The Colgan impact

Colgan Foundation has been affiliated with the Australian National Men’s Rowing Team for several years. Notable donations include a new kitchen and a new training lounge.

Colgan Foundation assists IMI employees Burak Ersan and Riza Kaya with their coordination and distribution of valuable bread and food supplies to families and individuals in need in Turkey during Ramadan. Bread on the Hook works with local bakeries to distribute 10,000 breads during Ramadan and 10,000 afterward. The Ramadan Food Box is a box of basic ingredients (sunflower oil, rice, sugar, flour, lentils, couscous, pasta, etc.) that one person can carry and use for cooking during Ramadan. Despite the lockdown due to Covid, in 2021 they distributed 300 of these boxes to people who came to pick up free bread and others in need.

This 100-mile bike ride winds through Northeast Pennsylvania, and was voted the “Most Challenging Century Ride” by the League of American Bicycles. This ride raises funds for the ThinkBig Pediatric Cancer Support Fund and the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Twin Tiers. The ride has been in existence for twenty-two years, and Colgan Foundation has been the gold sponsor for more than fourteen years.

The mission of Harlem Lacrosse is to provide opportunities, relationships, and experiences that activate the skills and traits to put youth on a path to success as students, athletes, and citizens. Harlem Lacrosse actively recruits special education students and students identified by school administrators as most vulnerable to academic decline and school dropout. They serve more than 1,000 students nationwide across nineteen programs in five cities.

Based in Melbourne, Australia, Mercantile has a proud history of rowing on the Yarra River and beyond. The club was founded in 1880 with the aim of increasing the health and recreation of Melbourne’s society via the sport of rowing. Mercantile’s members learn excellence in and service to the sport of rowing, and promote the its benefits of health, respect, and friendship. Mercantile’s motto is: “Every stroke we take, we take to win.” Colgan Foundation is a Partner and major supporter of Mercantile.

Pegasus Rowing is a coach-funded, high-performance rowing program for grades 8–12 based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. The Pegasus mission is to develop exceptional individuals through rowing. Founded by coach Franck Kiser, Pegasus’s long-term vision is a self-sustaining program, able to field internationally competitive boats, representing the full diversity and best attributes of the Philadelphia population. Colgan Foundation is aligned with these efforts towards athletics and inclusion, and in 2020 donated its dock on the Lower Schuylkill River no longer in use by UPenn to Pegasus.

Henley Women’s Regatta is the premier regatta for women in the United Kingdom. Each year more than 1,500 rowers travel from all over the UK and the world to compete in this prestigious event. Held on the rowing world’s most iconic stretch of the River Thames, HWR offers exciting side-by-side match racing for a wide range of competitors, from Juniors to University and Club to International level. Colgan Foundation is a significant sponsor, providing for Henley Women’s updated and expanded website and donating ongoing assistance.

ONETEAM COLGAN FOUNDATION programming was first established in 2006 by Army and Olympic Teams veteran Rob Powers under the operational names The Warrior Tours and later American300. It is a 501c3 dedicated to supporting the worldwide missions of our Department of Defense and Department of State. Since then, hundreds of volunteer veterans have spent tens of thousands of hours traveling around the world, engaging with service members and the communities in which they live and operate, to promote best practices in resiliency and positive personal growth. More about ONETEAM and Rob and Laila Powers here.

Congressional Gold Medal recipient Sean Colgan serves as a stakeholder and board member to this fifteen-year-old, all-volunteer effort, which today includes the military's 'Never Quit' resiliency guest speaker series and combat wounded "Purple Heart Summits" climbing program.

ONETEAM Colgan Foundation is also entering its tenth year of youth in conflict programming in El Salvador. Under the Salvadoran-registered NGO ONETEAM El Salvador, it conducts a comprehensive safety and security best practices program in partnership with the government of El Salvador.

Idaho Business for Education (IBE) is a group of more than 200 business leaders from across the state committed to transforming Idaho's education system. Their initiative, Close the Divide, was introduced in 2020 to meet the massive education crisis caused by Covid-19. More than 200,000 children needed computers before the start of the school year, and Colgan Foundation was pleased to assist the cause.

Newman Centers are residence and Catholic ministry centers at non-Catholic universities throughout the world. These centers provide pastoral services and ministries to their Catholic communities. The Colgan Foundation sponsors the weekly Newman dinners after mass fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. These meals offer a welcoming environment for students, staff, and the community to gather and learn about the Penn Newman Center programs. These evenings are an enjoyable and effective way to reach new students and connect or reconnect them with the Catholic faith community.

St. Francis Xavier School, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary in 2020, is a parish primary school of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Charles Colgan and his three older brothers all graduated from St. Francis Xavier. Since 1990, Colgan Foundation has donated funding for both capital improvement and tuition assistance. St. Francis Xavier (SFX) School works in partnership with “the first school of Christian life,” the family. The administration and teachers set the tone for achievement in a cheerful, safe and supportive environment. SFX maintains an excellent academic program that encourages students to develop their natural gifts and to be well-equipped for the vocation to which they are called by God.

Since 1990, Colgan Foundation has sponsored a number of Colgan Scholars at Hallahan every year. Mary Colgan, the matriarch of the Colgan family, attended Hallahan (Class of 1944), and always encouraged donating one’s time and energy to those in need. Hallahan develops the intellectual, spiritual, and emotional potential of each student within a diverse Catholic academic community. Through participation in Hallahan’s deeply rooted traditions, rigorous academics, and broad range of engaging activities and service, each young woman is encouraged to develop a vision for her future and is empowered with the faith and skills necessary to become a productive member of the global community.

Though Hallahan will close its doors in 2021, Colgan Foundation will provide for its current scholars until graduation. Click to read a thank-you note from a 2021 Hallahan student.

Since 1990, Colgan Foundation has sponsored a number of Colgan Scholars at Roman Catholic High School every year to honor Charles P. Colgan, Class of 1945. Roman was founded in 1890 as the first free Diocesan Catholic high school for boys in the nation. Located in Inner City Philadelphia, Roman strives to offer a comprehensive academic curriculum within a disciplined Catholic environment. Enriched by its cultural, racial and religious diversity, Roman Catholic provides a community where each young man can learn to appreciate and respect the uniqueness of others, while becoming a man of personal integrity.

Colgan Foundation renamed this medal in 2020, which is awarded to the graduating senior at La Salle College High School with the highest achievement in History. It carries a prize of $1,000. Sean Colgan won this award when he graduated from La Salle in 1973. Colgan has also established the Class of 1973 Spirit Award, to be awarded to the most inspirational senior, which carries a $1,000 prize.

Since 2014, Colgan Foundation has been the generous sponsor of the research study at Florida Atlantic University’s Elasmobranch Research Laboratory, charting the behavior of blacktip and spinner sharks. The lab also uses the seasonally abundant blacktip sharks as a model to study predator-prey interactions, migration, and environmental factors that correlate with their movement. This involves aerial surveys, telemetry, and analysis of video footage collected with drones and stationary cameras. The project is conducted by Stephen Kajiura, professor of Biological Sciences at Florida Atlantic University, and doctoral students. This shark study is known nationally and internationally and is a regular highlight of “Shark Week,” an annual week-long feature on the Discovery Channel devoted to shark-based programming. In addition, it was recently featured on an episode of “Generation Ocean,” produced by the Angari Foundation.

Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club (SSWSC) is a non-profit organization providing sports and youth development programming for approximately 1,000 athletes every year, from five to twenty-five years gold. Athletes compete on alpine ski, snowboard racing, freestyle ski, and Nordic ski teams. Serving tens of thousands of kids for more than a century—including members of the Colgan family—SSWSC is one of the oldest and most successful winter sports clubs in North America. Colgan Foundation is pleased to sponsor SSWSC’s jacket program, helping to pay for new athlete and coach jackets. When new jackets are provided every three years, the used jackets are donated to children in need in the US and overseas. Colgan Foundation also helps support the club’s operating costs and greatest needs.

In 2015, Colgan Foundation established the National Championship rowing trophy in memory of rowing legend Charles P. Colgan. The trophy is awarded each year at the US Rowing National Championships to the team with the Most Overall Team Points.

Sean Colgan (C’77) and his father, Charles P. Colgan (C ’50) were proud members of the University of Pennsylvania rowing teams. The Colgan Foundation is a longtime supporter of and major benefactor of Penn Rowing. Our most recent contribution was the donation of new boats.

The Colgan family has a longstanding history with Vesper Boat Club since 1944, when Charles P. Colgan became a member. Kevin, Sean, and Brian Colgan became members in 1968, and Charles and Brian were both past presidents of VBC. Vesper’s mission is to develop highly competitive rowers at all levels by providing its diverse community of members with premier rowing programs and first-class facilities, coaches, and equipment. The club motto, “ALL TOGETHER,” symbolizes an organization open to all people who want to row, and promotes character development and physical fitness through the challenge of the sport. Founded in 1865 as the Washington Barge Club, Vesper Boat Club has always been central to the Philadelphia rowing story. Colgan Foundation provides ongoing operational support to this historic club.

Rowing NZ is the national sports organization for all rowing in New Zealand, as recognized by Sport New Zealand, High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ), the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) and the New Zealand Paralympic Committee (NZPC), representing the interests of school, university, club, para and indoor rowing. The primary objective of Rowing NZ is to foster and promote the sport of rowing in New Zealand in all its forms and classifications. Colgan Foundation has been one of its top two sponsors since 2015. It provides funding and support to the men’s and women’s national teams and their new High Performance Center.