Recent Survey Results

First, thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our survey in November and December of 2021. We appreciated a window into how you all think and feel about the state of the Gunnison Valley.

We found some of the responses surprising and others expected, but they were all interesting.

What Surprised Us:

A lot of you remember stories about CFGV that you’ve read in the papers in recent months.

Most of you prefer to hear from nonprofits via email newsletters, personal conversations, and events. Only about a quarter like to hear via Facebook and even fewer like Instagram, letters, phone calls, and brochures.

Only 6% of our respondents reported that their primary residence is located outside of Gunnison County, which also happens to be the percentage of respondents who live in CB South, now the second-largest community in the Gunnison Valley by population.

Only 40% of respondents consider themselves philanthropists.

Merriam-webster defines a philanthropist as “one who makes an active effort to promote human welfare.” We look across the Gunnison Valley and see countless examples of people making an active effort to promote the welfare of the community.

We’re curious: is there something about the word “philanthropist” that people don’t like? If yes, what is it? Email your thoughts to laurelruncie@gmail.com.

What Didn’t Surprise Us:

Housing affordability tops the list of the biggest challenges facing the Gunnison Valley. Eighty-eight percent of people who responded to the survey identified it as one of the biggest challenges. Beyond that, 40% of people identified mental health and then water issues, healthcare access, and climate change round out the top 5 issues that received the greatest number of responses.

Led by Community Grants, the majority of CFGV programs that respondents view as most important in the community right now mostly tie into our support of nonprofits.

If you’re curious about any of these programs, we encourage you to check out the Nonprofits and Community sections of our websites. If you’d like us to cover any of these in depth in a future post or column in the newspaper, please send a note to laurelruncie@gmail.com. We’d love to help you understand more of what we’re up to in the community.

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