There are many ways to rise: to the
occasion, to the challenge, in esteem,
in influence. And many reasons:
because you are called, because the
times demand it, because it is right.
All of these things shape and power Ascend:
The Campaign for the University of Denver,
but at its core this vital effort—this future-
focused partnership between the power of your
generosity, the clarity of our shared vision,
and the momentum and impact of what we
will achieve together—is about rising to a
higher plane for the benefit of our students,
our community, and our world. It is about
being bold, about becoming something that
has never before been seen in American higher
education. The heights to which we will ascend
represent nothing less than the reimagining and
reinventing of 21st century higher education—
and the very notion of what it means to be a great
private university dedicated to the public good.
In the process, DU will reach new summits
and break new ground, marked by defined
and demonstrated educational quality for our
students and measurable outcomes for our
state and our planet as we focus the impact of
the intellectual capital we generate every day.
DU will be worthy, both of your support and
of a rebirth of the trust that once accrued to
great universities as the source of innovation
and progress.
With your investment, DU will lead the
nation in reinventing the university as a place
with constant and effective influence on real-
world issues. There will be no ambiguity—DU
will consistently prove why we matter regionally,
nationally, and globally. Remarkable lives lived
by remarkable alumni will be the product of
our teaching, solutions will be the result of
our scholarly and research efforts, and direct
applications of our intellectual capital will be
the metric by which greatness is determined.
Ascend: The Campaign for the University of
Denver is about rising to a higher plane for
the benefit of our students, our community,
and our world.
—Chancellor Robert Coombe
When DU was founded, the
Civil War was still raging,
and it was not clear whether
America would survive, let
alone prosper. DU was quite
literally on the frontier—of the nation, of 19th
century knowledge, of belief in the power of
learning, on the edge of tomorrow.
Today, after nearly 150 years of growth
and change, DU is at the peak of its strength
in educating students of exceptional talent
and intelligence, in recruiting and retaining
teachers and researchers at the very top of their
disciplines, and in the size, reach, and dynamism
of our alumni. We have arrived at a tipping
point—the frontier is once again laid out before
us. But this horizon is not the Rocky Mountains
or even the West itself. The high ground to which
we must ascend is in defining and leading the
way to the globally connected great university
of tomorrow—“great” being clearly measured
and demonstrated by the outcomes we produce
for our students and our community, the
return on investment we produce (academically,
internationally, and economically), and the
impact we have upon the serious and escalating
issues that challenge our world.
This is our moment: yours and DU’s.
The way universities operate in this second
decade of the 21st century is far too much
like it was generations ago. We too often talk
to ourselves, too often gaze inward, too often
congratulate ourselves for our output rather
than our outcomes. That approach to academia
has already been changing for some time at
DU; we are ahead of the curve, and with your
help—only with your help—we will continue
our ascent.
Our
NeW
FrO
NTie
r
2 ASCeND
Two decades of visionary investment in
DU facilities has brought us to this moment.
The Morgridge College of Education; the
Sturm College of Law; the Daniels College
of Business; Olin Hall and the division of
Natural Sciences and Mathematics; the Josef
Korbel School of International Studies; the
divisions of Arts, Humanities, and Social
Sciences; the Lamont School of Music;
the Graduate School of Social Work; and
the Women’s College—all have benefited
from new or remodeled buildings. Two
new residence halls have created a dynamic
setting for student life, and new centers for
recreation and the performing arts have
allowed DU to share its resources with the
community. Today we are prepared and
poised to turn all of our focus, and our
partnership with you, to invest in the power
and potential of the human component.
Together, we have created the launching pad.
Now, Ascend: The Campaign for the University
of Denver is poised to address and fuel the two
significant arcs in the ascendency of DU in
the coming decades. First is the immeasurable
impact of the lives our graduates will live and the
contributions they will make, and second is the
many ways in which DU will leverage the enormous
intellectual capital centered on this campus into
solutions for the issues and challenges that lay
before our country and our planet.
This is the moment when we will look
forward and ascend onto the next frontier and
into a brighter future. But we can’t do it alone.
There are many ways to rise: the most powerful
is together.
This is the moment when we will look
forward and ascend onto the next frontier
and into a brighter future.
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 3
Too often, higher education is seen as
merely a few years in our lives that
prepare us for what comes next. But
all great universities, DU included, are
the starting point for a chain reaction
of discovery and accomplishment that continues
outward in ever-expanding waves. Simply put,
exceptional students go on to do exceptional
things with their lives, and their achievements
can quite literally change our world.
Today at DU, cutting-edge academic
programs are transforming our students’
learning experiences. At the undergraduate
level, we’ve developed one of the nation’s most
comprehensive study-abroad programs along
with an exceptional school of international
studies, introduced a rigorous and inspiring
new writing program in all of our majors,
added many innovative new faculty members,
redesigned our curricula, and boosted student
participation in research and scholarship.
For our graduate students, we’ve added
extraordinary new faculty scholars, expanded
the breadth and depth of our research
enterprise, and developed unique new
interdisciplinary programs.CHAi
N re
ACTi
ON
The University of Denver is a great private
university, dedicated to the public good.
4 ASCeND
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 5
AHeAD AND ASCeNDiNg:
THe eNTrepreNeuriAl SpiriT
One of the ways DU’s celebrated Daniels College of
Business is ascending globally is as the exclusive
educational partner of Deutsche Bank’s Global
Commercial Microfinance Consortium, which controls an
$85 million fund designed for microfinance projects in
developing countries like Kenya, Uganda, and Cambodia.
DU students work alongside Deutsche Bank
managers, evaluating requests for loans to establish
small businesses. Once the students have, with
Deutsche Bank’s agreement, approved the requests,
the funds are distributed to individuals and groups
in impoverished, rural villages. DU students and
faculty annually visit these communities to analyze the
effectiveness of the loans and to make recommendations
for future loan allocations.
The program was recently recognized by Forbes
magazine, which ranked DU’s two-course sequence of
social entrepreneurship and microfinance among its “10
Most Innovative Business School Classes” in America.
“It is especially meaningful to our students to have
this responsibility and opportunity,” says R. Bruce
Hutton, Ph.D., the Piccinati Professor of Teaching
Innovation at DU, who partners with Maclyn L. Clouse,
the Sorensen Distinguished Professor of Finance, in
teaching the courses. “Our students learn not only what
it means for communities to receive these loans, but
also the due diligence involved to ensure that loans are
distributed and used in an appropriate fashion.” CHAi
N re
ACTi
ON4 ASCeND
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 5
Appl
ieD
iNSp
irAT
iON
Billions of dollars of public funds are
granted to colleges and universities
each year for research and
development. And what are they—
we—doing with your money? What
are we doing with the power and potential of
your investment? At DU, we think it is vital that
you ask—and it is our responsibility to define
our outcomes and how they resonate in the lives
of you, your family, and your community. Only
then can we make the case for your continued
investment in our shared future.
There are literally thousands of good
examples, but this is the bottom line: We at DU
are entirely focused on the impact of our work
as scholars. We identify needs and seek to offer
solutions through our research. Each day we
leverage that vast intellectual capital to generate
answers for the great issues of our time, and
we will continue at an accelerated pace. DU
faculty members are engaged in exploration and
discovery that span the totality of the sciences
and the arts, always striving to make lives better,
easier, safer, and richer throughout the world.
Each day we leverage vast intellectual
capital to generate answers for the great
issues of our time.
6 ASCeND
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 7
Appl
ieD
iNSp
irAT
iON
6 ASCeND
AHeAD AND ASCeNDiNg:
NeW HOpe FOr AlS pATieNTS
The outcomes of DU research serve a vast range of
constituencies, but few have more urgent needs than
those with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. That is why Dan
Linseman, Ph.D., is searching for a way to slow down
the early stages of the disease, and surprisingly he may
have found it in black rice, celery, and strawberries.
Linseman’s research on the effects of antioxidants
found in common foods is a cornerstone of DU’s Eleanor
Roosevelt Institute (ERI) as well as DU’s visionary
Knoebel Center for the Study of Aging.
Armed with a $2.4 million grant from the National
Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs, Linseman, an assistant professor in
DU’s department of biological sciences and a senior
researcher with the ERI, is ascending to the place
where he can perhaps unravel the mysteries of this
progressive, neurodegenerative disease that over the
course of just a few years destroys nerve cells in the
brain and the spinal cord.
“ALS is a devastating disease, and its symptoms
and effects can be extremely swift and debilitating,”
Linseman says. “Unfortunately, we are many years,
perhaps generations, away from a cure, but I am
encouraged that our research will lead to advances in
treating the onset of the disease following diagnosis—
to alleviate some of the early pain and suffering.”
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 7
The future will ask much of our graduates. It will demand that
they respond quickly and intelligently to stunningly complex
international challenges. It will also present them with
unimagined opportunities, unprecedented technologies, and
for the first time in human history, a truly global community.
Will their education and preparation for this volatile future be in the
same old entrenched model of higher education that is a product of the
past? Not at DU, it won’t. Not if we invest in their futures right now.
It is a simple equation: Today at DU, top students from across the
nation and around the world want to come here, and we are limited
only by our ability to meet their financial needs. We want to attract
diverse, exceptional students—who will do exceptional things with their
lives—regardless of their economic, cultural, or national backgrounds.
Then we need to power their experience here with superior resources,
faculty members, and coaches to mentor and guide their success and
achievement as they chart paths of significance in classrooms, labs,
studios, and even athletic fields.
DU will prove itself to be the great international university for Denver
and the Rocky Mountain region—in a way that drives our economy and
enriches our culture. It will require the competitive funding to bring far
greater numbers of the best and the brightest to campus. It will require
more extensive partnerships with governments, international businesses,
non-governmental organizations, and overseas educational institutions,
and the pursuit of programs and initiatives addressing the myriad of
issues raised by globalization. Most important, it will require you.pATH
S OF
Sig
NiFi
CANC
e
DU will prove itself to be the great international
university for Denver and the Rocky Mountain
region—in a way that drives our economy and
enriches our culture.
8 ASCeND
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 9
pATH
S OF
Sig
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CANC
e8 ASCeND
AHeAD AND ASCeNDiNg: BriNgiNg CleAN
WATer TO A KeNyAN Slum
Clean water can prove almost impossible to find in
Kibera, one of the largest and most overcrowded
slums in the world, located on the outskirts of Nairobi.
Interdisciplinary teams of DU faculty members and
graduate students are conducting essential research on
the effectiveness of a dozen clean water stations spread
throughout the enormous slum, where trash and raw
sewage are commonplace.
The stations, equipped with basins, toilets, and
showers, were placed with the help of DU faculty and
students. For the past two summers, DU teams have
spent several weeks in Kenya, gathering data about the
needs of Kibera residents and information about water
station usage. DU also formed a “Kibera Working Group,”
crossing the spectrum of the DU academic community,
including representatives from the Josef Korbel School of
International Studies, the Daniels College of Business,
the Department of Media, Film and Journalism Studies,
and the Department of Geography.
“The student teams survey community health
awareness involving water and sanitation,” says Renee
Botta, Ph.D., chair of Media, Film and Journalism
studies at DU, who has accompanied the students to
Kibera. “This data will help future DU researchers tailor
programs to communicate the risks of infection from
unclean water and the unsanitary disposal of waste.”
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 9
With your help, DU will continue ascending,
becoming something few universities are these
days: nimble, brave, relevant, and student-
centered, but also focused on the issues.
With your help, DU will continue ascending, becoming
something few universities are these days: nimble,
brave, relevant, and student-centered, but also focused
on the issues. It’s high time the academic world and the
real world were one and the same.
What does that really mean? Take education itself as an example.
All of us know that education, from kindergarten on up, is in a chaotic
place. It is one of the central challenges of our time. Access, affordability,
and accountability in higher education; K–12 reform; the need for
enlightened leadership among teachers and administrators; national
competitiveness; distance education—that’s just the short list of the
education issues being debated in America today.
And when was the last time you heard a university school of
education taking part in that debate? The silence was deafening, and
DU has moved to change that. We designed DU’s Morgridge College of
Education in a totally new way, firmly positioned in the middle of those
debates as both focal point and hot button, the place for critical research,
new ideas, and community discourse. We transformed the College from
training-based to issues-based. Now it is the fulcrum through which the
intellectual assets of DU are leveraged to drive positive change in our
schools. Why does DU matter? That’s why.
10 ASCeND
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 11
10 ASCeND
AHeAD AND ASCeNDiNg: leADiNg THe
DeBATe, FiNDiNg THe SOluTiONS
Gregory Anderson’s background is perfectly suited for
his role as Dean of the University of Denver’s Morgridge
College of Education. He has been on the frontlines
of the issues that face American education—leading
strategic planning efforts to strengthen innovative
classroom practices—and he is unabashedly committed
to producing the next generation of cutting-edge
educational leaders.
“There is an accountability debate raging in
American education practices, and educators are being
questioned about the quality of our classroom teaching,”
Anderson says. “We need to ensure that our teachers
are relevant to the market and to the children we are
teaching—especially in urban settings.”
Anderson expects Morgridge College to play a
catalytic role in helping the region and the nation
confront the critical issues associated with ascending
to an educated, productive, and competitive society—
principles that extend across DU’s academic disciplines.
“A quality education for all is America’s 21st century
civil rights issue, and it is our responsibility to ensure
success for all learners, particularly diverse students
thrust in a cumulative demographic disadvantage,”
Anderson says.
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 11
reAl
WOr
lD, r
eAl C
HANg
e
Diversity—ethnic, cultural, philosophical,
economic—and inclusion are essential
elements of DU’s strength.
12 ASCeND
One thing is never in doubt at DU: what ultimately matters
most is who walks out of this institution, this experience,
this learning community—what kind of people they are,
how they have grown and changed, what they know, and
what they will do.
Diversity—ethnic, cultural, philosophical, economic—and inclusion
are essential elements of DU’s strength and a prerequisite for our future.
The demographic and cultural changes enriching our country, as they have
for more than two centuries, present an opportunity to embrace an even
broader, richer, more exciting America.
None of that is news. But a vital part of your investment in the future
of DU and our community is enlarging the definition of diversity beyond
numbers or percentages or questions of minority or majority. Diversity is
only part of the effort—we are also committed to developing a culture of
inclusion and inspiration that sustains intellectual achievement. A culture
that maybe one day, finally, will allow us to stop talking about and working
toward seamless diversity—because it will at last be here. The DU campus,
where we study, create, and share the knowledge of our world and educate
the students who will take their places as tomorrow’s thinkers and leaders,
is a great place for that vibrant new culture to take root.
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 13
reAl
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lD, r
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HANg
e12 ASCeND
AHeAD AND ASCeNDiNg: piONeeriNg
leADerSHip OppOrTuNiTieS
There may not be enough hours in the day for the
likes of Vanessa Teck; 26 or 27 would be better, but
still she is taking advantage of every opportunity DU
offers to ascend.
The sophomore communications major is an
undergraduate resident assistant, a member of student
government, and a participant in DU’s innovative
Pioneer Leadership Program (PLP). This distinctive
academic minor offers students an integrated learning
experience—combining coursework, a residential
community, civic engagement, and professional
networks with nationally known community, business,
and public sector leaders.
On average, a PLP student dedicates more than 75
hours every year to community-based organizations
in Denver and beyond. Collectively this totals more
than 5,000 hours for all students in the program. Teck,
a resident of Denver drawn to DU in part because
of the opportunity to volunteer in her community,
conducted a conference on campus for Denver high
school students—offering study skill workshops and
encouragement to set personal and professional goals.
“PLP offers a fantastic chance to make a
difference,” says Teck. “I am very committed to the city
of Denver and the students in our local high schools. It
is important they have the tools necessary to achieve.”
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 13
The late comedian/philosopher
George Carlin described the arrival
of the future this way: “There’s a
moment coming…wait for it…
it’s getting closer…almost here…
NOW!...oh, it’s gone.”
We will not miss our moment. We will
ascend to a new frontier, defining a new kind
of higher education relevant to the rest of the
21st century, changing student lives in valuable,
relevant ways, creating outcomes and results
that address the challenges and opportunities of
the future, and proving our worthiness of your
investment in real and meaningful terms.
We will do none of this alone. We owe
our continued rise to prominence in huge
part to the tireless dedication, generosity, and
commitment of the extended DU family. You,
in other words. Alumni, donors, loyal friends,
casual observers who have become loyal
friends, volunteers, board members—all of you
are at the heart of our vision and have provided
the foundation for our future success.
As we’ve said, we need you now more than
ever, but not out of sheer loyalty or obligation—
we need you to believe in us because we
prove we are worth believing in, because we
demonstrate our value in real ways, because we
do more than we talk. Because we see ourselves
and our responsibilities differently than most
universities and we act on that different vision.
The world today is rich with promise and
possibility, fraught with uncertainty, and driven
by relentless change. Tomorrow will be the same,
only more so. Truly, education is more critical
than ever. Our effectiveness, and our ability to
Our
mOme
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Her
e
14 ASCeND
identify opportunity and to marshal resources
strategically, will in large degree determine the
University of Denver’s continued success.
DU has been bolstered by your generosity
through the remarkable beginnings of an
ambitious—some might say audacious, given
the times—fundraising campaign to bring our
vision and the programs and capital projects that
will power it into reality. Momentum has been
created—DU has completed fundraising for the
Ralph and Trish Nagel Art Studios, the Denver
Soccer Stadium, the Pat Bowlen Training Facility,
the Pardee Center for International Futures,
and the Sié Chéou-Kang Pavilion. And we have
raised a significant amount for scholarships and
faculty support. Collectively, these efforts during
the initial years of the campaign have broken all
DU fundraising records.
We are winning the race, we are ascending
to new heights, but we are far from the finish
line. In Colorado parlance, of the nearly 60
peaks that top 14,000 feet on our extraordinary
horizon, we have climbed a respectable
number. But every new summit brings a
new view, a fresh perspective, a farther
horizon. We urge you to join us as we
continue to ascend.
From right here, from right now, with
your investment and your belief, we will lead
the nation toward the next phase of higher
education, focused on our students first and
foremost, but equally laser-focused on using
our intellectual capital to generate real-world
results and solutions for real-world issues.
There is a moment coming…and it is
ours, together.
From right here, from right now, with
your investment and your belief, we will
lead the nation toward the next phase of
higher education.
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 15
every age presents its challenges
and tests. It is the job of the
university to greet those challenges
as opportunities and to confront
those tests with imagination and
resolve. But that is not enough: we must also
define, create, and prove results and solutions
that work in the real world and lead to real
improvement in people’s lives. At the University
of Denver, our efforts and aspirations are
guided by a single overarching vision: as a great
private university dedicated to the public good.
So how will we serve the public good?
How will our work as educators, scholars, and
researchers really help improve the human
condition? We will look outward and not inward.
peOp
le A
ND p
rOgr
AmS
As noted, we will measure our success through
the value we bring to our students’ lives, the
quality of graduates we produce, the manner
in which they lead their lives, and the ways in
which we leverage our collective intellectual
capital against the great issues of the day.
Our vision emerges from a community-
wide dialogue that has taken place over the
last decade. In that time, we have thought
deeply and at length about our history and
legacy, about the roles we have played locally,
nationally, and globally. We have also thought
about what we want for our students and
about the contributions we want to make to a
dynamic state, a still-young nation, and a global
community in need of leadership.
16 ASCeND
The primary focus of Ascend: The
Campaign for the University of
Denver is increased support to
inspire and enable DU’s best people
and programs—including new and
enhanced opportunities for undergraduate
and graduate students, support for innovative
faculty, and resources for effective academic
programs and facilities.
The Academic Commons at penrose libraryPenrose Library will reassert its place as the
intellectual hub of the DU campus through a
transformation to an academic commons—an
initiative revolutionizing the configuration of
the current library and redefining its existing
infrastructure. In the Academic Commons at
Penrose Library, students will find a setting
that draws them in before and after class,
encouraging and welcoming spontaneous
inquiry and casual exchanges with faculty,
facilitating debate on matters great and small,
and serving as the scholarly and social heart
of our thriving university. The Academic
Commons at Penrose Library is one of DU’s
highest fundraising priorities.
innovative Ways to use the power of ScholarshipsIntelligent and talented students are among
society’s principal resources, whatever
their backgrounds or economic standing.
While much has changed at the University
of Denver through the years, our commitment
to providing accessible education to the
TOOl
S OF
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18 ASCeND
most talented and committed students
remains steadfast.
Scholarships help keep DU open to the
brightest students from all backgrounds. Great
students invigorate the academic and social
climate on campus. They help to create an
intellectual environment percolating with ideas,
a truly fertile ground for learning. Their vitality
encourages excellence in our faculty—creating
a true synergy. Perhaps most importantly, upon
graduation, great students are more likely to
become leaders in the world, and their lives
of success, purpose, and meaning reflect the
University’s mission to serve the public good.
Accelerating Teaching and Discovery Through Faculty Chairs and professorshipsA great faculty is the essential foundation of a
truly great university. Exceptional educators and
scholars create and present unmatched programs,
engage in the highest caliber research, and most
importantly, bring out the best in their students.
To ensure that DU recruits the finest faculty
members and keeps them here, support in the
form of new endowed chairs and professorships
is essential. DU faces intense, better-funded
competition for these extraordinary educators,
and the ability to offer a candidate an endowed
chair is a powerful attraction.
programs and Facilities that match AspirationsIn the modern world, learning doesn’t come
in neat packages, and the future demands
ever more flexibility. The educational
experience that best serves students
freely crosses the old divisions between
majors and minors, as well as residence
halls, classrooms, labs, athletic fields,
departments, and colleges. That’s why DU
has established a set of strong, effective, and
leading-edge curricula based on an engaged
and boundary-free approach to learning
and research.
Still, the rapid evolution of new fields
of study, new and more effective methods
for teaching, and the ever-widening
distribution of learning modes among our
students presents a daunting challenge.
Support for future-focused programs and
facilities is critically needed if the quality
of the academic enterprise at DU is to
keep growing in a manner that produces
measurable results for our students and
our world. Carefully aligned with trends in
industry, research, and scholarship, the new
programs and facilities we envision will
give our students an exceptional education
and the best chance at opportunities
beyond graduation.
Great students invigorate the academic
and social climate on campus.
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 19
A century and a half ago, it was a bold
act to imagine a university on such
a vast and volatile frontier. And
even though virtually everything
has changed in 150 years, some
constants remain the same: the frontier is
uncertain, it is vast and high, and a bold and
intelligent spirit will be required to ascend to
the fast-approaching summits.
The University of Denver aspires to true,
demonstrated, relevant greatness. It’s that
simple, and that’s our value proposition. We
want the best students, the best faculty, the best
academic programs, the best experience, and
the best results. The leaders of tomorrow—the
very creators and crafters of tomorrow—are
looking to us, and it is our responsibility to
iNve
STiN
g iN
OuT
COme
S
ensure they have an outstanding education that
will serve them and help them serve others.
We need you to help us make this happen. Not
out of loyalty, although we thank you for that,
certainly not out of obligation, but because you
believe absolutely that you are making a wise
investment in a brighter future.
The support of generations of DU alumni
and friends like you has brought us to this
point. Now, we have the chance to transform
our vision into achievement through Ascend:
The Campaign for the University of Denver.
Our focus is on the people who make the DU
community great—our students, faculty and
staff—and on gifts that inspire and enable them,
and power the programs they will use to ascend
to greatness.
20 ASCeND
endowment■ Undergraduate Scholarships
■ Graduate Scholarships and Fellowships
■ Faculty Chairs and Professorships
Capital Construction and renovation■ Academic Commons at Penrose Library
■ Denver Soccer Stadium
■ Katherine A. Ruffatto Hall (Morgridge College
of Education)
■ Knoebel Center for the Study of Aging
■ Pat Bowlen Training Facility (Varsity athletics)
■ Pardee Center for International Futures
(Josef Korbel School of International Studies)
CAmp
AigN
pri
OriT
ieS
■ Ralph and Trish Nagel Art Studios
■ School of Engineering and Computer Science
■ Sié Chéou-Kang Pavilion (Josef Korbel School
of International Studies)
■ Nagel Hall (undergraduate residences)
Current use Funds■ Non-endowed Scholarships
■ Academic and Student Program Support
■ Athletic Team and Intramural
Program Support
■ General Facilities Maintenance
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 21
WAy
S TO
giv
e
Cash■ A gift of cash is one of the simplest donations,
and it maximizes your charitable deduction
while providing immediate benefits to DU.
■ Gifts of cash include currency, personal checks,
money orders, credit cards, and wire transfers.
Charitable Bequests■ Bequests via your will or revocable living trust
can allow you to leave a significant legacy to
benefit your favorite academic program or
provide scholarship support to students.
■ Bequests also allow you to retain control of
your assets during your lifetime.
■ A bequest can be tailored to almost any set of
circumstances, and it provides an unlimited
deduction for estate tax purposes. Bequests
should be directed to: “the University of
Denver (Colorado Seminary) in
Denver, Colorado.”
gifts of Appreciated property■ As an alternative to donating cash, you can
increase your tax savings by transferring
appreciated property such as securities or real
estate directly to the University.
■ If you’ve owned the property for more than
a year, you are allowed to claim a charitable
income tax deduction for the full market value
of your gift without paying capital gains tax.
retirement Accounts■ By designating DU as the beneficiary of all
or a percentage of your IRA or any other
qualified retirement account, you can make
a substantial gift while avoiding estate and
income taxes that may consume as much as
two-thirds of the account balance.
22 ASCeND
income-producing gifts■ An income-producing gift, such as a gift
annuity or charitable remainder trust,
enables you to generate a current income tax
deduction while providing yourself or a loved
one with a secure source of income for life or a
period of years.
■ When funded with appreciated assets, it can
also help you increase your income while
avoiding capital gains taxes.
Artwork and Other personal property■ You may receive gift credit and an
immediate charitable income tax
deduction, typically for the appraised
value of your gift.
■ Your charitable deduction equals the full
value of your gift as long as it is used to
further our charitable mission.
real estate■ Real estate gifts are ideal for funding a
major gift such as an endowed scholarship
or professorship.
■ Residential, commercial, or agricultural
property may be contributed outright to the
University or through various charitable
trust arrangements.
Sale or Transfer of a Family Business■ The sale of a business may provide an
excellent opportunity to make a tax-
efficient gift that leverages the company’s
accumulated value.
■ You may wish to consider a gift of stock in
a family business to the University when
selling your business or transferring it to
family members.
life insurance■ A gift of a life insurance policy, or simply
naming DU as beneficiary, allows you to
make a major gift for a modest cost.
■ Many donors use insurance gifts to receive a
current tax deduction while disposing of an
old policy that is no longer needed.
■ Other donors purchase a new policy,
donate it to DU, and make annual gifts to
cover premiums.
Charitable lead Trust■ A lead trust enables you to transfer wealth to
family while reducing or eliminating estate
and gift taxes. Trust assets are removed from
the taxable estate, and growth in value passes
tax-free to heirs. You postpone the transfer
until heirs are more mature.
■ Payment of trust income to DU for a term of
years creates a charitable legacy with funds
that are otherwise destined for the IRS.
endowed Funds■ Endowed funds provide both immediate
and long-lasting benefits to the purpose
designated by the donor.
■ These self-sustaining funds are of great
importance to the University because they
generate predictable, growing streams of
income in perpetuity.
■ If you prefer, you can create a “term
endowment” that is designed to last a
limited time (e.g., 20 years).
■ “Flexible endowments” can be created with
a customized payout that varies from the
University’s standard annual payout of 4.5%
(e.g., an annual payout of 8.0% or one that
increases over time).
THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 23
At the University of Denver,
tomorrow’s inventors, authors,
teachers, doctors, musicians,
scientists, CEOs, and other leaders
are given the tools and knowledge
they need to lead successful lives that will make
a positive difference in the lives of many others.
They also learn the responsibilities that come
with leadership. Now more than ever, this is a
university where students start from a higher
place and continue to ascend as successful
alumni well after graduation.
We must now ask: What will the University of
Denver be tomorrow and beyond? Each of DU’s
distinctive characteristics—outstanding students,
top faculty members, cutting-edge programs, and
expansive academic opportunities—contributes
to a campus experience that is far greater
than the sum of its parts. Our responsibility
riSe
TO TH
e CH
Alle
Nge!
is to preserve and build on these strengths, fuel
compelling new initiatives, and do everything we
can to make the University of Denver one of the
world’s truly great academic institutions.
These are exciting times. The University is at
a watershed moment, a crossroads in its history.
Yes, we are an outstanding university. The next few
years—those leading up to our 150th birthday in
2014—will determine whether we become a truly
great institution, serving our students, our city and
state, our country, and the world.
I invite you to become a part of our effort and
vision. Your participation in this campaign is
critical, and gifts of any size will help us meet our
goals. Invest in DU. Invest in our faculty and our
students. Invest in their talents and their energy and
in all they will accomplish for the world that awaits
them. We have been entrusted with a remarkable
opportunity. Let’s rise to the challenge together!
—Doug Scrivner, J.D. ’77
Member of the Board of Trustees and
Chair of the Advancement Committee
24 ASCeND
University Advancement
2190 E. Asbury Avenue
Denver, Colorado 80208-7500
303.871.4306 or 800.448.3238
Email: [email protected]
du.edu/ascend