While high-profile philanthropists often dominate headlines with outsized donations, some of the most meaningful giving comes from local business leaders who channel their success back into their communities.

Jake Jabs, the 95-year-old CEO of American Furniture Warehouse, exemplifies that model. In 1975, he purchased roughly $1.5 million in assets from a company headed toward bankruptcy for just $80,000. Over the decades that followed, he transformed the business into a regional powerhouse spanning Colorado, Arizona, and Texas with 18 locations. That sustained growth stands out in a furniture retail sector where national chains and online competitors have squeezed many independent and regional operators. The company remains privately held and family-operated, generating approximately $858 million in revenue in 2025 and ranking among the largest private companies in Colorado.

Now Jabs is directing a significant share of that success toward local nonprofits. Because American Furniture Warehouse is privately held, Jabs retains the autonomy to allocate major giving without the shareholder pressures that typically constrain public-company executives. Over the past year, he has donated more than $1 million to charities across Colorado, he told CBS News.

For Jabs, the motivation is rooted in personal experience. He grew up one of nine children on a farm near Lodge Grass, Montana, in a home without indoor plumbing, electricity, or running water.

"I saw a lot of poverty," he said. "I've traveled to 50 countries, and I see a lot of poverty, so I like to give to charity and things that help people and lift them out of poverty."

This year, Jabs received the American Red Cross Heroism Award, which recognizes "ordinary people with extraordinary courage," and the Volunteers of America Good Samaritan Award, honoring those who "embody compassion, generosity and selflessness in their communities." Both accolades are typically awarded to local firefighters, nurses, and bystanders who act in emergencies rather than corporate executives.

While Jabs has described effective giving as "complicated," he told the American Red Cross that "you have to give to people who know what they're doing." His philanthropic contributions have supported disaster relief organizations, hospitals, veterans' groups, disability services, food banks, and global health initiatives. He is also a longtime supporter of CBS Colorado's Wednesday's Child program, which helps find homes for children in foster care.

Education has received the largest share of his philanthropy. In 2011, Jabs made an unrestricted $25 million gift to Montana State University's business college — at the time, the largest private donation in the history of Montana's higher education system. Unrestricted gifts of that magnitude are relatively uncommon in higher education, where donors frequently earmark contributions for specific programs or capital projects. The institution was renamed the Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship, and part of the funding supported construction of a new facility, Jabs Hall.

Two years later, he pledged $10 million to the University of Colorado Denver Business School, also the largest gift in that school's history at the time. The donation established the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship.

"My own life experience leads me to believe this is where my efforts can do the most good," Jabs said of the Montana State gift. "I think of all the students who might come from circumstances like mine, and I want to help them."

At 95, Jabs continues to work six days a week and shows no signs of stepping back.

"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."