University of Colorado - Advancement | CU Foundation - Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus
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Your generosity is an investment


2020 fiscal year financials

You give to what matters to you — deeply, personally, meaningfully — to make a better world. At CU, we believe donors like you support your passions because you want tomorrow to be better than today.

Thank you for supporting what’s important to you.
Here's how you made a difference in fiscal year 2020.

$455.9 million given last year

You committed to improving lives. Year after year, your gifts add up to create substantial and enduring solutions to our biggest challenges. The numbers tell just part of the story, however. It’s the impact you have that resonates.

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55,450 gifts

Your generosity drives that impact: bright futures for students, awe-inspiring discovery, innovative health care and a commitment to the common good. Last year, you gave:

$65 million to expand opportunities for students through scholarships
$126 million to spur pioneering research and discovery
$25 million to bring the brightest faculty to our campuses
$263 million to transform health care and support lifesaving efforts

You also rose to meet the challenge in a year unlike any other. You are stepping up as we face new hardships caused by COVID-19 and the economic downturn. And you’re standing together with those who fight for social justice.

$3.3 million

How much 1,986 donors gave to COVID-19 and emergency relief efforts from March 1 to June 30

$11.8 million

How much 128 donors gave to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts from January 1 to June 30

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9 out of 10

That’s how many gifts were less than $2,500 last year.


$8,220

That was the average size of a gift last year. Some gifts to CU are large, but every gift makes a difference in someone’s life.

32,008 donors like you

That’s how many people gave to help CU change the world. Your connection to our campuses is diverse. Last year, we received gifts from:

14,882 alumni
9,102 friends
3,091 parents
2,411 corporations and foundations
1,117 faculty and staff

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You’re looking ahead


You give with an eye on the future to create solutions tomorrow for the challenges we face today. Endowments are investments in that future. They’re gifts that support CU forever because they generate reliable support for generations to come. CU’s collective endowment is made up of thousands of individual endowments, and just like a current gift, an endowment has a specific purpose determined by the donor: It could be a scholarship that’s awarded year after year, or support to attract a sought-after faculty chair or the creation of a mental health and wellness program.

$1.52 billion

CU’s endowment is valued at $1.52 billion, as of June 30. Here’s how the collective value of the endowment has grown in recent years.

140 new endowments were created last fiscal year
$75 million was given in new endowment support
3,029 total endowments at CU have an enduring impact

This is a bar chart that shows the value of the CU endowment by year. Here are the values: $1.09 billion for 2015, $1.06 billion for 2016, $1.22 billion for 2017, $1.36 billion for 2018, $1.45 billion for 2019 and $1.52 billion for 2020.

How the endowment is invested

This is a chart that shows how the LTIP is invested in asset classes. 46.3% for global public equities, $24.7% for global private capital, 13.1% for global hedge funds, 8.7% for real assets and 7.2% for fixed income and cash.

How the endowment is invested

The endowment is invested in the Long Term Investment Pool, or LTIP, in a diverse asset class with a long-term horizon in mind. Here’s how the LTIP was invested in fiscal year 2020.


Investment return vs. policy benchmark

In fiscal year 2020, the LTIP returned 4.2% compared to 3.8% for our policy benchmark. Here is the LTIP’s annualized investment performance compared to the benchmark.

Investment return vs. policy benchmark

This is a dual bar chat that compares the LTIP and benchmark returns. Here are the percentage returns: 3 year for LTIP is 7.2%, 3 year for benchmark is 6.2%; 5 year for LTIP is 7.9%, 5 year for benchmark is 7.5%; 10 year for LTIP is 8.4%, 10 year for benchmark is 8.9%; 15 year for LTIP is 7.4%, 15 year for benchmark is 6.1%.

This is a waffle chart that shows where support from the CU Foundation to CU goes, by percentage. Academic Support 36%; Capital Projects 12%; Research 12%; Scholarships 12%; Advancement support 12%; Chairs, Professorships and Other Faculty Support 10%; Public Service, Administration, Library and Other Support 5%; and Athletics 1%

$209 million

That’s how much the CU Foundation transferred to CU last fiscal year to support a variety of people, places and programs on our campuses. Here’s where that support went.

See our audited financials from fiscal year 2020