Swift Eagle Charitable Foundation has supported Eagle County’s residents in need for 20 years
Since its founding in 2004 based on a dream, the organization has provided $3 million in funding to over 1,000 people
Swift Eagle Charitable Foundation/Courtesy photo
For David Haakenson, the Swift Eagle Charitable Foundation is a dream come true.
In 2003 or early 2004, Haakenson had a dream.
“I was told by God or whatever you choose to think, that I was to start a foundation to help people in Eagle County only, and I was to name it Swift Eagle,” he said. “I was a little taken aback by that.”
This year, the organization that Haakenson dreamed of turns 20. Since its inception, the Swift Eagle Charitable Foundation has provided over $3 million in financial assistance to over a thousand Eagle County residents.
How Swift Eagle got started
Initially, Haakenson said, he thought the dream’s command was “ridiculous. But it continued to bother me.”
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He and his wife, Pat Hamilton, who later became the organization’s executive director, had a group of friends, 10 couples in total, all longtime Eagle County residents, who would gather to celebrate birthdays and other events.
During one such gathering, Haakenson brought up the dream.
“And one of the girls there — there were 20 people there, the founders — she said ‘let’s do it!'” he said.
“We were at the age where most of our kids had left home or were leaving home. People had additional time that they didn’t have before, and they seemed energized by this idea,” Haakenson said.
The buy-in was $400 per couple, giving the foundation a starting budget of $4,000. “We thought if we can help one or two people and nothing else happens, at least we helped somebody,” Hamilton said.
As the organization was getting off the ground, Haakenson decided to bring in one more person: His longtime friend from childhood, renowned basketball player and coach Phil Jackson.
Haakenson first met Jackson when the future coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers moved to his hometown of Williston, North Dakota, in sixth grade. The two played sports together through high school, winning a basketball state championship as teammates.
“My job was to feed Phil Jackson,” Haakenson said.
When Jackson was a player in the NBA, he would hold basketball camps for Sioux Lakota residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. During that time, he was given a sweat lodge naming ceremony, and given a Lakota name that translates to ‘Swift Eagle.’
Over dinner in Denver one night following a Lakers-Nuggets game, Haakenson asked Jackson if he would serve as the organization’s figurehead, attend one to two fundraisers per year and take a monetary interest. “He said, ‘done,'” Haakenson said.
Early on, Swift Eagle held a ‘night with Phil Jackson’ at 4 Eagle Ranch as a fundraising event. Though nights with Phil Jackson have ended, Jackson continues to support the organization financially.
How Swift Eagle provides support to the people of Eagle County
Quoting the organization’s mission, Haakenson said, “We give financial assistance to people in Eagle County only who have come across a crisis or a severe situation in their life.”
Swift Eagle provides Eagle County residents experiencing crisis or unexpected events with a one-time grant to help “bridge the gap to get them back on an even keel again,” Haakenson said.
“To me, giving is everything,” Haakenson said.
Any Eagle County resident of at least a year who is in need can apply for aid from Swift Eagle. “In my dream, there was no distinction about who to help, so we don’t require documentation from people who are here on a work permit or a visa or a green card or whatever,” Haakenson said. “If people need help and live here … we’ll help anyone that we feel is worthy.”
Everyone who helps run the organization does so on a volunteer basis, meaning there is very little overhead. “Everything is available to go back into Eagle County,” Haakenson said.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift Eagle provided about $125,000 per year in grants to Eagle County residents.
When the pandemic hit, Swift Eagle received grants from the town of Vail, the town of Avon, Eagle County and other organizations to assist in its work. That year, the foundation provided $400,000 in financial assistance to Eagle County residents, mostly to cover rent for workers who abruptly lost their jobs.
During that time, Hamilton recalled, she and Haakenson spent “seven days a week from nine in the morning until practically nine at night,” reviewing applications for assistance.
“We maybe went from helping 50, 60 people a year, during COVID, I think it went up to a couple hundred,” Hamilton said.
Though Swift Eagle’s assistance is designed to be a one-time grant, during the pandemic, they made an exception. “It was so horrible,” Haakenson said.
Hamilton and Haakenson also pared down the Swift Eagle application to ensure people could get help right away.
“Being named Swift Eagle, we try to do everything swiftly,” Hamilton said.
When the organization receives an aid application, Hamilton reviews it and assigns it to one of the organization’s grant committee members, who will go through the application and connect with the applicant.
“We try and turn it around in a week if we can,” Hamilton said. “There’s really no weekend. If I get an application on the weekend, I’m working on it and getting it out to people.”
Most applications Swift Eagle receives are related to rent, though the foundation will also assist with other essential needs, including dental care, eye care, utilities, car repair, medical bills and more.
“We have people who get a notice that in a week, their rent is going up by $1,000, and sometimes that can be from $2,500 to $3,500, and there’s no way they can afford that, especially with no warning,” Hamilton said.
“It used to be that our money went to help people with $1,500 monthly rental. Now, our money doesn’t go as far because it’s a $3,000 monthly rental,” Hamilton said. “That is a shocking thing, and so many people who work in the valley, they’re just not prepared to handle that.”
“It’s worrisome because we talk a lot about bridging the gap … but especially if they have a traumatic episode and then their rent is $3,000 a month, there are a lot of people that are moving away because they can’t handle it,” Hamilton said.
Last year, with higher rent costs, the organization provided about $225,000 in assistance, and this year it is on track to do the same.
Swift Eagle is very deliberate with how it provides money to grant recipients. For example, “if we decide to help somebody with their rent, we have their lease, and the check goes to the landlord. We almost never (just) give people money,” Haakenson said.
Swift Eagle also established two scholarships at Colorado Mountain College to sustain students through the length of their two- or four-year degree, in memory of two of the organization’s founders who have died.
Every year, Colorado Mountain College holds a dinner to meet the people who have received the scholarship.
“It’s so inspiring,” Hamilton said. “Sometimes it’s somebody who is young, but sometimes it’s somebody who is 30 or older, sometimes it’s a mother, a single mother with a child or children, and they get this boost to get their education finished up.”
How Swift Eagle raises funds
In the fall, Swift Eagle sends out a request for donations to those on its mailing list. “Most of our money comes in smaller donations from a lot of people who like the idea that we all (the founders) practically grew up here,” Hamilton said.
For 14 years, Swift Eagle also held a bocce tournament fundraiser. With the onset of the pandemic, the tournament was canceled, but Hamilton and Haakenson hold onto the dream of bringing it back in the future, likely in partnership with other local charitable organizations.
“Even now, people are always asking me, ‘When is the bocce tournament coming back?'” Hamilton said.
Over the years, Swift Eagle has forged relationships with other charitable foundations in the county that do similar work, including the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities and the Vail Valley Charitable Fund.
“That has been kind of amazing relationship. We can boost them, and they can boost us and make the dollars go farther,” Hamilton said.
The future of Swift Eagle
The 16 founders that have remained in Eagle County are still involved with the organization, and a handful of others have since been added to the team that leads Swift Eagle.
“We’re a pretty close-knit group of friends,” Hamilton said. “We had good friendships but there’s a bigger basis there now, you’re like one family, and to see that grow and develop and know that it’s gone on for some many years is really, really special.”
“In 20 years, I think we’ve only had one little blip,” Haakenson said.
“I think a lot of people on the board thought, ‘Yeah, we’ll do this for a few years and then we’ll move on,'” Hamilton said. “But it’s an incredible thing. It’s hard to envision it not continuing, so I think that it’s really important that it does.”
Haakenson and Hamilton spoke about their interest in finding younger people — in their 50s — to carry on the organization.
“We’re hoping that it can continue even when we’re gone,” Haakenson said.
“Certainly, the need will continue,” Hamilton said.
