Thanks to the decision of a few local entrepreneurs to give equity to the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado (EFCO) back in 2008, $24,000 was donated to two Boulder non-profits just this week.

The entrepreneurs (or should I say philanthropists?) behind this are the founding team of IntenseDebate, a blog commenting system acquired by Automattic - aka the company behind WordPress - in 2008 and a member of TechStars Boulder’s inaugural class.

But just how did a IntenseDebate’s gift of equity turn into financial support of Colorado philanthropies… five years later? EFCO seeks donations of small amounts of local startups’ equity early on, so that when the startup has an exit, EFCO can cash in and give back to Colorado nonprofits.

This is exactly how it panned out with IntenseDebate: this summer, EFCO sold its shares in IntenseDebate to an undisclosed buyer and the profits were donated to Blue Sky Bridge, a child abuse prevention organization in Boulder, and Chinook Clubhouse, a service-provider for mentally-ill adults in Boulder, at the request of IntenseDebate’s founders.

“This is really gratifying for all who worked at the company,” IntenseDebate co-founder Tom Keller said in a press release. “The entire IntenseDebate founding team knew early on that we benefited from being part of a vibrant community, and that we wanted to contribute back to the community. Hence, we committed a portion of our equity to local charities within the community in which we lived and worked; EFCO provided the framework to make it easy to do.”

[ibimage==23300==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-right]EFCO has some of the most innovative teams in Colorado like Rally Software, TechStars, Galvanize, Foundry Group and Vokl on board as members and has provided more than $500,000 to Boulder and Denver nonprofits since 2008 (big IPOs like Jive Software’s in 2012 contributed largely to this number).

By recommending a donation of 1 percent of Series A rounds, EFCO ensures that local entrepreneurs don’t have to wait to strike it rich to give back to their state, according to the EFCO site: “Since entrepreneurial success is uncertain and the vast majority of entrepreneurial endeavors fail… we decided to create a new program to help all entrepreneurs contribute early in the creation of their companies to the long term health and sustainability of Colorado.”