DENVER—Populus Denver, a carbon positive hotel that celebrates and protects the natural world, announces the launch of the Populus Stewardship Grant—an ongoing seasonal initiative that awards 1 percent of revenue to local, environmentally focused people, projects, and organizations personally selected by employees. Designed to give back to the planet while increasing team agency and culture, the program accepts applications from stewards locally and regionally whose efforts range from reforestation and regenerative agriculture to ocean restoration and biodiversity protection. The hotel team then votes on where the funds get directed each season. Populus Denver is now accepting summer applications on its website through July 2, 2025, with voting and grantees announced the week of July 21, 2025.
While the application process is new for summer, Populus Denver previously selected inaugural recipients of The Populus Stewardship Grant: Zero Foodprint, National Forest Foundation, and Grassroots Carbon, which have received 1 percent of the hotel’s Q2 2025 revenue.
“At Populus Hotels, we believe that hospitality must be a net positive for the planet. This means going beyond minimizing harm to restore what’s been lost, invest in what matters, and involve the community of people who make our hotels come alive,” says Jon Buerge, President of Urban Villages, the creator of Populus Hotels. “We are proud to introduce the Populus Stewardship Grant at Populus Denver and believe that giving our local teams the power to support environmental stewards whose work resonates most with them is an effective and meaningful way to strengthen sustained, place-specific climate action.”
Each Member of Hotel Team Gets to Vote
The Populus Stewardship Grant considers organizations, people, projects, small organizations, and informal groups focused on environmental stewardship (501c3 designation is not required) that fall under three main areas of focus: forest ecosystems, food systems, and place and community. Beginning this summer, finalists will be selected each season to present their work at Populus Denver, where the entire team, from the housekeepers to the general manager, will personally vote on one to two grantees to receive a designated share of 1 percent of quarterly revenue. The ongoing program gets repeated each season, directing funds to a variety of local organizations and focuses throughout the year on a positive and tangible impact on the surrounding ecosystems. It also empowers employees at every level to have a voice and immediate influence on the hotel’s environmental legacy.
Already, funds have supported important work by Zero Foodprint, one of Fast Company’s Most 50 Innovative Companies renowned for their work in regenerative agriculture, funding farm projects that draw carbon from the atmosphere and store it underground, resulting in better food, thriving farms, and a restored climate; the National Forest Foundation (NFF), a congressionally chartered partner of the U.S. Forest Service and leading organization bringing people together to restore National Forests and Grasslands; and Grassroots Carbon, the first grasslands soil carbon crediting program in the U.S., which partners with ranchers across 1.3 million acres and 19 states to implement and scale regenerative practices that are proven to capture and store large amounts of atmospheric CO2 in healthy soils.
The Populus Stewardship Grant, which will expand to the newly opened Populus Seattle later this year with a focus on Washington-based environmental stewards, is a part of Populus Hotels’ ongoing commitment to put the health of the planet first. Other efforts across Populus Hotels include sequestering more carbon than the hotels emit throughout their lifecycles, using 100 percent renewable electricity, planting a tree for every night’s stay through the One Night, One Tree program, featuring zero-waste restaurants, and embodying an overall reverence for nature that connects guests to their surroundings.
To apply and learn more about the Populus Stewardship Grant, visit https://populusdenver.com/grant/. For more information about Populus Denver, visit www.populusdenver.com.
