In the past few months, the employees of three Colorado Springs nonprofits have walked in on the aftermath of burglaries at their offices and headquarters. While the unsolved thefts have not been confirmed to be linked by police, some of the victims are urging caution for other organizations that might be vulnerable.

“We feel targeted,” said Jaime Garcia, chief development officer at Silver Key Senior Services. Her organization was broken into overnight on May 1.

Thieves broke into the South Murray Boulevard location via a glass window, gaining access to locked rooms and cabinets to steal electronics and gift cards, according to Garcia. She said that the organization keeps gift cards to hand out to users of the nonprofit’s food pantry to buy food when supplies are low.

While Garcia said a security camera showed the thief inside and loading stolen goods into a car, the office was not outfitted with security monitoring or alarms.

“Somebody is on to the fact that we don’t have very good security and we have what they want,” she said.

The burglary at Silver Key was preceded by a break in at Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care in February and followed by another at Junior Achievement of Southern Colorado on May 6.

Pikes Peak Hospice president Dawn Darvalics said that mainly electronics, like computers and projectors, were stolen, along with “a variety of things” in the offices. She said that the break in caused minimal damage, and that the organization, funded through a separate nonprofit foundation, was still going through insurance claims.

Darvalics said that police “really just didn’t find anything” during a subsequent investigation. While Pikes Peak Hospice has security footage, she said none of it showed the burglary.

“Was this completely random, was it someone who knew us? I have no idea, and that’s unsettling,” she said.

The latest burglary at Junior Achievement of Southern Colorado left staff attempting to replace stolen items and repair damage right before the organization’s biggest fundraising night of the year. Anji Roe Wood, president of Junior Achievement, said that thieves came in time to steal items set aside for a fundraising auction that was set for later in the week.

“It was super disconcerting,” said Wood.

She estimated that thieves took close to $10,000 in items, later racking up bills at Target and Walmart with stolen charge cards.

A spokesperson with the Colorado Springs Police Department confirmed that all three nonprofits had burglary calls for service but was not able to say whether any connection was being investigated.

Garcia said her organization was considering added security measures. Silver Key saw an incident in 2023 in which thieves stole catalytic converters off vehicles used for a medical transport program, but neither of the other nonprofit employees remembered any other theft incidents in past years.

Wood said that she did not know if the burglaries were related, but that she felt “concern” for fellow nonprofits in the area.

“These programs do a lot of extraordinary work in this community, so it’s unfortunate that this is happening,” said Darvalics.