Inaugural CU Anschutz faculty/staff luncheon celebrates giving to CU

From left, Catherine Jarvis, Marguerite Childs Detmer, Susan Hagedorn and Fred Grover at Friday’s lunch. (Photo: Jeremy Simon/University of Colorado)

Some 80 Anschutz Medical Campus faculty, staff and fundraisers—nearly all of whom make financial gifts to the University of Colorado—gathered Friday at the Trivisible Room for the campus’s first luncheon for faculty and staff.

They heard remarks from foundation and campus leadership as well as donors Fred Grover, M.D., Susan Hagedorn, Ph.D. (’95), Catherine Jarvis, PharmD, and Marguerite Childs Detmer, MPA (’74).

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 faculty and staff have made estate commitments through their will that will benefit the university in the future. Lori Goldstein, senior director of gift planning for the CU Foundation, says 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 says. “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.”

To give back to CU via payroll deduction, visit cufund.org. To learn about ways you can support CU in the future through a planned gift, visit cufund.giftlegacy.com.