Rock Your Boat: A Donor Journey
May 19, 2025
Richard “Gus” Gustafson, a retired military veteran from Colorado Springs, began his charitable journey over 20 years ago, moved by the exceptional palliative care his mother received before her passing. Since then, Gus and his wife, Linda, have increased their charitable giving each year.
To the Ledge and Back
Their connection to pediatric mental health care came about after a family member experienced a mental health crisis, highlighting a critical gap in the behavioral health system. Despite having resources and good medical insurance, the family struggled to find the crisis care they needed. Thankfully, they eventually found support, and their loved one is now doing well.
“We were leveraging all our resources. The fact there wasn’t an inpatient bed available at that point was really disturbing. It opened my eyes to the crisis our kids and the mental health community are facing.”
After attending a golf tournament to raise funds for mental health care at Children’s Colorado, Gus was inspired to learn more about the hospital’s work in this area, which led to a lasting commitment to supporting pediatric mental health care.
“Adolescence is tough, even tougher today with social media. It’s scary for kids these days,” said Gus. “When a kid is on the ledge — one time in my life I was on that ledge. Sometimes when you can take one step back, you’re safe, and everything is okay. One step forward… We need a place that takes those kids and pulls them one step back, and that’s what Children’s Colorado is.”
A Gift to Care for Future Generations
In 2024, Gus deepened his commitment to the hospital after learning about a planned giving challenge initiated by Betsy Searle, Chair of the Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation’s Board of Trustees. The challenge encouraged supporters to document new or increase existing planned gifts of $100,000 or more, which would unlock $10,000 from Betsy that they could direct immediately to an area of their choice.
“I’ve been fortunate to contribute what I can over the years, but I’ve really seen the power of planned gifts through my work with my church,” said Gus. “When I learned I could direct $10,000 today by documenting a planned gift of at least $100,000, I thought, ‘How cool is that?’ I decided to add Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation as a beneficiary of my retirement account, and I was thrilled to get immediate results for something that’s going to happen after I’m gone.”
Gus is proud of the difference his support will make and believes that all contributions, when combined, can have a significant impact.
Charity is about what rocks someone’s boat and Children’s Colorado rocks our boat! As I grow older, I see it as a responsibility to give back, to help the younger generations. For our estate plan, this was the right giving vehicle and the right percentage to make sure we could leave an impact on mental health care while also supporting our kids and grandkids after we’re gone.
Gus