Colorado State University intends to raise $1 billion before 2020, according to an email sent to students and staff Saturday evening.

In the email, President Tony Frank announced the launch of the “public phase” of the fundraising campaign.

According to the email, the launch was “unprecedented” and occurred at the annual 1870 Dinner, which took place earlier Saturday evening. The campaign came into effect about three years ago but was in a “silent phase,” and it has just entered its public phase, which will last until 2020.

“Through our first comprehensive fundraising campaign, completed just a few years ago, we were able to award 16,000 new scholarships, construct or renovate 41 buildings, endow 16 new faculty chairs and professorships, and renew our commitment to our land-grant access mission,” Frank wrote in the email.

The email said that if the University reaches its goal with this campaign, it will be able to:

1. Increase the number of scholarships available to CSU students
2. Invest in infrastructure for academics — classrooms, labs, residence
   halls and events facilities
3. Provide resources to programs for faculty and staff
4. Increase CSU’s endowment for the financial health of the University

“It’s an ambitious goal, but it’s achievable,” Frank wrote in the email. “In fact, we’re already well over half-way there. In just over three years, during the campaign’s silent phase, we’ve raised more than the previous CSU campaign did in its entirety.”

Frank wrote in the email that a bigger number of graduates will leave the university with less student loan debt, improved resources for faculty and staff, and sustainable, high-quality learning spaces will be the outcomes of a successful campaign.

In the email, Frank said the campaign is about “supporting and upholding our purpose as a university” and is intended “to elevate our expectations, our stature, and our success in fulfilling our (CSU’s) academic mission.”

Along with being a deadline for the fundraising goal, 2020 will  highlight CSU’s 150th anniversary. Earlier this fall, Frank announced “Re-Envision,” a plan to redefine the longterm goals and values of the University for the next 150 years.

More information on the campaign, “State Your Purpose,” can be found on CSU’s giving website.

Collegian Reporter Megan Fischer can be reached at news@collegian.com or via Twitter @MegFischer04.