This fundraising brochure was built to make the case for research philanthropy at DU. I copyedited the piece and set positioning and messaging direction in support of our lead writer for development collateral, sharpening the argument at its core.
That argument starts with a distinction most donors don’t arrive knowing: R1 is the Carnegie Foundation’s highest designation for research intensity, held by just 187 U.S. institutions. The brochure translates that status into terms a donor can act on: $52 million in annual research expenditures, research volume tripled in a decade, $2.3 billion contributed to Colorado’s economy, and 696 undergraduates doing research in a single academic year.
Just as important, it shows what that research actually does, so the case lands as human rather than institutional. The closing turn is deliberate: with academic research facing real funding pressure, philanthropic partners are what allow faculty to take the early, inventive risks that lead to discoveries and innovation.