Jake Jabs philanthropy spans Colorado charities and university gifts
The 95-year-old American Furniture Warehouse CEO has donated more than $1 million in the past year, with larger gifts to colleges.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
3 min read
Jake Jabs philanthropy has drawn new attention as the 95-year-old chief executive of American Furniture Warehouse continues to give to Colorado nonprofits while still working at the company he bought five decades ago. CBS News Colorado reported that Jabs has donated more than $1 million to charities across Colorado in the past year.
Jabs told CBS News Colorado that his giving is tied to his childhood experience with poverty and what he has seen while traveling. He said, “I saw a lot of poverty,” adding that he likes to support charities and efforts that help people rise out of poverty.
Who is Jake Jabs?
Jabs is the CEO of American Furniture Warehouse, a privately held, family-operated furniture retailer. Fortune reported that he bought the business in 1975 for $80,000, acquiring $1.5 million in assets while the company was nearing bankruptcy.
He later expanded the company into 18 locations in Colorado, Arizona and Texas, according to Fortune. The company recorded about $858 million in revenue in 2025, making it one of Colorado’s largest private companies, Fortune reported.
Jabs grew up as one of nine children on a farm near Lodge Grass, Montana, in a home without indoor plumbing, electricity or running water, according to accounts cited by Fortune. That background has shaped his education giving in particular.
Where has Jake Jabs donated money?
Jabs has supported groups working in disaster relief, hospitals, veterans’ services, disability services, food banks and global health, according to the American Red Cross and CBS News Colorado. He has also backed CBS Colorado’s Wednesday’s Child program, which helps find adoptive homes for children in foster care.
The American Red Cross said Jabs has learned that giving well can be complicated. He told the organization that donors need to give to people “who know what they’re doing.”
Education has received some of his largest gifts. Montana State University announced in 2011 that Jabs gave an unrestricted $25 million gift to its business college, which the university said was then the largest private gift in the history of higher education in Montana.
Montana State renamed the school the Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship, and part of the gift helped build Jabs Hall, according to the university. Jabs said at the time, “My own life experience leads me to believe this is where my efforts can do the most good,” adding that he wanted to help students who might come from circumstances like his.
In 2013, the University of Colorado Denver Business School said Jabs pledged $10 million toward an entrepreneurship center. The school said the pledge was its largest gift at the time and led to the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship.
What awards has he received?
The American Red Cross honored Jabs with its Heroism Award, which the organization describes as recognizing “ordinary people with extraordinary courage.” Volunteers of America also gave him its Good Samaritan Award, which the group says honors people who show compassion, generosity and selflessness in their communities.
Fortune reported that those awards often go to first responders, nurses and bystanders who act during emergencies, rather than business executives. Jabs’ recent recognition reflects his long record of local giving as well as his support for relief and human services groups.
Jabs has not stepped away from work. NBC reported that he still works six days a week at age 95. “If you enjoy what you’re doing, you may never work another day in your life,” he told NBC. “But there are other reasons. You have to have a purpose, and I have a purpose.”
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.