By: Jeremy Simon | CU Foundation
AURORA, Colo. - Eighty Anschutz Medical Campus faculty, staff and fundraisers—nearly all of whom make financial gifts to the University of Colorado—gathered May 10 in the Trivisible Room for the campus’s first luncheon hosted by the CU Foundation for invited faculty and staff.
(Photo: left to right Catherine Jarvis, Marguerite Childs Detmer, Susan Hagedorn and Fred Grover)
Foundation and campus leadership as well as donors -- employees past and present -- Fred Grover, MD, Susan Hagedorn, PhD (’95), Catherine Jarvis, PharmD, and Marguerite Childs Detmer, MPA (’74) talked about the work the Foundation does on behalf of the university.
Grover, a professor and past department chair who gives to CU via monthly payroll deduction, spoke movingly about the importance of financially supporting the area that has spurred his professional passion. The endowed chair in surgery Grover now holds exists thanks to the support of grateful patients and colleagues.
“As a department chair, I found that when I talk to donors, it’s so important to have given yourself—to be able to say you have skin in the game,” Grover said.
More than 800 Anschutz Medical Campus faculty and staff gave about $750,000 last year to the university. CU-affiliated clinical group University Physicians, Inc. also contributes a percentage of clinical revenue back to CU. A recent example of CU faculty and staff generosity was during the 2011 Centennial Scholarship drive for the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences: 100 percent of the school’s faculty and 89 percent of staff made gifts totaling $71,000 toward the scholarship.
Such support has played a key role in sustaining momentum for the university’s $1.5 billion Creating Futures fundraising campaign, for which more than $1.4 billion in private support has been generated since 2006.
Beyond those making current gifts, numerous CU Anschutz Medical Campus faculty and staff have made estate commitments through their wills that will benefit the university in the future. Lori Goldstein, senior director of gift planning for the CU Foundation, said such gifts can allow donors to make an impact greater than would be possible during their lifetimes.
Hagedorn, an emerita associate professor and 1995 doctoral alumna of the College of Nursing, has made transformative gifts at both the CU Anschutz and CU Denver campuses, including to a Partners in Prevention program and to the Center on Domestic Violence. Hagedorn also gave a compelling anecdote about how her experience at CU changed her life.
“The work we do is worth supporting. We wouldn’t be working if we didn’t have a passion for this,” Hagedorn said. “I encourage you all to look at what you do, where your passion and love is, and think about crossing over just a bit to support the future of what you do.”
A similar event with faculty and staff speakers was held April 19 on the Denver Campus.
To give back to CU via payroll deduction, visit www.cufund.org. To learn about ways you can support CU in the future through a planned gift, visit www.cufund.giftlegacy.com.
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Contact: Jeremy.Simon@cufund.org