CU Denver Comprehensive Campaign
CU Denver is has launch its first comprehensive fundraising campaign, ELEVATION. A comprehensive campaign is a focused fundraising initiative with an announced goal and timeline that supports strategic priorities. In addition to generating financial support, a successful campaign elevates the overall culture of philanthropy on campus. While the University of Colorado as a system has launched several comprehensive campaigns, ours is the first for an individual CU campus.
The campaign consists of a quiet phase and public phase. During the quiet phase, the university is identifying priorities, creating messaging and collateral that support them, and raising funds toward a projected goal. During the public phase, which began in early 2026, the university rolled out the campaign themes, priorities, messaging, and goals more broadly among its external constituents.
Advancement Workshops
The Office of Advancement hosts two workshops each year to help CU Denver employees better understand philanthropy at CU Denver and how to engage with Advancement during ELEVATION: The Campaign for CU Denver.
These sessions are designed to demystify fundraising, clarify roles, and provide practical tools you can use right away. Whether you are new to philanthropy or have prior experience, these workshops offer insight into how Advancement partners across campus to support programs, students, and strategic priorities.
Who should attend?
These workshops are designed for CU Denver employees who:
- Lead or support academic programs, centers, or initiatives
- Manage or benefit from philanthropic funds
- Engage with community, corporate, or alumni partners
- Want to better understand their role in advancing philanthropic support
Prior fundraising experience is not required.
Spring Workshops
Each spring, we host an interactive, message-focused workshop led by fundraising strategist Penelepe Hunt. This session helps participants identify and activate personal and professional networks in support of their programs.
Fall Workshops
Each fall, we offer a broader introduction to Advancement, including how a comprehensive campaign works and how to effectively partner with our team to advance your priorities.
Spring Workshop
Tuesday, March 10 | 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. | Lawrence Street Center Terrace Room (2nd Floor)
Spring 2026 was an interactive workshop led by fundraising strategist Penelepe Hunt, who guided participants through practical strategies to activate personal and professional networks in support of CU Denver.
The campaign is an opportunity for colleges, centers, institutes, and programs to attract new philanthropy to support their programs. Whether you enjoy asking for gifts or not, there are many ways you can be a part of the campaign. This workshop explored how you can identify people you know personally and professionally, and work with Advancement to engage them with CU Denver. Some may become donors, and others will not. Either way, these connections will learn more about the university, your program’s work, and the many ways we have an impact in Denver and beyond.
In this session attendees:
- Received an update on ELEVATION: The Campaign for CU Denver
- Were introduced to network advancement as an advancement tool
- Learned how to determine whether someone in your network might be a good connection for your program
- Explored their network to identify a small number of initial connections to explore
- Developed a strategy for each person on your first set of connections
- Learned how Advancement can help you and when to call them in
- Heard about upcoming opportunities to hone your engagement skills
Participants left with a clear, practical game plan—and greater confidence in how you can help advance your program through philanthropy.
Spring Workshop Materials
Fall Workshop
Each fall, the Office of Advancement hosts a workshop designed to provide faculty and staff with a foundational understanding of how Advancement works and how to successfully partner with our team during the campaign.
This session offers a practical overview of fundraising at CU Denver, the structure and goals of a comprehensive campaign, and the many ways faculty and staff can play a meaningful role.
After attending this session, you will:
- Learn how to partner successfully with Advancement
- Become familiar with the resources we can provide
- Learn how to create a compelling case for your programs
- Feel empowered to act on fundraising opportunities
- Understand how a comprehensive campaign progresses
Come away from this workshop with a better sense of how rewarding and joyful it can be to partner with our donors to make a positive and lasting impact on our campus community.
Fall Workshop Materials
Advancement Overview
We know your time is valuable, but we would be grateful if you could take half an hour to watch this overview of Advancement prior to attending a campaign workshop. In this video, you’ll learn about who we are and what we do, which will allow us to spend more of our time together talking about how we can work together.
We recommends using YouTube's video settings to change the quality to "1080p HD" for the best viewing experience.
Campaign Priorities
A campus-wide committee* partnered with Advancement to review philanthropic data surrounding priorities that were tested during an external campaign feasibility study conducted by Marts & Lundy, one of the leading fundraising consulting firms in the country. The campus remains grateful to the CU Foundation for supporting the cost of this study.
Following this review, the committee identified several core focus areas for the campaign and made recommendations to the Chancellor and Provost:
- Expanding access to the lifelong benefits of higher education
- Enhancing support systems vital to student success
- Cultivating human talent that promotes innovation and discovery in the classroom and beyond
With these focus areas in place, the deans and leadership of Strategic Enrollment and Student Success worked with their teams to identify individual school, college, and unit priorities that reflect these larger focus areas.
*The committee’s membership included:
- Melisa Baldwin Vice Chancellor for Advancement
- Scott Dawson, Dean of the Business School
- Pam Jansma, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Katie Linder, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Innovation and Strategy
- Marvin Lynn, Dean of the School of Education & Human Development
- Monique Snowden, Senior Vice Chancellor for Strategic Enrollment and Student Success
Campaign Resources
To support consistent, clear communication across campus, the Office of Advancement has developed a set of campaign resources for faculty and staff.
Whether you are speaking with a donor, presenting to a community partner, drafting remarks, or updating program materials, these tools are designed to help you confidently and accurately represent the campaign.
Campaign Messaging Guide
This document provides foundational information about the campaign, including:
- Campaign name and rationale
- Campaign narrative
- Messaging pillars
- The five-year vision, outlined in a “five-finger” framework
The guide is provided as a read-only Word document to preserve message consistency across campus.
Campaign Overview One-Pager
This downloadable PDF provides an overview of ELEVATION which articulates the vision for the campaign and funding priorities. Feel free to print or share this document as needed.
Campaign Graphics and Name Guidance
Official campaign name: ELEVATION: The Campaign for CU Denver
While the campaign’s official name is ELEVATION: The Campaign for CU Denver, you may exercise flexibility in how you refer to it in writing and speaking:
- ELEVATION, our comprehensive fundraising campaign
- ELEVATION, our comprehensive campaign
- The ELEVATION campaign
Writing ELEVATION in all caps is preferred so it stands apart.
ELEVATION graphics are available for use in presentations, digital communications, and other campaign-related materials. The OneDrive folder includes downloadable, ready-to-use assets to ensure visual consistency.
