This Friday is National Lost and Found Day, and the state's Treasurer Dave Young wants to reunite Colorado nonprofits with their lost money and property.
“Gone are the days of looking for misplaced items in a lost-and-found bin. Simply log on to colorado.findyourunclaimedproperty.com and get down to business searching for money or property you have lost in the past,” says Young, former president of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. “It only takes 30 seconds to check the state’s lost-and-found with the Great Colorado Payback.”
Last year, The Great Colorado Payback returned almost $50 million to nearly 55,000 claimants through our Unclaimed Property Division. To simplify the claims process, a program which proactively returns funds was started, returning $4.1 million to 13,700 rightful owners without requiring additional paperwork for identification purposes. The average claim last year was $1,832.
Top Nonprofits with Unclaimed Property
- Catholic Health Initiatives
- Colorado Children’s Hospital
- Colorado Health Foundation
- Colorado Seminary
- Compassion International
- Food Bank of the Rockies
- Habitat for Humanity
- Planned Parenthood
- United States Olympic Committee
- United Way
“Losing track of items is an unfortunate part of life for nonprofits,” said Bianca Gardelli, Director of Colorado Unclaimed Property. “The good news is that in Colorado, we have a fast and easy way for you to search for cash or other items you may have lost track of.”
History of Lost and Found Day
Lost and Found Day was officially announced on November 19th, 2012, but the concept of having a place where people can come to possibly recover things they have lost dates back to 718, when Japanese monks included the service of returning the belongings of people in their daily tasks. In 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte opened the first lost-and-found office in Paris. Objects found on the streets of the city could be brought there, and those looking for them could go there to see if their items had been brought in. Since then, the concept has spread all over the world. Lost and Found Day is celebrated annually on the second Friday of December.
