After $28 million fundraiser, some CSU-Pueblo groups left wanting
A new crowdfunding campaign at CSU-Pueblo attempts to reach younger donors and fund a series of smaller-scale projects
Colorado State University-Pueblo currently has 15 active crowdfunding campaigns as part of its most recent fundraising initiative, which follows on the heels of the CSU-Pueblo Foundation’s highly successful “On the Move” campaign.
The 3-year campaign that concluded Aug. 31 this year, exceeded its initial $25 million goal by close to $3.5 million, ending in a grand total of $28,449,472.84, allocated as follows:
Academics/scholarships in the amount of $6,949,631.40; athletics in the amount of $7,359,910.59, athletic scholarships in the amount of $3,203,258.68, the Occhiato University renovation in the amount of $2,383,051.10; miscellaneous restricted gifts in the amount of $8,323,645.83 and unrestricted gifts in the amount of $229,975.24.
Chief Operations Officer of the CSU-Pueblo Foundation Nick Potter explained the difference between the “On the Move” campaign and CSU-Pueblo’s current crowdfunding initiative, which forms part of university’s annual giving program.
“If you look at ‘On the Move,’ you see an overarching fundraising model. Although we reached our goal, as a university we should be doing a better job at hitting our young alums demographic,” Potter said.
“In the past, our average donor age was between 55 and 60, and there was a huge piece of the population that we were not hitting. Crowdfunding is something that hits the 40 and younger demographic.”
Potter pointed out the difference between the university’s crowdfunding platform and the world’s leading crowdfunding site GoFundMe.com.
CSU-Pueblo’s crowdfunding model lacks third party involvement, whereas GoFundMe.com keeps between 7 and 8 percent of donations.
“It means 100 percent of the funds go to the cause,” Potter said.
Potter said the main purpose of the university’s crowdfunding campaigns is to involve a younger demographic by reaching beyond the traditional forms of marketing methods like direct mail, email and social media.
“We wanted to add a whole other marketing mix into that fundraising model. Crowdfunding really gives university departments, programs, students and clubs more of a voice,” he said.
“It’s not that we are doing this because we want more, it’s because we are looking at the future of how fundraising is going to be. Donors who are closer to 30 don’t like, as a trend, to give to a black hole fund like a general scholarship fund.”
The university held its “First Day of Giving” event Oct. 13. The goal was to have 300 individuals donate to CSU-Pueblo within a 24-hour timeframe.
The entire giving day’s total amounted to $13,995.94, which included crowdfunding, online giving, and hand delivered donations.
“We opened this to the academic departments. These initiatives were all of the submissions, we featured everything that came in. We also featured some of our general funds, scholarships, athletic scholarships, and annual giving to give donors the option to donate to a less specific fund, Potter said.
The CSU-Pueblo Foundation also recently re-established its giving levels, the amounts that determine the form of donor recognition.
“To be honest, we know CSU-Pueblo does not get a lot of money from the state for higher education, and so I think there are a lot of people on campus who are trying to think of other ways to try to raise money to do the things we want to do at this institution.” — Leticia Steffen, CSU-Pueblo Mass Communications Department Chairwoman
An annual gift of $1,000 or more a year guarantees an invitation to the annual President’s Club Soiree and an opportunity to mingle with CSU-Pueblo’s President Lesley Di Mare and other dignitaries.
Department Chairwoman of the Mass Communications Department and Center for New Media Letitia Steffen was one of the faculty members approached by Potter about crowdfunding, two months before the Day of Giving event.
Steffen, who is the crowdfunding ambassador for the mass communications department, which set a campaign goal of $8,000 for keycard access to laboratory classrooms that will allow students to work on assignments/projects when convenient while maintaining safety., expressed optimism about the direction of the university’s fundraising efforts.
“I think it’s something they wanted to try to make an ongoing fundraising thing, rather than saying ‘Hey, we did this campaign and we’re done,’” Steffen said.
“To be honest, we know CSU-Pueblo does not get a lot of money from the state for higher education, and so I think there are a lot of people on campus who are trying to think of other ways to try to raise money to do the things we want to do at this institution.”
More information about the CSU-Pueblo crowdfunding effort can be found at csupueblo.edu/crowdfunding
