How Colossal Inspires Everyday Donors to Make a Big Impact for Chefs Nationwide
Photo: Dave Laus and Sydney Cisco
Wed, April 16, 2025
Meet Mary Hagen, CEO of Colossal, the fundraising competition company transforming how people give back. Under her leadership, Colossal has scaled creative, community-driven campaigns that make philanthropy accessible and impactful for everyone. From 2022 to 2025, Colossal has partnered with the James Beard Foundation® for the Favorite Chef competition presented by Carla Hall, harnessing the power of small-dollar donations to support chefs nationwide. We spoke with Hagen about Colossal’s evolution, its mission to make a big impact, and how they’re engaging everyday donors in extraordinary ways.
JBF: Can you share the story behind Colossal—what inspired its creation and how has it evolved to become the leader in fundraising competitions?
Mary Hagen: Colossal was founded in 2022, but I have been running competitions since 2015, when we launched the first-ever competition, Miss Jetset, to reinvigorate the publishing industry and market magazines. During that time, we received a customer support ticket that said, “This was a really fun experience. It would be cool if you guys used it to raise money for charity.” We loved the idea, so we adjusted the model in 2016, re-ran the competition, and raised a couple hundred thousand dollars for the Be Positive Foundation. In 2017, we realized that the competitions would work for other experiences, and we started to push the envelope.
In 2022, they asked me to be the CEO of the new entity, Colossal, which is solely founded on this principle of making a big impact. As it stands, a minimum of 50% of gross proceeds gets through to the designated beneficiary, which is huge. Over a decade it’s evolved into this beautiful and powerful way of raising money for charities and making a big impact.
JBF: What drew you to partner with the James Beard Foundation and how do you see our mission aligning with Colossal’s goals?
MH: We first ran the Favorite Chef competition in 2017 to test the waters with the chef audience and it raised $1.1 million for Feeding America. It was the first time we raised over a million dollars, and we wanted to see how we could elevate that model. We took a break and sought the right partners, and in 2022, we relaunched with JBF. It made sense not only based on the philanthropic work that you all do, but also maintaining a level and standard of excellence, which is what we're pushing our chefs to compete for. By bringing in what I like to call “the James Beard Foundation standard” to that campaign, it elevated its overall presence.
JBF: How do you determine the right mix of competition theme, celebrity involvement, and nonprofit beneficiaries to create the most meaningful and engaging experience?
MH: Sometimes the charity is the first piece and sometimes it just starts as a concept, like Favorite Chef. We researched the players and charities in the space, investigating the pass-through rates and ensuring that the bulk of the money is going to programs and important work. We want the charities that we support and the dollars that we raise to be used in an honorable manner. It's the same with our sponsors. We want to work with like-minded businesses and celebrities, so ideally the celebrities we work with already have a connection to the charities that we're supporting. We want the whole community to come together to make our campaigns a reality and have the biggest impact.
Carla Hall (right) with Favorite Chef 2023 Champion - Karen Jenkins "Chef Kay" (left)
(Photo: Dave Laus and Sydney Cisco)
JBF: What are some of the most impactful organizations you’ve worked with, and how have your competitions helped drive their missions forward?
MH: Baby2Baby was an enormous campaign, and it was magical to see so many people come together in support of their cause. Last year, our donation of $24 million helped expand their operations and secure a new warehouse space. PAWS is a personal favorite. They're a small, local organization (which usually wouldn’t meet our criteria), but have a global impact through their wildlife education and rescue programs. It just shows that these smaller organizations can have a big impact with the right funding, partners, and platforms. We've been able to help PAWS expand their mission and grow year over year; we've helped them rescue around 20,000 animals with the funds that we've raised.
JBF: Leading Colossal requires both creativity and strategic execution. How have your other entrepreneurial ventures shaped the way you innovate and make decisions at Colossal?
MH: I have a unique and diverse pool of entrepreneurial experiences that allow me to be successful at Colossal and lead a team in uncharted waters. There's no one else in the world who does exactly what we do. It's fun to be the first mover, but we are charting our own path as we go. Colossal really scratches the itch for me with entrepreneurialism because every campaign is like launching a new business every two weeks, each with its own brand identity and voice.
JBF: What are the most critical elements in crafting a seamless and engaging user experience for both competition participants and voters?
MH: Communication is number one. Once the competition begins, we communicate with our competitors and voters almost daily via text and email. It's a huge investment and a huge lift, but our priority throughout the campaign is to keep people engaged, informed, and excited. A big part of what makes for a seamless audience experience is keeping them informed so they know what's coming up next and where they stand. For competitors, we want to make sure chefs stay fully invested and connected. If you're accepted to Favorite Chef, you become part of a community of tens of thousands of chefs across the United States who are all competing against each other but also in it for a common cause. And we’re mostly able to help our competitors see that common ground and support each other along the way.
JBF: If you could change one thing about the way people engage with charitable giving, what would it be?
MH: People often don't feel like their $5 vote donation is going to make any difference. But it really does! One of Colossal’s principles is crowdfunding: we want a lot of people to give a little bit instead of a handful of people giving a lot. So, if you have $5 to give, give it through a Colossal competition because your $5 inspires another $5. That compounded effect has an actual impact on the bottom line to the charity and your donation could be the spur that a campaign needed to raise $24 million. So, I want to help people feel confident that their $5 is connected to a huge impact that will affect a charity and the work that they're doing in such a beautiful and important way.