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Chairman and Presidents Message
Our Responsibility to You: Commitment to Openness and Privacy
Financial Statements and Notes
Message from the CU Foundation Chairman
and the President and CEO
Fundraising success and the enhancement of a more sophisticated infrastructure, including a strong financial base and a solid team, mark the Fiscal Year 2004-2005 for your University of Colorado Foundation. We owe this performance to the persistence and dedication of staff, volunteers and donors who worked together to raise $52 million in contributions made directly to the Foundation. University of Colorado brought the total to more than $83 million raised this year for the University – a 4.5 percent increase in private donations over last year’s results.
This was also a year of considerable growth, as we encountered unprecedented attention and media coverage, underwent a state audit, and adopted a strengthened policy of openness and transparency. In the process, we grew stronger and more focused on our mission – and virtually surpassed all our fundraising and financial goals.
Commitment
The Foundation was founded in 1967 by a group of dedicated volunteers who had a vision to financially support the University beyond the State’s ability to provide funds. Entering its 39th year of fundraising partnership with CU, today the Foundation is a dynamic organization in the world of institutional fundraising and funds management.
The interwoven legacies of two women and their ranches are bringing a new cultural center to the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. The Heller Ranch Center for Arts and Humanities is the vision of the late Dorothy Heller, who donated her 1930s-era homestead where she and her artist husband Larry Heller lived for more than 60 years. A significant gift from the Estate of Elizabeth O. “Betty” Taylor – partial proceeds from the sale of her Montana ranch – will fund restoration of the Heller Ranch, including galleries, studios and a sculpture garden. The Center will strengthen connections between the University and the community, providing a creative environment for students, faculty, local residents, and visiting artists. |
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During the past three years, the Foundation and the University together have raised more than $254 million in gifts and commitments for the University. Now, setting the stage for the next campaign, our mission is to renew our commitment as the strategic fundraising partner to the University, which is proud to have four resident Nobel Prize winners and whose Boulder campus was recently ranked by The Economist as the 11th best public university worldwide. We also continue to commit ourselves to be a responsible partner and steward for our donors, as we build on our combined legacy and carry it forward.
Investment
This year we have refined our investment strategy and are thoughtfully considering how best to meet the changing investment market and ever increasing growth and complexity of the endowment. In August 2004, the Foundation hired Chris Bittman as Chief Investment Officer. Chris had been president and CEO of a $5 billion investment management firm, from which he retired in 2003. Prior to his current position Chris served as a volunteer member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors and Investment Committee since 1996.
The University of Colorado at Boulder School of Law is making history with the new Wolf Law Building, which will significantly enhance the learning experience of CU law students for decades to come. Designed in the modified Tuscan-style architecture that is prominent on the Boulder campus, the four-story structure will feature 18 high-tech classrooms, two mock courtrooms, three legal research centers, and a research library. Alumni and friends of the Law School have generously come forth with more than $9.6 million toward the $12.8 million private fundraising goal. Open for classes in August 2006, Wolf Law will host community and professional events, creating a dynamic locus of activity for law professionals across the state and nation. |
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Our long-term investment pool currently represents 46 portfolios with 33 different investment managers and has more than $550 million in assets. We have carefully yet proactively invested in all aspects of our management systems, which ensures we will continue to follow best practices standards in our financial and day-to-day operations.
Endowment
An endowment is often referred to as the gift that keeps giving. Our goal is to maintain a consistent level of endowment spending support for the University while prudently growing our asset base to ensure the endowments’ long-term well-being. Over the course of fiscal years 2004 and 2005, the Foundation transferred more than $142 million in current gifts and endowment earnings to support the University’s students, faculty, research, special programs and more.
Building relationships while raising gifts and pledges is the mission of dedicated CU student callers working on behalf of the Annual Fund Program, which brought in $2,323,753 this year. Operating in partnership with IDC, a fundraising consulting firm, students typically connect with 5,000 alumni each week and raise funds for all areas of the university. Recent program successes include enrolling more than 7,000 new donors, increasing parents’ donations by more than 200 percent from two years ago, and fulfilling 92 percent of the pledges made. “I’ve spoken with many donors who were education majors, and they inspire me,” says Shirene Provenza, a junior majoring in music education and voice performance. “After I graduate, I definitely plan on giving back.” |
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Having achieved so much during challenging times, we have begun ushering in a new era and are strengthening the relationship between your Foundation and University. CU grows from the students, faculty and projects that you support. Your gifts mean that each and every day more than 50,000 students are benefited by your commitment and vision. These students will be contributors to society and to our world. They will be scientists, poets, engineers, teachers, artists, businesspersons, healthcare givers; we need them all. Your contributions help to give them forever the important gift of education, changing their lives in a positive, tangible way – a gift that offers hope and promise for the future.
Thanks to each of you, we will continue to provide support that enables the University of Colorado to sustain its world-class rankings and goals.
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George A. Sissel |
Michael M. Byram |