Joseph Ignat Memorial Endowment
Philanthropy Colorado established the Joseph Nord Ignat Memorial Endowment with a grant from Nord Family Foundation and a matching grant from Community First Foundation.
Earnings from the fund go toward an annual policy-related program, something that Joe delighted in during his many years of involvement with our network. Our 2016 Annual Meeting was dedicated to Joe, who passed away just two weeks before. A Governor’s proclamation was read at the meeting to celebrate his passion for philanthropy and advocacy.
Joe co-chaired our public policy committee for multiple years. His guidance and leadership – and keen sense of humor – proved pivotal in helping us make strides in the advocacy arena and he was adamant we begin taking public positions that made sense for the field even if he didn't personally agree with them.
Joe served as Board President and Treasurer of his family’s foundation before passing the torch to other members of the extended Nord family. Nord has invested heavily in many Colorado nonprofit organizations over the years and Joe and his wife Pam have also been personally involved in supporting many local causes.
Joe is one of only a few family foundation trustees to have served on our board. He had to be out of town when he was first elected as a director at our annual meeting several years back. We sent him the following email: “Good news! You’re a board member starting in January. The election yesterday was quite civilized and unanimous with no attack ads or alternative candidates.” He responded: "Just goes to show you that you can't trust elections to select good people."
Joe was a champion for the sector and for the importance of our ability to take stands on important issues rather than remaining silently neutral. Our policy committee and board has engaged in many healthy debates about policy issues and has since taken many thoughtful public positions. Joe actively took part in many of our sojourns to Washington for our trip to Foundations on the Hill. (He is pictured here holding the chair’s gavel in the House Rules Committee hearing room on our 2014 trip.)