CrossPurpose
Live Different Together.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
350,000 adults are living in poverty in the Denver Metro area. That is, a single parent with one child living on $16,000 or less per year. In 2008, our lead team moved to Northeast Denver to learn what it meant how to love our neighbors. Through years of multiple poverty relief efforts, we finally realized we were asking the wrong question. Rather than asking ‘how do we help people in poverty?’, we started to ask ‘how do we help people out of poverty?’
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
CrossPurpose
CrossPurpose’s core development program is a holistic 6-month career and community development program. To help our unemployed and underemployed neighbors achieve economic self-sufficiency, we provide transformative personal and professional development in a supportive, relational environment, cultivating the confidence, skills, and connections necessary to start a meaningful career with a sustainable living wage.
Where we work
Awards
Pay for Success Award 2021
NPX
Affiliations & memberships
Praxis 2017
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of participants who gain employment
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Young adults
Related Program
CrossPurpose
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This is the number of CrossPurpose graduates per year.
Average wage of clients served (in dollars)
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Young adults
Related Program
CrossPurpose
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This is the average hourly wage post-graduation from CrossPurpose.
Additional revenue and wages generated attributable to the organization's efforts
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Young adults
Related Program
CrossPurpose
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
This is the annual wealth generated by graduates. Each unit represents a number per million dollars.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
In 2014, CrossPurpose become a 501(c)(3) with the mission to abolish economic, relational, and spiritual poverty through career and community development.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
CrossPurpose is 6 month program for adults in poverty that helps participants graduate with a career paying at least $18/hr or more.
Our program provides participants, called Leaders, 150 hours of personal development, 8 individual counseling sessions, the option to choose from one of 20 different career certifications, career coaching, and a new network of supportive relationships. We host a weekly meal called Family Gathering, where volunteers, called Allies, come alongside Leaders and encourage them in their journey through the program.
After Leaders graduate, they join the Alumni Association, where they are eligible to receive continued supportive services, homeownership workshops, continued community, and the opportunity to apply to Change Agency, our idea incubator for entrepreneurial graduates.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
People: We have a strong staff of 46 who are both qualified to contribute to their department and are called to the work of poverty elimination.
Strategy: We have codified the program into a six month process. Our strategy is to continue to scale the number of those we serve, consequently decreasing the cost per participant.
Execution: With well-equipped departments focusing on each facet of our holistic program, we have strategic academic and community partners who help us to execute our services through the family doctor model of poverty eradication.
Revenue: With a $8M budget, CrossPurpose is in the top 5% of all nonprofits across the nation. We have continued to decrease the cost per graduate, allowing us to serve more, and are approaching 6 months worth of cash reserves.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have served almost 600 individuals thus far, leading to over 1400 men, women and children lifted out of poverty. By the end of 2025, our goal is to have helped over 2,025 people and families out of economic, relational and spiritual poverty.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
CrossPurpose
Board of directorsas of 03/28/2022
Sawyer Gordon
Jason Janz
CrossPurpose
Ben Warwick
Quantitative Equity Strategies, LLC
Jeff Krommendyk
Security First
Tiffany Johnson
FedEx
Mkale Warner
Alternative Funding Partners
David Walker
Lockheed Martin
Faith Kinsinger
SCL Health
Bill Kurtz
Denver School for Science and Technology
Ken Floyd
Twenty First Century Utilities
John Hyde
Zeppelin Development
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/28/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.