About

Clayton Gonzales

Clayton Gonzales, founder of Candela

Clayton Gonzales spent fifteen years in nonprofit leadership, most recently as a senior leader at CWEE — one of Colorado's most effective workforce development organizations. He has a master's in clinical mental health counseling and is an OIF veteran.

Candela came from a simple frustration: the organizations doing the most important work in the community were the least equipped to communicate it. Every impact report was a 40-hour project. Every funder meeting required rebuilding the same story from scratch.

Candela is the infrastructure layer that was always missing.

He designed program frameworks used across Colorado, including the Core 4 model adopted by Urban Peak — the same model featured in their 2025 Mothership Impact evaluation report.

Candela

CG Consulting LLC d/b/a Candela

Contact: clayton@candela.education