Jeanne Bistranin moved to Summit County just over a decade ago not knowing a soul, but it didn’t take long for Summit locals to get familiar with this newcomer, who was set to lead the Summit Foundation.

Bistranin quickly solidified herself as a champion for working families and a facilitator of critical partnerships that resulted in pioneering initiatives. After a decade serving as the Summit Foundation’s executive director, she plans to hang up her hat on Jan. 31 for retirement. 

Before making her way up to Summit County, Bistranin spent the majority of her life in Denver and had no plans to leave. That changed when a friend showed her a job opening at the nonprofit in Summit County. Her resume details the roles she’s played at major philanthropic organizations, including the Adolph Coors Foundation. Her vast experience helped her earn the job, and the decision to hire her proved to be a success.

During her time as the Summit Foundation’s executive director, she nearly doubled the total annual support the foundation doles out to the community, taking it from $2.1 million in 2015 to over $4 million in 2024, according to the Summit Foundation. Her success led her to win the Spirit of the Summit award at the Summit Foundation’s 2024 Philanthropy Awards back in November.

She did this all despite an emerging trend that presented itself midway through her tenure, when the foundation began to see more turnover in its donors. 

When she first started in the position in 2015, the foundation’s cumulative financial support for the community totaled $23 million. Under her leadership, the foundation was able to dish out $53 million in cumulative support in 2024. 

Among the top beneficiaries was the local public school district. On her way out the door, she played what district and nonprofit officials describe as a crucial role in creating a fund to open more post-secondary and educational programs for local students, the Bright Futures Fund. 

“Through her dedication, she has helped provide scholarships, mentorship and career development opportunities for students, supporting their journey toward post-secondary success,” co-principal at Summit High School Doug Blake said via email. “Jeanne’s work with the Bright Future Fund is reshaping educational possibilities, ensuring that students have access to the resources they need to thrive.”

The Bright Future Fund is one of numerous initiatives Bistranin helped start. Many of the initiatives were geared towards working-class families. For example, she helped get VIVO, a free dual language after school program in Silverthorne’s Theatre SilCo, off the ground alongside the Peak Health Alliance, which provides affordable healthcare to Coloradans. 

She said picking a favorite initiative she helped kickstart is as difficult as picking a favorite child, but she said there’s one initiative she is particularly proud to be associated with: Building Hope. The organization’s mission is to promote emotional health, improve access to care and support and reduce stigma surrounding mental health. 

The mental health nonprofit spawned from increased recognition of mental health issues in Summit County and was largely influenced by the 2016 suicide of a Breckenridge realtor, philanthropist and mother, Patti Casey. 

“The entire community has just made a huge impact on mental health, and that’s such a big issue here,” she said. “I’m really proud of that, and I’m really proud of the community and how Building Hope continues to make an impact.”

Executives in the Summit nonprofit sector say collaboration was paramount for Bistranin. She said she has discouraged competition among nonprofits in Summit from the day she arrived.

“The reason that I am so adamant about it is that we can just do so much by working together, and we’re such a small community (that) competing with each other in terms of the nonprofits just doesn’t make sense,” she said.

Bistranin said aside from its renowned scenery, something that makes Summit County beautiful is collaboration among nonprofits and their willingness to maximize impact by working together. 

Summit Foundation development director Kristin Williams said Bistranin’s “strong community collaboration” has led to the launch of critical programs like Project Thrive, which filled gaps in affordable childcare, that wouldn’t have existed otherwise. 

In one of the most notable collaborative efforts under Bistranin, the Summit Foundation installed a first-of-its-kind training program in Summit aimed at boosting other nonprofits. The Summit Foundation created a middle-level management training program to help other nonprofits with retention efforts by aiding them in creating a ladder employees could climb. 

For its pilot year in 2024, one employee from a dozen Summit County-based nonprofits was chosen to participate in the Manager Leadership Series and receive training related to leadership skills, growth opportunities and, of course, the importance of peer connections. 

“Many of the medium or small nonprofits (don’t have) the budget to do training. They don’t have the budget to do professional development. They don’t have the budget to pay somebody to do strategic planning,” she said. “That’s a really big service that we really enjoy providing.”

In terms of what’s next for Bistranin, she said she doesn’t know. For a self-proclaimed methodical planner, this is unusual, she said. But, she said she looks forward to embracing the unknown.