WTO FOUNDATION

According to Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell Chairman Mike O'Donnell, "You can't be a first-rate institution without looking out for your community, too."  That is why the firm established a nonprofit charitable foundation in 2005.

The Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell Foundation provides opportunities for current and former lawyers, staff, and their families and friends to build a caring community and to reach out to those in need outside of the firm with volunteer time and donations.

Since it was founded, WTOF has donated over $600,000 and countless volunteer hours to more than 100 nonprofit organizations.  In each of the past three years, 80% of firm personnel have volunteered time or donated money to WTOF causes. 

In 2010, the Denver Business Journal recognized WTO with a Partners in Philanthropy award for the good work it does in the community.  Link here for the full story.

WTOF encourages and supports existing individual and group community service efforts and provides additional opportunities for individuals and groups within the firm to work together on community service projects.  WTOF also conducts annual fundraisers and accepts donations on an ongoing basis that are then used to fund community service projects and to match employees' donations to their chosen charitable projects.

WTOF is incorporated as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. It is governed by a Board of Directors.

A representative sample of community service projects in which WTOF has supported participation by firm personnel and their families and friends in the past few years includes the following:

• The Gathering Place. On a monthly basis, WTOF volunteers cook and serve a hot breakfast at The Gathering Place, Denver's only daytime shelter serving women and children who are experiencing homelessness and poverty.
• Denver Kids, Inc.  WTOF volunteers assemble and send care packages and write notes of encouragement to Denver Public School graduates, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college.
• Roll Out the Barrels Food Drive.  WTOF annually participates in the Denver Bar Association's city-wide law firm competition to collect donations of nonperishable food and money to replenish food banks serving the Denver area.
• Denver Dumb Friends League. WTOF volunteers walk as a team with their pets in the annual Furry Scurry and collect pledges for DDFL and the animals they serve.
• Internet Safety Foundation.  WTOF donated the seed money and WTO volunteers helped launch this nonprofit organization in 2006. WTOF continues to fund the ISF and has assisted with producing: 1) Internet safety summits for teens, parents, educators, and law enforcement personnel around Colorado; 2) Internet safety podcasts by local high school students; and 3) a website that serves as a clearinghouse for Internet safety information.
• WTOF participates in various other fundraisers, such as the annual Komen Race for the Cure, that support nonprofit organizations engaged in disease treatment, prevention, and research.
• WTOF organizes collection drives throughout the year for items such as toiletries, school supplies, and cell phones to donate to charity.

Click here to see the "WTO Foundation Five Year Review," a look back at the foundation's five-year history, highlights of Foundation-sponsored activities, and a list of nonprofit organizations the Foundation and WTO employees, family, and friends have supported with money and volunteer time.

For more information, please contact Connie Proulx, Executive Director, Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell Foundation.