Fundraising for Colorado State University continues to reach new heights through community outreach.

Private support for CSU reached $143.3 million in the 2013 to 2014 fiscal year, shattering the previous record set in 2012 to 2013 by nearly $31 million.

“I want to thank our alumni, our students, our faculty, our staff and our friends,” said Brett Anderson, vice president of University Advancement. “We didn’t accomplish this record; they did with their gifts.”

The collective efforts of 33,716 total donors allowed the University to set a new fundraising record for the third consecutive year.

Notable donations include a $6 million gift from the Malone Family Foundation to the Orthopedic Research Center in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and a $2 million gift from RE/MAX founders Dave and Gail Liniger to establish the Liniger Honor, Service and Commitment Scholarship.

Alumni participation was the best it has been in a decade at 10 percent. Rudy Garcia, senior associate vice president of University Advancement, said the University invested more resources toward connecting with alumni and Fort Collins residents.

“I think there was a concerted effort to increase our work with donors and friends of the University,” Garcia said. “Our focus has changed toward building that relationship with the community.”

That community includes CSU alums like Dave Edwards. He and his wife, Paula, have been giving to the University in a variety of areas over the years.

“Our support to the University is to encourage excellence,” Dave Edwards said. “Private support of a public institution ought to be about advancement and making it the best that it can be.”

The Flint Animal Cancer Center received a $10 million donation this year to fund its groundbreaking research, but it is not all about the big donations. The University received 31 gifts of $1 million or more, but Anderson stressed that all of the other donations are equally important.

“There are dozens of programs, like Fostering Success, where many people give in smaller amounts to make a huge difference to all the fostered youth that are on our campus,” Anderson said.

The Fostering Success program provides support for CSU students who grew up in the foster care system.

“It’s a great program that we’ve had hundreds of donors support over the years,” Anderson said. “There are so many (programs) like that which I would like to point out.”

Anderson said he thanks every donor for their contributions and hopes that private support will continue to increase.

“It’s important that everybody knows a $20 gift or a $50 gift makes a huge difference,” Anderson said. “Those 31 gifts (of at least $1 million) are incredibly important, but so are those other 33,700 gifts that we got from others.”

Collegian Senior Reporter Emmett McCarthy can be reached at news@colostate.edu.