Colorado Rockies Baseball Club Foundation Snapshot

Moving to another NL West team, and actually the final one from the division, we have the Colorado Rockies and the Rockies Foundation.

And maybe it’s just as you’d expect?

The IMPACT+ score rates at the bottom of the league at 37.8.

The good: they basically grant out all dollars they raise annually. They aren’t building up much of a reserve like other teams, but they aren’t maximizing their revenue either. Despite relatively low grants and expenses, they do make some large commitments, showing some directed interest and an idea of making significant impact.

Overall, their efforts pale in comparison to others, especially their intra-division rivals, the Diamondbacks, Dodgers, and Giants (the Padres are slightly better, but not like those other three).

One last more: the Rockies share their 50/50 raffle with another organization: the Metropolitan State University of Denver Alumni Association. Fifty percent of ticket sales goes to the winner, and the remainder is split between the Rockies Foundation and MSU Denver’s Alumni Association. This arrangement dates back to 2018, and based on my research, it’s truly one of a kind. At least in baseball.

According to an investigation by the Denver Gazette last fall, the Avalanche, Nuggets, and Colorado Mammoth (all under Kroenke Sports) paired with the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association around 2012. The Broncos ran their own version too, first with the National Sports Center for the Disabled, later with the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Denver. By 2023, the Rockies and MSU Denver were the only pairing left standing.

As far as I can tell in researching Colorado state law, there’s no requirement for a team to split raffle proceeds with an outside nonprofit. A team’s own foundation could theoretically hold the license itself, the way Broncos Charities eventually did. What Colorado law does require is that whoever holds the license be a bona fide nonprofit with a dues-paying membership — and, until a 2024 change, that the raffle be staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers. Running a 50/50 raffle at every home game takes real labor: MSU Denver’s alumni association can draw volunteers from a pool of 110,000+ people.

There are other cases of team foundations splitting proceeds with a partner organization that helps operate something, but usually it’s a rotating selection or one-offs. For the Rockies Foundation, this set up may be “easy” money; though they should be devoting at least some time to figuring out how to raise more money instead.