Michael Brady captures the view from the stage at Camp Dreamland 2026. After seven camps, returning children recognize familiar faces and relationships pick up where they left off—a reminder that camp may last two weeks, but the connections continue throughout the year.
Generosity can mean writing a check. Sometimes it means getting on a plane.
This summer, I returned to Ukraine with Frontier Horizon for Camp Dreamland, where 300 children came together for a chance to laugh, play, make friends and experience some of the things childhood should be about.
This was my seventh camp in just a few years. And after seven camps, something has changed.
The kids know us.
They know why we’re there. They know we’re there for them. Returning campers recognize familiar faces, friendships pick up where they left off and, before long, new kids become part of that circle too.
This year, I got a pretty memorable reminder of that before camp had even really begun.
Feeling Like a Rock Star—for a Very Good Reason
At the beginning of camp, I was introduced on stage in front of 300 kids.
Suddenly, they were yelling and chanting my name.
For a few minutes, I’ll admit, it makes you feel a little like a rock star.
But underneath the fun of a moment like that is something much more meaningful to me.
After seven camps, our reputation precedes us. The children know we’re coming back. They know the people from Frontier Horizon aren’t simply appearing for a few days, taking some pictures and disappearing again.
We’ve built relationships.
Some of the kids are young friends I’ve known from previous camps. Others I’m meeting for the first time. Some children naturally need a little more attention than others—and they’ll find us. Sometimes what they need at that moment is simply some extra time, some encouragement, some love or a hug.
Returning young friends or making new ones, it’s all good.
And that’s a big part of why I keep going back.
Camp Is Two Weeks. The Work Is Twelve Months.
One thing I want people to understand better about Camp Dreamland is that the work isn’t really about two weeks of camp.
It’s 12 months of work for the opportunity to spend about two weeks together.
Yes, camp gives children an opportunity to simply be kids—and that matters tremendously.
But being together also gives Frontier Horizon and our Ukrainian partners an opportunity to see how the children are really doing.
Is there a physical health concern that needs attention? Is a child struggling emotionally? Has something changed in their home or living situation? Does someone need additional support between camps?
Those needs aren’t always visible from a distance.
Relationships help us see them.
And once camp ends, our partners continue the work on the ground while Frontier Horizon looks for ways to help provide resources, connections and support from here.
That’s why I think it’s important to change the narrative around what these camps accomplish.
We’re not simply creating two good weeks for kids living through extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
We’re building relationships that help us better understand what they may need during the other 50 weeks of the year.
Sometimes showing up means joining the fun. Michael Brady races campers during an activity at Camp Dreamland 2026—one of the many moments that allows kids to simply be kids while strengthening relationships that continue long after camp ends.
Why Being There Matters
I believe generosity is most powerful when it brings us close enough to understand one another.
Supporting Frontier Horizon financially matters. Those dollars make the work possible, and we work hard to stretch them as far as we can so we can help as many children as possible.
But being there matters differently.
It allows me to see the work firsthand. It lets me know the people making it happen. Most importantly, it gives me the opportunity to know the children themselves—not simply as a number in a report or a photograph from thousands of miles away, but as individual kids with personalities, friendships, challenges, senses of humor and hopes for their futures.
Some of those relationships now extend well beyond camp.
I stay in touch with children I’ve gotten to know over the years. I think about them when I’m home. I advocate for them when they need something. And when I return to Ukraine, I get to see how they’ve grown and learn what’s changed since the last time we were together.
That’s very different from simply making a donation.
For me, it’s also what generosity has increasingly come to mean.
Generosity Is a Relationship
At Generosity Wealth Management, we talk a lot about living generously.
I don’t believe that has to mean traveling halfway around the world. It doesn’t have to mean supporting the causes I support or giving in the same ways I choose to give.
But I do think there’s something powerful about getting close enough to whatever you care about to understand it.
Maybe that’s through your financial resources. Maybe it’s your time or professional expertise. Maybe it’s serving on a board, mentoring someone, making an introduction or consistently showing up for an organization you believe in.
The form can be different for every person.
For me, Camp Dreamland has become one of those places where generosity has turned into relationship.
And once you know the kids, once they’ve yelled your name from a crowd of 300, run over looking for a hug or picked up a friendship exactly where you left it months earlier, it’s pretty hard not to keep coming back.
I returned home grateful, as I always do, for our Ukrainian partners who carry this work throughout the year, for the donors who make it possible and especially for the children who continue to trust us enough to let us be part of their lives.
Camp may last two weeks. The relationships—and the work—continue all year.
Cassidy Murphy gathers with friends, colleagues and community partners at Y Splash in support of the YMCA of Northern Colorado. Cassidy serves on the YMCA board as part of her commitment to investing her time and talents in the local community.
There are a lot of ways to support the community you call home. For me, one of those ways is serving on the board of the YMCA of Northern Colorado.
What I value most about the experience is getting to see just how deeply the Y reaches into our community.
It’s easy to think of the YMCA as a place to swim, work out or send your kids to camp. But behind those familiar programs is an organization working every day to help children, families and individuals feel supported, connected and able to thrive.
Recently, Michael and I had the opportunity to attend Y Splash alongside friends and colleagues from Generosity Wealth Management and our broader community.
I was there as a board member and supporter—not as part of the event planning team—which meant I had the chance to simply experience the evening, celebrate the work being done and spend time with people who also care deeply about strengthening our communities.
Our table brought together quite a group: Michael and me; Autumn Davidson and her guest; Sara Russell; Sergii, who was visiting from Ukraine; Doug Gardner of Boulder–Vinnytsia Sister City; and our dear friend and fellow Boulder Rotarian Marty Evans.
And as I looked around the table that evening, I realized how many different kinds of service and community were represented in one place.
Michael Brady, Cassidy Murphy with Ukrainian partner Sergii and Doug Gardner of Boulder–Vinnytsia Sister City at Y Splash—bringing together relationships rooted in local service, international friendship and a shared commitment to stronger communities.
Different Communities, Shared Purpose
Having Sergii with us made the evening especially meaningful.
Only days earlier, he had been in Ukraine helping make Camp Dreamland possible for children living through war. Now he was in Colorado, surrounded by people gathering to support an organization serving children and families here in our own community.
The circumstances couldn’t be more different, but the underlying idea felt very familiar:
Strong communities are built when people choose to invest in one another.
Sometimes that investment is financial. Sometimes it means serving on a board or volunteering your expertise. It can mean making an introduction, advocating for something you believe in, attending an event or simply helping more people understand why the work matters.
Most often, meaningful change takes some combination of all of those things.
That’s one of the things I appreciate about being involved with the YMCA. There isn’t only one way to participate or one kind of person the organization serves. The Y creates opportunities for people to find connection, support and community in ways that meet them where they are.
Why I Choose to Serve
For me, serving on the YMCA of Northern Colorado board is one way I can contribute to the community that has given our family so much.
“What I love about the YMCA is that there are so many different ways it shows up for people. You might first think about swimming or summer camp, but its impact reaches so much further than that. I wanted to be involved with an organization that helps people feel connected and supported at different stages of their lives—and serving on the board gives me an opportunity to contribute my time and perspective to that work.”
— Cassidy Murphy
Serving also gives me the opportunity to better understand the needs around us. That’s something I think can be easy to miss when we’re moving through our own busy lives.
Events like Y Splash bring those needs—and the people working to meet them—into the same room.
Generosity Looks Different for Everyone
At Generosity Wealth Management, we spend a lot of time talking about what it means to live generously. An evening like this is a reminder that generosity doesn’t have to look the same for everyone. Michael’s work with Frontier Horizon takes him around the world. My service with the YMCA gives me an opportunity to invest more deeply in our local community. The people who joined us that evening each have causes, organizations and communities that matter to them.
There isn’t one right way to do it.
What matters is deciding what you care about and considering what you have available to contribute—whether that’s your time, financial resources, professional expertise, relationships or simply your willingness to show up.
And none of us has to change an entire community on our own.
We simply have to decide where we can contribute and take the next step.
An Evening Worth Celebrating
I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve the YMCA of Northern Colorado and for everyone who made Y Splash such a meaningful evening.
I’m also grateful that Michael and I were able to share it with friends and colleagues whose own commitments to service stretch from right here in Northern Colorado to communities thousands of miles away. Different organizations. Different communities. Different ways of giving. But ultimately, a shared belief that we each have something we can contribute.
Because living generously isn’t about supporting one particular cause. It’s about choosing to use what you have to help make something better.
Last week, that journey took Michael to Boston for the Invest in Others Awards—and gave us an opportunity to see what can happen when recognition becomes a catalyst for something more.
Michael and his guests Dr. Vincent Rosini and Sergii Z., joined financial professionals from across the country whose charitable work was being recognized through the annual awards program. While another remarkable volunteer received this year’s Volunteer of the Year Award, Michael’s selection as a finalist resulted in a $25,000 charitable award for Frontier Horizon.
For Michael, the most exciting part isn’t simply bringing those dollars back to an organization he cares deeply about.
It’s what they might make possible next.
Using Generosity to Create More Generosity
Michael hopes the award can help Frontier Horizon expand its outreach to new donors—and ultimately expand its ability to reach more children.
Rather than viewing the $25,000 as an endpoint, the opportunity is to use the recognition and resources surrounding it to introduce more people to Frontier Horizon’s work, strengthen fundraising efforts and create momentum that extends beyond the original award.
It’s an idea that feels especially appropriate for an organization built around relationships.
Michael has seen firsthand how one introduction can lead to another. One trip can become a lasting friendship. One supporter can introduce someone else to a cause. And one act of generosity can create opportunities that weren’t there before.
Michael Brady with Artem at Camp Dreamland 2026. Over years of visits, Michael has watched Artem grow up and built a relationship that continues long after camp ends. Michael stays in touch with Artem from the United States and continues to personally advocate for him—a reflection of the lasting relationships at the heart of Frontier Horizon’s work.
The Work Continued Before the Gala Ever Began
The trip to Boston came shortly after Michael returned from another Camp Dreamland in Ukraine.
This was his seventh camp in three and a half years, in addition to two trips to Poland to visit Ukrainian children displaced by the war. Camp Dreamland 2026 welcomed 300 children for an opportunity to step away from the realities surrounding them and spend time playing, connecting and simply being kids.
Those repeated trips have also allowed Michael to watch relationships grow over time.
One of those is his friendship with Artem, whom we’ve shared about before. Michael has watched him grow through repeated visits to Ukraine, stays in communication with him when he returns home and continues to advocate for him from thousands of miles away.
That relationship is a reminder that the impact of generosity doesn’t necessarily end when the trip does—or when the check is written.
What Happens After the Recognition?
When Michael was first named an Invest in Others finalist, we wrote about the idea of living your legacy: that legacy isn’t simply something we leave behind someday. It is also built through the choices we make with our resources, relationships, expertise and time while we’re here.
The experience in Boston gave us another way to think about that idea.
What happens when the impact you’ve created gives you resources to create even more?
For Frontier Horizon, the answer is still taking shape. The organization will determine how the award can best support its work while exploring opportunities to use the recognition to reach new donors and ultimately serve more children.
For the rest of us, there may be a useful question in it as well.
When something good comes from the resources you’ve put into the world—whether that’s financial capital, professional expertise, relationships or simply your time—what could you do with the return?
Could you reinvest it?
Could you introduce someone else?
Could you turn one opportunity into several?
Could you use what you’ve built to make something meaningful possible for someone else?
That’s where generosity gets interesting. It doesn’t have to stop with the first gift.
Sometimes, it multiplies.
Congratulations again to Michael, to this year’s Invest in Others honorees, and especially to Frontier Horizon. We’re excited to see what comes next.
Some of the most meaningful outcomes of generosity cannot be measured on a spreadsheet. Sometimes, they look like friendship.
After spending time in Ukraine with Frontier Horizon’s Camp Dreamland, Michael Brady returned home with Sergii Z., a Ukrainian partner whose work through Ukrainian Mercy Foundation helps make the camp—and much of Frontier Horizon’s work in Ukraine—possible.
Before a busy stretch of meetings and community events in Colorado, Michael and Cassidy welcomed Sergii to their Wyoming home for several days. It was a chance to decompress after the planning and activity surrounding Camp Dreamland, enjoy some quiet and spend time together outside the urgency that so often surrounds their work in Ukraine.
“I haven’t slept more than a few hours a night since Russia began attacking Ukraine, including my home in Kyiv. Between air raid sirens, a lack of electricity outside of unpredictable times, along with the devastating sounds of war, I cannot relax enough for sleep. My time in Wyoming and Colorado offered me a glimpse into what I hope life will be like soon for the people of Ukraine,” said Sergii.
From Wyoming, it was back to conversations with people who care deeply about Ukraine’s future.
During his visit, Sergii connected with members of the Boulder community, including Boulder Rotary and the Boulder–Vinnytsia Sister City organization. He shared firsthand observations about daily life in Ukraine, the needs facing children and families, and the opportunities he sees for deeper relationships between communities in Colorado and Ukraine.
For Michael, the visit reflected something that has become central to his involvement with Frontier Horizon: giving may start with financial support, but meaningful generosity rarely ends there.
It is time. Travel. Advocacy. Introductions. Shared meals. Friendship.
“The friends I’ve made while helping others simply enrich my life. We talk about how being kind and giving changes others, but it changes us too. Sergii and his family have become like family to me,” said Michael.
At Generosity Wealth Management, the idea of living generously has never been limited to dollars. It is about considering what our resources—our wealth, certainly, but also our time, relationships and talents—can make possible for ourselves, the people we love and the communities that matter to us.
We were grateful to welcome Sergii to this side of the world—and even more grateful for the work he and Frontier Horizon’s partners continue doing every day in Ukraine.
At Generosity Wealth Management, we have always believed that wealth can be a tool for something greater. Financial planning helps people prepare for retirement, navigate uncertainty, care for the people they love, and make thoughtful decisions about the future, but those conversations often lead somewhere more personal. Once you’ve worked hard to build financial security, what do you want that success to make possible—for yourself, your family, and perhaps for others?
For Michael Brady, founder and wealth advisor at Generosity Wealth Management, that question has influenced both the way he works with clients and the way he chooses to invest his own time and talents. We are incredibly proud to share that Michael has been named a 2026 Invest in Others Volunteer of the Year Finalist, recognizing his longstanding involvement with Frontier Horizon and his commitment to serving vulnerable children and communities around the world.
A National Recognition for Service
The Invest in Others Awards recognize financial advisors who make a meaningful difference through theirinvolvement with nonprofit organizations. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the awards program, with 15 financial advisors from across the country selected as finalists for their charitable leadership and service.
Michael’s recognition as a Volunteer of the Year finalist stems from his work with Frontier Horizon, an organization that connects vulnerable and orphaned children with people and resources that can help create greater stability, opportunity, and hope. He currently serves as the organization’s Board Treasurer, although describing his contribution by title alone misses much of the story.
Over the years, Michael has traveled with Frontier Horizon to Ukraine and Nicaragua, worked alongside local partners and volunteers, contributed his experience in financial stewardship and organizational strategy, and helped build relationships that have opened new opportunities for the organization. Just as importantly, he has spent time getting to know the children and communities at the center of that work.
His involvement is a good example of something we believe strongly at Generosity Wealth Management: generosity isn’t limited to financial giving. The resources we have available to us also include our experience, relationships, professional knowledge, leadership, and time. Sometimes one of the most valuable things we can offer is simply our willingness to show up and become involved.
From Financial Stewardship to Purposeful Leadership
There is a natural connection between the work financial advisors do every day and the skills nonprofit organizations need to remain strong over the long term. Advisors spend their careers helping individuals and families look beyond today’s decisions and consider what those choices may make possible years or even generations from now. That requires thoughtful stewardship, planning, risk management, accountability, and an ability to keep long-term priorities in view when immediate circumstances compete for attention.
Michael brings that perspective to his work with Frontier Horizon, but the experience has also reinforced an important lesson in the other direction. Some of life’s most meaningful returns will never appear on a financial statement. They are found in relationships built, opportunities created, communities strengthened, and the knowledge that someone’s life may be a little different because you chose to become involved.
For Michael, many of those lessons have come through experiences that have very little to do with finance.
“Today Was a Good Day”
Anyone who has traveled with Michael on a Frontier Horizon mission trip will probably recognize one particular phrase. At the end of a long day—whether it has been spent visiting communities, working with children, meeting local partners, or witnessing circumstances far removed from everyday life—Michael has a habit of reflecting on everything that happened and saying, simply, “Today was a good day.”
Over time, the phrase has become something of a tradition among the Frontier Horizon team. Its meaning isn’t that every day of mission work is easy or that everything goes according to plan. Often, the opposite is true. Rather, it is an acknowledgement of the privilege of being there: of meeting people you might otherwise never know, sharing experiences across cultures and circumstances, accomplishing something worthwhile together, and having the opportunity to be present for work that matters.
One of those relationships has become particularly meaningful to Michael.
A Friendship at Camp Dreamland
Frontier Horizon operates Camp Dreamland for Ukrainian children affected by the ongoing war, giving them an opportunity to step away from the circumstances surrounding them, spend time simply being kids, and receive additional emotional and practical support. Through repeated visits to camp, Michael developed a special friendship with Artem, a young volunteer who helps document camp through photography and media.
During one visit, Artem wrapped Michael in one of his characteristically enthusiastic hugs and told him, “When I hug you, I feel calm.”
It’s difficult to put a value on a moment like that, and perhaps that’s exactly why it matters. Much of Michael’s professional life is spent helping people plan, measure progress, weigh tradeoffs, and make informed decisions about their financial futures. Experiences like this are a reminder that some of the most significant outcomes of our lives can’t be quantified quite so easily. Sometimes impact looks like knowing that your presence helped another person feel safe, understood, encouraged, or simply less alone.
Living Your Legacy
We often think about legacy as something we leave behind someday, usually in the context of estate planning, inheritance, or charitable gifts. Those things certainly matter, but we believe legacy is also something being built while we’re here.
It takes shape in how we spend our time, where we direct our resources, the organizations and communities we support, the people we mentor, and the opportunities we help create. For one person, that may include a thoughtful charitable giving strategy. For another, it could mean helping children or grandchildren pursue an education, volunteering professional expertise to an organization they believe in, creating opportunities through their business, or building enough financial flexibility to spend more time serving the people and causes that matter to them.
There isn’t one formula for living generously, nor should there be. The goal is to understand what matters to you and then make intentional choices—financial and otherwise—that give those priorities room to become part of your life.
That idea has always been central to the work we do at Generosity Wealth Management. Wealth isn’t the destination. It is one of the resources available to help create the life, relationships, experiences, and impact that matter to you.
Congratulations, Michael
We are proud to see Michael’s work with Frontier Horizon recognized by the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation, and equally proud to see him included among financial professionals from across the country who have made service an important part of their lives.
Of course, anyone who knows Michael knows that an award was never the reason for doing the work. The relationships, experiences, and lives touched along the way are what make it worthwhile. This recognition simply gives us an opportunity to celebrate that work—and perhaps encourage someone else to think about how their own skills, resources, or time could be put to use for something they care deeply about.
And if Michael’s many trips with Frontier Horizon are any indication, creating that kind of impact doesn’t always require a grand gesture. Sometimes it begins by showing up, getting involved, and reaching the end of the day able to say, “Today was a good day.”
Congratulations, Michael, and thank you to the team at Frontier Horizon, its volunteers and supporters, and especially the children and families who continue to remind all of us what generosity can make possible.
One of the greatest compliments a professional can receive isn’t simply recognition for what they’ve accomplished—it’s recognition for how they’ve chosen to accomplish it.
We’re honored to share that Michael Brady, founder of Generosity Wealth Management and Generosity Group, has been recognized as a 2026 ColoradoBiz Icon & Achiever, celebrating leaders whose careers have made a lasting impact on Colorado’s business community.
For those who know Michael, the recognition feels less like a milestone and more like the natural result of decades spent serving others with consistency, integrity, and purpose.
More Than Three Decades of Helping Families Plan with Confidence
For more than thirty years, Michael has helped individuals, families, and business owners navigate some of life’s biggest financial decisions—from retirement planning and tax strategies to business succession, charitable giving, and creating meaningful legacies.
ColoradoBiz recognized not only his longevity in the profession, but also the philosophy that has shaped his career. As highlighted in the publication, Michael has become known for integrating financial planning with philanthropy, mentorship, and values-based leadership while serving multiple generations of families and helping business owners prepare for successful transitions.
That combination has always reflected what we believe financial planning should be: helping people use their resources to build lives that are meaningful—not simply measurable.
Building Something Bigger Than Wealth Management
Over the past several years, Michael has expanded that vision through the creation of Generosity Group, bringing together Generosity Wealth Management, Generosity Estate Planning, and Generosity Business Exit Planning.
Rather than treating wealth management, estate planning, and business succession as separate conversations, the goal has been to create a collaborative team that helps clients make decisions that remain aligned throughout every stage of life and business.
That vision continues to evolve, but the purpose has remained unchanged:
Helping people align their financial decisions with the lives they hope to build and the legacy they hope to leave.
Leadership Beyond the Office
While Michael has spent decades advising clients, those who know him personally know that much of his impact happens outside conference rooms.
His commitment to serving others extends into mentoring young professionals, supporting future financial advisors, and investing countless hours in nonprofit leadership and community initiatives. ColoradoBiz specifically recognized this commitment to mentorship and philanthropy as part of his career contributions.
Whether he’s helping families prepare for retirement, serving through Rotary projects, supporting children through Frontier Horizon, or encouraging the next generation of leaders, the common thread has always been the same: people first.
Recognition That Reflects an Entire Community
Awards like this may bear one person’s name, but they are rarely earned alone.
Michael would be the first to recognize the clients who have entrusted Generosity Wealth Management with their financial futures, the dedicated team members who work alongside him every day, the professional partners who collaborate to serve clients well, and the many nonprofit organizations and community leaders who continue to inspire meaningful work beyond financial planning.
This recognition belongs to that broader community as much as it belongs to any individual.
Looking Ahead
As Generosity Group continues to grow, so does our commitment to helping individuals, families, and business owners make thoughtful decisions that create lasting impact.
Being named a 2026 ColoradoBiz Icon & Achiever is an incredible honor, but more importantly, it serves as a reminder of the responsibility that comes with earning the trust of clients and communities alike.
Congratulations, Michael, on this well-deserved recognition.
We’re grateful to be part of the journey.
ColoradoBiz recognized Michael Brady as a 2026 Icon & Achiever for his leadership in financial planning, business succession, mentorship, philanthropy, and values-based leadership. You can view his featured profile in the 2026 ColoradoBiz Icons & Achievers publication.
