Impact Report 2026

For the past 150 years, donor generosity has shaped CU's four campuses.

Explore the story of your impact:

THEN

Discover the milestone gifts and defining moments that helped build CU.

collage of historic photos of CU Boulder campus showing oldest building on campus and the flatirons

The gift that started CU

In 1872, when Boulder was a small frontier town, the University of Colorado began with a gift.

Three local families, the Smiths, the Andrews and the Arnetts, donated 51 acres on the south side of Boulder Creek for the future university. Funds were still needed for a campus building, so the legislature agreed to contribute $15,000 if Boulder residents matched it. By the next morning, 104 citizens had pledged more than $16,800. Thanks to those first donors, Old Main was completed in 1876, the same year CU was formally established and Colorado became a state.

Learn more about CU's founding gifts

Old photograph of medical students in an anatomy lab with collage overlays of a map of the hospital location in denver and a medical illustration.

A new home for the School of Medicine

In 1920, the University of Colorado School of Medicine took a major step toward its future when Denver Post publisher Frederick Bonfils donated a 17-acre site at Ninth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard for a new medical school and hospital in Denver.

Four years later, the school relocated from Boulder to Denver, where it continued to grow in education, research and patient care. That move set the stage for the world-class medical campus that today serves Colorado and the region from its home on the Anschutz Medical Campus.

Explore today's CU Anschutz

Old photo of Ralphie with her handlers in cowboy outfits on a collage background that includes the flatirons with a painted CU on them.

How "Ralphie" became a CU icon

The buffalo became CU Boulder’s official mascot in 1934, but the first live buffalo on the sidelines was only a rental. The son of a bison named Killer, he proved difficult to handle and didn’t stay long.

In 1966, a CU parent donated the first true Ralphie to the university, launching a tradition that would become synonymous with CU Boulder. Ralphie made her debut against Kansas State, leading the Buffaloes onto the field and helping create one of college sports’ most iconic entrances. Nearly 60 years later, Ralphie remains a beloved symbol of the university and is supported entirely through private gifts.

Read Ralphie's history

Collage of old photographs of the Cragmore buildings, a sign and a group of men breaking ground on campus with mountains in the background.

The $1 gift that launched UCCS

In 1964, an extraordinary gift helped launch what is now the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. For just $1, George J. Dwire sold the former Cragmor Sanatorium and its 80-acre property atop Austin Bluffs to the University of Colorado.

Dwire's symbolic gift gave the new campus an immediate home and room to grow. Within months, state leaders authorized the university to assume custody of the property, paving the way for UCCS to expand from those original 80 acres into a major public university serving Southern Colorado.

Dive into UCCS's history

Collage of the Fitzsimmons building with construction of a new medical campus building in the foreground. In the background there is a skyline of Denver with the mountains and an architectural detail of the medical snake and staff.

From Army base to medical campus

In the late 1990s, civic and university leaders saw opportunity in the closure of Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. An investment of more than $90 million from the Anschutz Foundation in those early years helped launch what is now the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.

Since then, donors have invested more than $3 billion in the campus, transforming a former army medical facility into a world-class center for education, research and patient care in just one generation.

View the CU Anschutz timeline

Collage in CU colors of Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building (JSCBB) in front of the flatiron mountains with a dna strand and a photo of microscopic petrie dish and tools.

Fueling the future of bioscience

In 2007, CU Boulder Distinguished Professor Marvin Caruthers made one of the largest gifts in university history and the largest ever by a faculty member at the time. His $20 million gift, made in honor of his late wife, helped fund the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building and accelerate the growth of the BioFrontiers Institute.

By bringing researchers from multiple disciplines together under one roof, the institute pioneered a collaborative approach to discovery that continues to drive innovation and educate future generations of scientists.

Browse recent BioFrontiers discoveries

Collage of Jake Jabs and others at a ribbon cutting with the CU Denver school of business building in the background. All in gold and grayscale tones.

An investment in entrepreneurs

After building American Furniture Warehouse into one of the West's largest furniture retailers, Jake Jabs invested $10 million in CU Denver to help future entrepreneurs follow their own paths. His 2013 gift established the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship and expanded opportunities for students to develop ideas, launch ventures and learn from experienced business leaders.

Today, the center supports dozens of courses, is home to Colorado's first and only master's degree in entrepreneurship and continues to prepare future innovators and business leaders.

Learn more about the Jake Jabs Center

Collage of Ent Center building with pikes Peak in the backgroud with musical notes and a plano keyboard faded into the distance. All in gold and grayscale tones.

Creating a home for the arts

A $12.6 million commitment from Ent Credit Union helped make the Ent Center for the Arts a reality at UCCS. Together with state funding, university support and private philanthropy, the investment transformed a shared vision into a $60 million cultural destination.

Since opening in 2018, the center has brought students, artists and the community together through performances, exhibitions and events that enrich Southern Colorado's cultural life.

See what's on now at Ent

Collage of two women looking at a medical readout with the CU Anschutz Wellness Center in the background with scientific charts and circle shaped images layered on as textures

A landmark gift for women’s health

In 2026, longtime CU benefactor Lyda T. Ludeman gave $15 million to launch the PRISM program at the Ludeman Family Center for Women’s Health Research on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.

The gift is accelerating the translation of scientific discoveries into better care for women, building on decades of research focused on cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mental health and other critical health challenges. Today, the Ludeman Center is recognized as one of the nation’s leading centers for women’s health and sex differences research.

Discover what $15 million can do

Did you know?

In spring 2026, the CU System celebrated more than 13,000 graduates, bringing the number of alumni to more than half a million people worldwide.

NOW

See how donor generosity strengthened CU's people, programs and campuses over the past year.

$557.8 million

That's CU's second-highest giving total ever, and our community achieved it in 2026. More than 31,000 donors made more than 58,000 gifts, averaging more than $1.5 million per day. Their investments included:

$184 million

to unearth new discoveries through research

CU Anschutz's leading
polycystic kidney disease research program just got a $15 million boost

LEARN MORE

$129 million

to drive academic priorities, including healthcare

A visionary gift puts the future of AI and robotics in the hands of UCCS students from every discipline.

LEARN MORE

$70 million

to support students with scholarships and fellowships

A $4.2 million scholarship program is helping more CU Boulder students cross the graduation stage.

LEARN MORE

$23 million

to attract and retain bright faculty and researchers

Meet the inaugural faculty
fellows helping drive CU Denver's next wave of engineering innovation.

LEARN MORE

Who gave to CU last year?

Alumni

Parents

Faculty & Staff

Friends

Corporations & Foundations

Did you know?

Over just the past 10 years, supporters like you have contributed more than $600 million in scholarships and fellowships to support CU students.

Explore how donors are fueling innovations that will transform CU and the communities it serves.

Two men are in front of a large world map, the one on the right is holding a camera

This endowed professorship is giving CU Boulder a stake in space policy and law.

A group of people are seated before the UCCS cybersecurity center

A $3 million gift cements UCCS’ status as a cybersecurity education leader.

Siblings Jacob Lobato, Alyssa Lobato, and Katelyn Puga stand in the historic 9th Street neighborhood holding family photos

For displaced Aurarians, a scholarship makes a CU Denver education attainable.

A woman scientist wearing a lab coat working with a pipette

This $40 million gift is bringing cures for blinding eye diseases closer.

Two students wearing blue backpacks in a forest

How a $10 million gift is reshaping sustainability education at CU Boulder.

At UCCS, a scholarship helps military students transition from service to leadership.

Big ideas don't stay on paper at CU Denver's Colorado Building Workshop.

A new lab helps power the next wave of cell and gene therapy breakthroughs.

Did you know?

Since 1994, CU discoveries and innovations have sparked 369 startups and counting, bringing new ideas from campuses to the marketplace.

MORE IMPACT AHEAD

Every day, donor support is creating new opportunities
and advancing bold ideas across CU. Follow our progress year-round.

Investment Update 2026

Strong, steady investment growth helps CU’s endowment provide dependable funding — supporting the university’s long-term mission and the people who carry it forward.

Approximately 3,900 active endowments benefit CU. Last year, donors created 149 new endowments and invested $59 million in endowments.

$2.9 billion endowment value

CU’s endowment was valued at $2.9 billion to end fiscal year 2026. Here are the endowment’s values in recent years. (Values are in billions as of June 30 each year.)

How the endowment is invested

Long Term Investment Pool allocation for fiscal year 2026

The endowment is invested in the Long-Term Investment Pool, or LTIP, which is broadly diversified across asset classes with a long-term, strategic investment horizon in mind. Here is how the LTIP was invested in fiscal year 2026.

CU investment performance

Here is the LTIP’s investment performance over the past 20 years. These returns were achieved with approximately 33% less risk than a portfolio invested exclusively in public equities.

For fiscal year 2026, the LTIP returned a gain of 20.34% (net of fees), a result driven in large part by the LTIP’s long-standing indirect investment in SpaceX, which realized significant gains following the company’s IPO in June 2026.

CU Long Term Investment Pool investment performance

Transfers to the university from the CU Foundation

CU Foundation transfers to the University of Colorado by area

More than $303 million was transferred to the University of Colorado from the CU Foundation in fiscal year 2026. Here is how that amount was allocated to various areas of our institutions.

Impact Report 2026

Featured content

For the past 150 years, donor generosity has shaped CU's four campuses.

Explore the story of your impact:

THEN