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The Colorado Restaurant Foundation has been empowering students and developing restaurant leaders since 1987.

No one knows restaurants like we do! Using real-world training, competitions, scholarships, and apprenticeship programs, we prepare young people, career changers, and historically underserved populations for promising foodservice and hospitality careers and college degrees. Through certifications, emergency relief, and health and wellness resources, the CRF supports current industry workers so they can grow and thrive.

With your help, we can not only keep our programs running, but expand them to provide more support to a wider population in Colorado.  A gift can support the CRF in the following ways:

  • $50 provides ingredients for a hands-on demo in a Colorado ProStart® classroom.
  • $150 gives a Colorado ProStart® student or pre-apprentice an immersive, in-restaurant work experience.
  • $500 covers career-advancing credentialing for a Colorado apprentice or student.
  • $1,000 provides mental health care treatment for an industry employee.
  • $2,500 gives an undergraduate hospitality student a college scholarship.

Thank you for your support!

Learn more about the CRF

Give today

Help us bring training, services, and support to students and restaurant employees across the state.

Our work is impossible without the support of our community. Will you join us?

Donate today

Give monthly

Giving monthly is a wonderful, low impact-way to support the CRF throughout the year. Your monthly donation of only $20 (or more!) adds up to a meaningful gift to our programs. Set up monthly giving online with the button below, or call us at 303-830-2972 and we can help you set up payments.

Set up monthly giving

Donate a vehicle

Support our work by donating your vehicle through Vehicles for Charity. Call 1-866-628-CARS or click the button below. Simply type “Colorado Restaurant Foundation” in the “Donate Your Vehicle to…” field in the Vehicles for Charity form.

Donate your vehicle

Donate through Colorado Gives

Colorado Gives offers flexible, safe, and convenient online giving on Colorado Gives Day — Tuesday, December 5, 2023 — or throughout the year. Visit the Colorado Restaurant Foundation’s profile page on the Colorado Gives website to be a part of our state’s charitable community.

Donate through Colorado Gives

Other ways to give

To donate stock or other securities, create an endowed scholarship or donor-sdvised fund (DAF), or add the Colorado Restaurant Foundation to your estate plans, please contact CRF President Laura Shunk for more information.

Email Laura Shunk

Sponsor an event or program

To sponsor of one of our signature events, such as Drink Red Wear Red or the Denver Food + Wine Festival, please email Devany McNeill. For more information, please our sponsorship brochure.

Read about CRF sponsorships
Devany McNeill

Interested in advertising or sponsorship opportunities?

Call or email Devany McNeill, VP of Strategic Partnerships.

Click to email  Click to call, x113