these employees are creating new relationships and, at times, establishing new connections all stemming from a shared passion for beer,” says Wright of Great Divide’s employees volunteer spirit.
We are thrilled to be able to do this kind of work and help support the amazing Denver community. 2016 was a great year for giving back and we can’t wait to give even more in 2017.
2016 Tap Room Giving Organizations