Uniting resources for a common cause.
That’s the literal definition of Cahoots, but there’s actually nothing common about any cause.
Which is exactly why we love what we do … figuring out how to best communicate the unique qualities of a cause, building up its brand and then encouraging like–minded people to actively support it with their time, talent and treasure.
If that’s what you need, that’s what we do.
We’re honored you’re here.
Just Causes
Services
Advertising
Brand Design & Management
Collateral & Identity Materials
Communication Systems
Conferences & Seminars
Database Management
Development
Direct Mail
ECommerce
Enterprise Creation
Financial Management
Fundraising & Special Events
Human Resource Communications
Incentive Items/ Promotional Items
Market Analysis
Multimedia Production
Promotions
Public Relations
Research & Tracking Systems
Social Media Management
Sponsorship
Stewardship
Strategic Planning
Video Production
Website Design & Management
Cause marketing is all we do.
We believe nonprofit organizations are the most underserved heroes in the world and we’re dedicated to work alongside these bold people who know they can change the world. We provide full-service, integrated marketing – anything and everything it takes to help make your voice heard.
We’re pretty nimble.
For causes with two staff or organizations with hundreds of employees, we can serve in a number of capacities. Some clients we help annually with one or two fundraisers. Others have us conduct their capital campaign and then we continue supporting their in-house staff with ongoing brand management. 
And for a growing number of clients, we’re their day-in, day-out communications and development department.
And thrifty too.
And when it comes to squeezing a dollar for all it’s worth and providing return on investment, we’re at the top of our game. We’re also in Cahoots with great vendors who give us reduced rates because they too believe in just causes.
Our fees are never based on how big you are, how much you need to raise or the size of your database. We charge by the hour for the literal time it takes to produce professional campaigns and communications that get the job done. And generally, it’s a fraction of the cost of what consulting firms charge – and we actually
do the work.
We use the “F” word a lot.
Over the last three decades we’ve learned that you have to be careful what you pray for . . . you just might get it. Professionally we’ve learned that if you don’t conduct careful discovery with a new client, you could potentially blow them out of the water with a successful campaign.
Fulfillment. It’s the “F” word that is often overlooked by agencies and consultants that serve nonprofits. It’s also the reason we created a process that covers all the dimensions of an organization before branding or campaigns begin.
The concept is simple really. The effect is the direct consequence of the cause. And intimately understanding an organization in 3D is the only way we enter a relationship – and you don’t want to make promises you can’t keep.
3D | The width and length and depth of a cause.
3D is the comprehensive process that makes Cahoots genuinely unique in how we approach our work and your cause. Developed through decades of experience, we are able to intimately understand your cause and ultimately determine its effectiveness. And, we’re able to get this dynamic perspective quickly
and cost efficiently.
3D has three dimensions …
DISCOVERY | A retrospective audit of your cause.
We start by getting a solid understanding of exactly where your organization is at this moment in time as well as examining your roots. The Discovery process is guided by a comprehensive checklist that’s fulfilled through up-close and personal time with your leadership, staff, board and volunteers – those individuals who are responsible for keeping the doors open. For all practical purposes, it’s a formalized audit covering your basic business infrastructure and practices and an in-depth Discovery of your brand as you see it.
DNA | An interaction to determine the essence of your cause.
In order to examine your DNA, group participants will be asked strategic and creative questions to help determine the unique qualities of your organization’s brand. We’ll ask you questions no one has ever asked you before and when we get through it, you’ll have new and renewed insight into your cause and the effect on those it serves.
DIALOG | A private conversation to determine popular opinion.
Private phone interviews with key staff, board, volunteers and donor/members are conducted to establish the personality and potential of your cause. Amazing passion and insight are the outcome of these conversations.
A presentation of great big, holy cow ideas.
So we take all the information from these three dimensions and mix it all together. Then it’s our turn to creatively produce a report that outlines your organization’s brand, marketing platform as well as communication recommendations for the enhanced effectiveness of your cause.
Cahoots’ 3D Reports are never cookie-cutter presentations. They are exclusively crafted and created for your cause, within your budget, with a total understanding of your resources.
After the Report is when the production of great campaigns, communication and development begins.
Our Own Spin
Not to boast.
At Cahoots, our own spin comes directly from the response to our client campaigns and communications. Our job is to introduce our clients to great relationships that lead to raising millions of dollars annually. We’re successful primarily because we approach traditional nonprofit communications very untraditionally. We’re not development consultants, we’re an advertising agency that does unique and dynamic creative work that calls people to action.
Our types of clients include:
Arts & Museums
Children & Youth
Civic & Community
Foundations & Philanthropy
Health & Humanitarian
Missions & Churches
Schools & Education
Tourism & Recreation
You've Been Served
Arts & Museums
Augustana Arts • Colorado Railroad Museum • Navajo Heritage Center • Rocky Mountain Children’s Choir • Trading 4 Treasures •
Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space MuseumChildren and Youth
Colorado UpLift • Doulos Ministries, Inc. • Friends for Youth • Navajo Ministries Inc. • The Sky’s The Limit • The Uplift Group • Zocalo Outreach
Civic & Community
Douglas County Libraries • Junior League of Denver • Metro Volunteers! • Parker Chamber of Commerce • Parker Economic Development Council •
Town of ParkerFoundations & Philanthropy
Boettcher Foundation • Denver Leadership Foundation • The Catholic Foundation of Northern Colorado • Garth Brooks – Touch ‘em All Foundation • Junior League of Denver Foundation • Metro Denver Gives
Health & Humanitarian
Alternatives • Arapahoe/Douglas Mental Health Network • Bethany House • Christian Living Communities • Colorado Coalition for the Homeless • Colorado Horse Rescue • Endurance With Jan and Dave Dravecky • Eternal Threads • FoodWorks Colorado • Friends in Transition • Grace Place for Women • Healing Waters International • NARHA – North American Riding for the Handicapped • Project C.U.R.E. • Restoration Ministries • Samaritan Counseling Centers • Shelterwood • Volunteers of America Chesapeake • World Relief
Missions & Churches
Augustana Lutheran Church • Castle Pines Community Church • Central Presbyterian Church • Cherry Hills Community Church • Colorado Baptist General Convention • Conference Baptist Church • Converge – Rocky Mountain • Crossroads Community Church • Eastern Mennonite Missions • Greenwood Community Church • Living Way Fellowship • Missio Nexus • Missions Door • Mission Hills Church • Mt. Vernon Mennonite Church •
Northpark Community Church • Pathways Church, Denver •Pinon Hills Community Church • Smoky Hill Vineyard • St. Peter’s Episcopal Church • St. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church • Summit Baptist Church • Telos Project • The Mission Exchange • Whittier Area Community Church
Schools & Education
Cherry Hills Christian Schools • Denver Seminary • Endow • Faith Heritage Schools • Institute for International Education • LeadTime • Seeds of Hope •
Whiz Kids TutoringTourism & Recreation
Horn Creek Colorado • Longmeadow Event Center • Ponderosa Retreat & Conference Center • Team Summit Colorado • YMCA of Metropolitan Denver
The Creative Team
It's History
This classic photo gives you a pretty good idea of exactly how long we’ve been around.
Disregard the guy in the middle. That’s our brother Steve and he’s just about the only family member that isn’t “in Cahoots.”
| Creative Director
Dee’s on the right and she’s the one around here that draws the pretty pictures. Over the last decades she’s been responsible for putting on paper, and every other conceivable platform, some of the brands folks around here consider iconic.
She’s also one of those rare graphic designers who still believes in grids, has actually set type, starts to sweat when she smells rubber cement and was one of the first designers in the Rocky Mountains to use a Mac.
Dee knows a great deal about what not to do and she’s scary creative. I’ve lost count of the times she’s handed me design comps that came from a place only God can inspire. Her creative isn’t outside the box … it simply was never in one.
She’s still and always will be our creative director.
| President, CEO
I’m the one on the left even though I am, and always will be, the middle child. My bent is simple and Mom said it best – “Only God could take a blabber mouth and turn it into a career.”
What comes easiest to me is singing, but I never quite figured out how to make a living at it. In college I majored in opera, which turned out to be a misguided degree. After being cast in four consecutive operas as the whore (town whore, wharf whore, village whore and just a whore whore) I decided to raise my voice through advertising and development.
Simply, I’ve always done all the other creative stuff that compliments what Dee does.
Heintz-Barton Advertising
So, in 1984, Dee and I were having coffee and had this great big, holy cow idea to start an ad agency. Lord only knows where the idea came from, literally. If the truth be told, we were dumber than a post about what that really meant. We already had years of experience and were passionate about our craft, but didn’t have any preconceived ideas about running an agency.
But what we did have was an over-exaggerated sense of accountability, a German work ethic that had been pounded into us our entire lives and the no-nonsense gift of understatement that says, “If you don’t have something good to say, don’t say it at all.”
All of that actually translated into a success we had never anticipated. I think it’s also because we weren’t on our own agenda. We wanted to make our clients look good, help them make a good living and serve great causes in the process.
Our clients at Heintz-Barton ranged from big dogs like U S West, the State of Colorado, USA Today and Pay-Per-View, to closely-held businesses like The Brown Palace Hotel, Cook’s Smart and the Kit Carson County Carousel.
We sold out.
By 1993, when we sold the agency to two creative guys, we were a AAAA, top-ten ad agency in Colorado. We were at the top of our game but wanted nothing more than to go home and be full-time moms. And we did just that.
When my twins were in preschool and after I had put contact paper on every conceivable surface in my home, I knew it was time to exercise my gift of gab once again.
Cahoots Communications Inc.
Dee tells everyone that she keeps getting swept up in my big ideas, but the truth is we love this business and we just want to do joy work now. We don’t care if we ever sell another switch or widget again.
So in 1995, we took our big agency know-how to create a new kind of ad agency and are giving it back to all the nonprofit organizations that capture our hearts. It’s the hardest work we’ve ever done, but in our opinion, it doesn’t get any better than this.
Contact Us
A cause worth talking about.
As you’ve probably figured out, we love communication and we’d love to talk with you about your cause.
Thank you for giving us your attention during this site visit. We look forward to hearing from you.
| President, CEO
720.253.1020
Cahoots Communications Inc.
6050 Greenwood Village Plaza Blvd. Nº 110
Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111
V | 720.875.1234 F | 720.875.1122
