Creating Futures Campaign Facts

• Creating Futures is a comprehensive, University of Colorado system-wide fundraising effort to enhance CU’s four campuses on all fronts, and advance the economy, culture, and health of Colorado and the nation.
• The public announcement of Creating Futures is April 25, 2011; it will continue until it reaches its $1.5 billion goal. More than $900 million has been contributed since July 1, 2006 during the quiet, pre-launch phase of the campaign.

Creating Futures Leadership

• Bruce Benson fills dual leadership roles in Creating Futures as university president and as Creating Futures volunteer chair; his wife, Marcy, is also a chair of the campaign. The Bensons played vital roles as chairs of CU’s prior campaign, Beyond Boundaries.
• Independent leadership teams support the campaign on each of CU’s four campuses. The volunteer campaign chairs on each campus are:
  • Nancy (’87) and Spike (’67) Eklund, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
  • Jean (’64) and Jack (’64, ’70) Thompson, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Mary and Ed Osborne, University of Colorado Colorado Springs
  • Laura (’94) and Dave (’82) Baker, University of Colorado Denver

Creating Futures Priorities

• The primary priority of Creating Futures is to generate private support for CU’s four areas of excellence and impact.
  • Learning and Teaching that educates our future workforce and enables thousands more students to receive a university education
  • Discovery and Innovation that accelerates solutions in fields such as energy, aerospace, and education
  • Community and Culture that enriches our surroundings and our quality of life
  • Health and Wellness education, research, and clinical care that leads to longer and better lives
• As Creating Futures is a comprehensive, multi-campus campaign, literally hundreds of strategic funding priorities have been identified. These priorities are detailed in campaign brochures for the CU system as a whole, and for each individual campus. The campaign brochure for the CU System is included in this kit. Brochures for each campus are available at www.cufund.org/campaign/brochures.
• Creating Futures priorities have been determined through a strategic planning process directed by leadership on each of CU’s four campuses, and aligned with each campus’s own priorities.

Creating Futures History

• On July 1, 2006, Creating Futures began its quiet phase, a standard campaign period in which private support counts toward the overall goal and awareness builds among internal constituents.
• During this quiet phase, the University of Colorado Foundation–CU’s fundraising and investment-management partner–collaborated with the university to develop campaign priorities and fundraising targets.
• During this period, the CU Foundation has strengthened its operation by establishing counting standards and other guidelines, bolstering its personnel and training, and fortifying relationships with constituents whose passions align with CU priorities.
• Also in this period, CU has had its four strongest years ever for private support, despite substantial turbulence in the global economy.
• A traditional campaign-launch benchmark is that over 50 percent of the campaign goal be raised before “going public.” As of the April 25, 2011 launch, more than $900 million has been raised toward Creating Futures.

CU in the Future: A Planned Giving Initiative

• In times of economic uncertainty, planned gifts hold increased appeal for prospective donors. A planned gift is a way to make a philanthropic commitment using giving vehicles (such as bequest commitments, IRA beneficiary designations, trusts, annuities, and real estate) that realize at some point in the future, or through a “blended” combination of present and future commitments.
• In conjunction with Creating Futures, the CU Foundation has initiated CU in the Future, a subset of the Creating Futures campaign that promotes planned-giving commitments.
• CU donors increasingly see planned giving as an effective route to achieving their philanthropic aims. For the 2010 fiscal year, estate-gift commitments increased by more than 700 percent over the prior year. Estate gift commitments for 2011 already exceed the 2010 total by more than 25 percent with more than a month remaining in the fiscal year.

Counting Guidelines

• There is no single universally recognized standard by which universities count private campaign support: university funding streams can be complex and variously defined. In the quiet phase, we have reviewed standards at peer universities to assess best practices and establish standards that fairly gauge the financial progress of Creating Futures.
• Funds counted toward the Creating Futures goal include private support and pledges made directly to the CU Foundation, as well as directly to the university.
• Both current* private support and endowed** private support are counted toward the Creating Futures campaign total.
• Campaign totals include private support received through CU’s Office of Contracts and Grants. This is consistent with counting protocols for other university campaigns, though historically these totals have not been included in University of Colorado annual fundraising totals.
• Many planned gifts are not realized until a future point in time (such as bequests, which are realized after a donor’s death). While such commitments are tracked by the CU Foundation to help gauge future revenue streams, revocable planned estate gifts such as bequest intentions and IRA beneficiary designations are not counted toward the Creating Futures campaign total.