For Jane Marsh, the Foundation is About Building a Community of Support

For Jane Marsh, the role of The Red Rocks Community College Foundation isn't just to raise money, but to build a community.

"I like to think about it that way," Jane said. "It's about bringing them into the mission and into this community. It's the beauty of that community in community college."

Jane was hired as Executive Director of the RRCC Foundation in January 2025.  

Since then, she's focused on building the team and improving systems and software. The operational streamlining will free up some of the team's time so more of it can go toward building relationships and connections with community members and funders.

Jane's career actually started in work directly with people, not in fundraising.

She worked for Urban Peak, a homeless shelter for youth, as a VISTA volunteer, and then became a recruiter encouraging recent college graduates to join VISTA. VISTA is the Volunteers in Service to America and is part of AmeriCorps. 

After years of working in nonprofits, she turned to philanthropy working for Craig Hospital, helping write their grant requests.  

"Craig was small and I got to grow it," Jane said. "I really loved that organizational development that you can do."

From there she moved back to working with youth taking a job at CU Boulder where she expanded her work in philanthropy.  

She was drawn to RRCC for the same reason she’d loved Craig Hospital — a smaller organization with a big vision.

"I like the challenge," Jane said. "And I love there's such an amazing base of already committed donors that we can build on."

That also includes the support of the board members, Jane said, some of whom have been on the board for more than 20 years and love RRCC.

For Jane, RRCC also brings her work closer to home. She and her husband raised their two daughters in north Denver but then moved to Jeffco. Both of her girls graduated from Jeffco high schools.  Living in Jeffco, Jane loves being close to the outdoors where she enjoys hiking and being able to own lots of pets. Currently she has a dog named Scout and a cat named Magic.  

The idea of supporting a community college was also key for Jane.

"I was talking to a donor early on, and they're a CU Boulder alum, they contribute a lot there too, but they said, 'a scholarship here goes much further,'" Jane said.

It's not just the fact that tuition at RRCC is much less than at a four-year university, but sometimes the real-world applications of credentials from RRCC can lead to immediate jumps in economic mobility, changing the lives of entire families.

It's those success stories of alum that make the work easier, Jane said.

And now, Jane has also led the work of the Foundation, partnering with RRCC, to build a database of RRCC alumni – something uncommon for community colleges.  

Being able to find the people who already succeeded after getting their start at RRCC, and inviting them back into the community, even if it is just to mentor a student, sit on a panel or share their story with current students, is part of building out a community of support for RRCC.

"There are people who haven't been involved but seem very interested, let's get them integrated into our work," she said.

Keep your eye out for more profile stories about leadership team members throughout the school year.