June 4, 2026
After months of advocacy, coalition building, and elevating the voices of nonprofits across Colorado, Communities Lead Communities Thrive (CLCT) is proud to celebrate the signing of House Bill 26-1274: State Agency Payments to Grant Recipients, which passed through the Colorado General Assembly with bipartisan support.
HB 26-1274 becoming law marks a major step forward in modernizing how Colorado partners with nonprofit organizations delivering essential public services. The law allows – but does not require – state agencies to provide a portion of grant funding in advance to nonprofit organizations awarded state grants that demonstrate a need for upfront funding.
For many nonprofits, especially smaller and community-rooted organizations, this change could make a meaningful difference.
Currently, most state grants operate on a reimbursement basis, requiring organizations to front program costs and wait weeks or even months for payment. Through CLCT’s listening sessions with nonprofit leaders across Colorado in summer and fall 2025, organizations consistently identified reimbursement delays and lack of upfront funding as major barriers to delivering state-funded programs.
Nonprofit leaders shared stories of delaying hiring, struggling to maintain cash flow, taking on debt, and even assuming personal financial risk just to keep critical services operating while waiting for reimbursement.
Those conversations directly informed CLCT’s Funding the Frontlines Policy Agenda and helped shape the advocacy behind HB 26-1274.
This legislation reflects a growing recognition that nonprofits are not vendors on the sidelines of public service delivery – they are essential partners in serving Colorado communities.
We are deeply grateful to the many coalition partners, nonprofit leaders, advocates, philanthropic organizations, and community members who helped move this legislation forward.
Your testimony, outreach, meetings with lawmakers, public support, and willingness to share your experiences made this victory possible.
We also want to extend our sincere thanks to the bill sponsors for championing this issue and recognizing the importance of strengthening partnerships between the state and nonprofits.
Throughout the legislative session, advocates across Colorado helped elevate the conversation publicly through earned media and opinion pieces that highlighted the real-world impacts of reimbursement delays and the need for reform. We are grateful to the leaders and partners who lent their voices to this effort through placements, including:
- Colorado Politics: Reform to Colorado’s grantmaking drives efficiency, strengthens state’s partnership with nonprofits – Marco Dorado, Communities Lead Communities Thrive, and Jack Murphy, Colorado Nonprofit Association
- The Durango Herald: A step toward stronger nonprofits – Xander Hughes, Four Corners Rainbow Youth
- The Colorado Sun: Fixing how Colorado funds nonprofits will strengthen communities – Ray Barrie-Kivel, Rose Community Foundation, Sarah Dutcher, Caring for Colorado Foundation, and Dace West, The Denver Foundation
This victory is an important milestone, but it is also part of a broader effort to ensure nonprofit organizations – especially those led by and serving historically underrepresented communities – can more equitably access state funding and continue delivering critical services across Colorado. It will go into effect on August 12, 2026.
CLCT remains committed to advancing policies that strengthen the nonprofit sector, improve access to public funding, and build stronger partnerships between government and community organizations.
To everyone who helped make this possible: thank you. This victory belongs to all of us.