our approach

Multiple tools. shared purpose.

Creating a world that values aging requires more than any single grant, investment, partnership, or policy change.

At Next50, we use a range of tools to respond to community need and catalyze national change. Each tool serves a different purpose, but all are designed to advance our mission and create greater opportunity, inclusion, and well-being for older adults.

By combining grants, investments, advocacy, and learning, we address immediate challenges while supporting long-term systems change.

Grantmaking
Investments
Advocacy

Next50’s grants

Supporting Community-Driven Solutions and Catalyzing National Change

Grantmaking is one of the primary ways we support organizations working to improve the lives of older adults.

We invest in nonprofits and other mission-aligned organizations that are advancing economic opportunity and social inclusion for older adults through community-informed approaches and innovative models. Our grants help organizations strengthen organizational resilience, expand promising solutions, and address challenges affecting older adults today while building toward long-term change.

Our funding opportunities include:

Colorado Organizational Resiliency (COR)

COR supports Colorado-based nonprofits that improve economic opportunity and social inclusion for older adults. Through flexible, multi-year funding, COR helps organizations strengthen programs, operations, partnerships, and long-term sustainability.

Detailed Guidelines

Changing aging

Changing Aging supports organizations and initiatives with the potential to influence systems, policies, practices, markets, and narratives affecting older adults.

These investments are designed to accelerate ideas and solutions that can create impact beyond a single community or organization.

Detailed Guidelines

Sudden and Urgent Need (SUN)

SUN provides responsive support for small Colorado nonprofits facing unforeseen challenges or unexpected opportunities that could significantly affect their ability to serve older adults.

Guidelines Coming Soon

Investments

Investment Capital for Impact

Program-Related Investments (PRI)

Program-Related Investments (PRIs) provide mission-driven capital that can help organizations, projects, and enterprises grow, test innovative approaches, or expand solutions that benefit older adults.

PRIs allow Next50 to support investable opportunities while recycling capital for future impact. They bridge community impact and market influence, helping organizations access the resources they need to achieve meaningful, sustainable outcomes.

We consider PRI opportunities that advance one or more of our investment goals, including expanding economic opportunity, championing social inclusion, and shaping the built environment.

Detailed Guidelines

Mission-Related Investments

We believe investment capital can be a powerful tool for advancing positive outcomes for older adults.

Through Mission-Related Investments (MRIs), we seek investment opportunities that align with our mission and contribute to a future where aging is recognized as an opportunity rather than a challenge.

Our investment approach recognizes aging as a powerful demographic and economic trend and seeks opportunities that advance one or more of our investment goals, including expanding economic opportunity, championing social inclusion, shaping the built environment, and advancing health.

While grantmaking remains an important part of our work, investment capital allows us to influence broader markets and support solutions at scale.

MRI FAQ

advocacy

Advancing Change Together

Next50 advocates to make aging more affordable and to ensure older adults are valued, protected, and included in public decision-making.

Many of the challenges older adults face are too big for any one organization to solve alone. We work with nonprofits, funders, researchers, businesses, policymakers, and community leaders to understand shared challenges and build solutions together. We closely track policy discussions and decisions at the local, state, and national levels that affect older adults, and we use that knowledge to act. We provide nonpartisan research and analysis on emerging issues, weigh in on proposed regulations and how programs are carried out, and defend the role of philanthropy when it comes under threat. Through research, convenings, and partnerships, we work to address the root causes of economic insecurity and social isolation among older adults. We also help ensure that public policy and public resources reach those who need them most.

In 2025, Next50 launched Leverage, an independent advocacy organization funded with $3 million. Leverage focuses on Colorado policy through research, coalition-building, and advocacy to strengthen older adults’ economic well-being. Together, our complementary work extends our impact beyond what any single organization could achieve.

Convening & Knowledge Sharing

Connecting People, Ideas, and Solutions

Meaningful change happens when organizations learn from one another and work toward shared goals.

Next50 supports opportunities for learning, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing across the aging field. Through convenings, partnerships, and other collaborative efforts, we help organizations exchange ideas, identify common challenges, strengthen evidence, and accelerate progress.

By bringing people together around shared opportunities, we help build stronger solutions and greater collective impact.

How the pieces work together

No single tool can create a world that values aging.

Grant funding best supports some opportunities. Others require investment capital, strategic partnerships, advocacy, or opportunities for learning and collaboration. By using multiple tools, we can respond to immediate community needs while also advancing broader change that improves how society values and supports aging.

Together, these approaches help us expand economic opportunity, champion social inclusion, shape the built environment, and advance health for older adults across Colorado and the nation.

Which grant opportunity may be right for your organization?

Next50 offers different grant opportunities for different needs and types of change. Use this comparison as a starting point, then review the full guidelines for eligibility, requirements, exclusions, and application details.

Find your fit

If your work is primarily…	Start with…
Colorado-based, community-driven, and focused on improving day-to-day quality of life and long-term well-being for older adults	COR
Designed to influence systems, policies, practices, markets, narratives, or institutions beyond a single organization or community	Changing Aging
A distinct, unforeseen, unbudgeted, time-sensitive need or immediate opportunity affecting a small Colorado nonprofit’s ability to serve older adults or caregivers	SUN

A more detailed look at each opportunity

Criteria	Colorado Organizational Resiliency (COR)	Changing Aging	Sudden & Urgent Need (SUN)
Best Fit	Colorado-based nonprofits organized under section 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), or 501(c)(6) of the IRS code that are in good standing in Colorado responding to community-identified needs and improving day-to-day quality of life and long-term well-being for older adults. Government entities and universities are not eligible for COR grants.	Organizations, partnerships, and ideas positioned to influence systems, policies, practices, markets, narratives, or institutions beyond a single community or organization.	Colorado-based nonprofits organized under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code that are facing a distinct, unforeseen, unbudgeted, time-sensitive need or immediate opportunity affecting their ability to serve older adults and/or caregivers. Organizational budget must be $1 million or less. Government entities and universities are not eligible for SUN grants.
Geographic Focus	Colorado	United States / national influence	Colorado
Primary Strategic Objective	Respond to Community Need	Catalyze National Change	Respond to Community Need
Grantmaking Investment Goals	Expanding Economic Opportunity and/or Championing Social Inclusion	Expanding Economic Opportunity and/or Championing Social Inclusion	The organization’s work must advance Expanding Economic Opportunity and/or Championing Social Inclusion; the urgent expense itself may be operational.
What support is designed to do	Provide flexible support for the people, programs, partnerships, and infrastructure organizations need to create meaningful community impact.	Support work with potential to scale, replicate, influence, or accelerate broader change for older adults.	Protect service continuity or allow an organization to act on an unexpected, immediate opportunity to strengthen or expand services.
Funding approach	Flexible, multi-year support. Initial requests may cover up to two years, with a possible invitation to seek continuation support. Requests may be up to $150,000.	Flexible, multi-year support. Initial requests may cover up to two years, with a possible invitation to seek continuation support.	One-time support for a specific qualifying need. Requests may be up to $30,000.
Strong applications demonstrate	Community impact; strategic alignment; meaningful engagement with mission-aligned populations; organizational strength; and a distinctive contribution to Colorado’s ecosystem of support for older adults.	Potential for systems change and broader influence; strategic alignment; innovation and learning; service to mission-aligned populations; and organizational readiness.	The need is unforeseen, unbudgeted, time-sensitive, one-time, and impactful, and existing resources are insufficient or inappropriate.
Application timing	Invitation only. See current guidelines and funding calendar.	Invitation only. See current guidelines and funding calendar.	Invitation only. See current guidelines and funding calendar.