COLORADO STATE ANNOUNCES ANOTHER FUNDRAISING RECORD; NEARLY $113 MILLION SETS ANNUAL RECORD, NUMBERS OF DONORS AT ALL-TIME HIGH

Note to Reporters: Brett Anderson, vice president for university advancement at Colorado State University, will be available for interviews. Direct inquiries to Tony Phifer: 970.491.7712, Tony.Phifer@colostate.edu

Colorado State University today announced it has set a new fundraising record by bringing in $112.5 million in private funding from donors to support the university, surpassing last year’s record of $111.6 million. This comes just one year after the university announced it had successfully completed a $500 million fundraising campaign ahead of schedule.

The fundraising numbers represent private support from individuals, families, corporations and foundations to the CSU Fort Collins campus.

The Fiscal Year 2013 fundraising total also represents record success for the university in several key categories:

• This year 33,614 donors gave to the university, up nearly 2,000 from last year’s record total of 31,690 donors.

• Alumni Association membership increased by 15 percent. Alumni participation, which represents the percentage of CSU undergraduate alumni who financially support the university, grew by nearly 15 percent and is up 30 percent over the past two years.

• A dramatic increase in CSU’s social media following, particularly as it relates to fundraising. Social media following of the Alumni Association increased by 20 percent – and there are now more than 83,000 people following CSU via social media.

• Online giving jumped 28 percent.

• CSU also became the first university in Colorado to launch a comprehensive crowdfunding platform to reach new donors via social media.

“These amazing results represent the tremendous generosity of our alumni and friends, and the deep and real commitment they all feel to the world-class students, faculty and programs at Colorado State University, and the groundbreaking work we do here,” said Brett Anderson, vice president for university advancement. “This support helps us continue to enhance our exceptional university, and continue to elevate the level of academic excellence that is the hallmark of CSU. We’re proud of the great show of support for Colorado State University, and even more excited about the future of this great institution.”

The impact of the record-setting fundraising is evident across campus.

• CSU continues to be one of the nation’s most veteran-friendly campuses, serving more than 1,000 student-veterans. Gifts received this year to the university’s nationally ranked Department of Occupational Therapy support the New Start program, designed to give student-veterans a new start in their lives and the opportunity to succeed in college and in life after serving our country.

• Private scholarship support for CSU students rose last year, with a funding increase in need-based and merit-based undergraduate scholarships and graduate scholarships and fellowships.

• The new Suzanne and Walter Scott, Jr. Bioengineering Building, funded in part through private donations, will open this fall, and is the latest example of commitment to CSU’s world-class engineering program.

• CSU’s work in translational oncology research – at one of the nation’s most respected veterinary and biomedical schools – was advanced through private donations to the Flint Animal Cancer Center in support of the Oncology Comparative Clinical Trials Program (collaborative research between CSU and the University of Colorado Cancer Center on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora).

• In addition, the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, which serves the community’s companion animals – large and small – is undergoing a renovation and expansion, thanks in part to private donations.

• Also as a result of private gifts, the Avenir Museum at the University Center for the Arts will undergo an expansion, and the popular Early Childhood Center has a new home to serve children and educate the next generation of teachers.

“It is extremely gratifying to see our alumni and friends step up in such a significant way and support the university so generously, and to know that this critical private support will help us continue to provide a top-quality education at one of our nation’s very best public research universities,” said Colorado State President Tony Frank. “We are grateful for the many generous donations that made this record possible, and for the dedicated and hardworking staff that helped build this level of support. This represents both a great day for Colorado State and what we know is just the beginning of greater things to come in the future. ”

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