Cato Kraft helps local nonprofits – Estes Park Trail-Gazette

As the new Executive Director of the Estes Park Nonprofit Resource Center (EPNRC), Cato Kraft’s job is to implement the mission to support, connect and inspire all of the nonprofits in Estes Park. The town is home to an incredibly long list of nonprofits – more than 90 – with 70 of them based locally.

“When I worked at Estes Valley Crisis Advocates, one of the first professional programs I attended was a Lunch and Learn hosted by the EPNRC,” Kraft remarked. “I told my boyfriend, ‘I am so impressed by this agency. One day I want to be running it.’ Now, three years later, I am.”

Kraft hails from a town called Warwick, N.Y., about 40 minutes north of Manhattan. She conducted most of her college work at a small liberal arts school in Vermont called Green Mountain College. That college has since shut its doors. She is now completing her undergraduate degree in Interdisciplinary Studies through Prescott College in Prescott, Arizona, and working on a Masters degree in Community Studies.

Kraft said she has long held a passion for nonprofits. She described her work with the Feick Fine Arts Center on the Green Mountain College campus.

“One of their programs was a class where you could learn to create your own community nonprofit,” she recalled. “With four other students, I helped create a pop-up community art center. That’s when I learn grant writing and started developing this passion for nonprofits.”

Kraft lived in Vail, Colo., for four years. She worked at the Lionshead Childrens Ski School and then at a nonprofit pre-school called Children’s Garden of Learning.

She lived in Hawaii for eight months, a time she called “my sabbatical from life.”

There she met her future fiancé who would bring her to Estes Park.

“I met him when he was on the second half of a two-week vacation,” Kraft said. “We went out and on our third day – when I had known him for 72 hours – he asked me if I would like to move back to Colorado.”

The couple bought a house in Glenhaven in October of 2020. They plan on getting married on the big island in Hawaii on Feb. 2, 2022 (2-2-22).

Of her new job, Kraft said she is personally and professional passionate about finding the gaps in services in the Estes Valley and connecting people to the help they need.

“That might involve helping someone with substance abuse find the right place,” she explained. “It might be talking to a guest who is in town for the weekend and talking to them about allocating their money to the Rocky Mountain Conservancy. I want to be out in the community creating organic connections with retirees, business owners, nonprofits and guests.”

Kraft and her two staff members work in an office on the garden level of the Presbyterian Community Church of the Rockies.

“I think the EPNRC has done a wonderful job since its inception to become the pillar of nonprofit excellence and connection,” Kraft stated. “Inevitably when our society is going through a challenging time with opinions and polarization, we need to re-engage the collaborative connection piece.”

During her free time, Kraft likes to relax.

“I like long walks on flat surfaces,” she said. “I am not a hiker. I love my hammock. I take my dog on dog adventures. She is a Border Collie/Australian Sherpherd mix named Mimi. She is too smart for her own good.”

She also enjoys traveling.

“My favorite thing to do is find a cheap flight for the weekend and go explore where cheap flights take us,” she said. “My fiancé, Denali Lawson, works as a Fly Fishing Guide at Scot’s Sporting Goods in Estes.”

Kraft, who is 27, said she is grateful the Board of Directors of the EPNRC “saw a passionate professional and not just someone who is young. The amount of women leadership in our nonprofit sector in Estes Park is incredible right now. Having this leadership not only gets nonprofits a seat at the table, but also provides a voice for females. That’s something that I am personally passionate about.”