Some faculty and staff throughout the University of Colorado system are sending money to the CU programs, initiatives and research they're close to — by making gifts via automated payroll deduction.

"Our appeals to alumni and other prospective donors have more resonance when it's clear we're willing to invest in the program ourselves," said Roger Enoka, a CU-Boulder professor who has promoted such an initiative among faculty in the integrative physiology department, which he chairs.

Enoka, along with nearly a dozen department colleagues and more than 200 staff university-wide, take advantage of the logistic and budgeting convenience of automatic payroll deductions — through which employees can make monthly gifts to a CU college, department or university allocation of their choosing.

The mechanism for setting up automated deductions via the University of Colorado Foundation has been simplified. A secure payroll deduction form is available online at this link, while a paper version of the form is available for download here (at the bottom of the list under each campus heading). Completed forms may be mailed to Jeni Webster at the CU Foundation at 4740 Walnut St., Boulder CO 80301.

UC Denver staff member and former CU Regent Maureen Ediger's payroll deduction helps two causes: a scholarship fund at the School of Public Affairs, where she is director of external affairs, and toward a scholarship for a student graduating from the western Colorado high school from which she graduated.

"I received so many generous scholarships when I came from the fabulous community of Ouray to start school at CU, and I feel strongly about giving back to both communities in this way," she said.

In all, payroll gifts provided $104,000 to the university in fiscal year 2009; the amount is projected to grow by more than 30 percent for the next fiscal year. Such gifts often help departments fill gaps when budgets fall short.

"I told my faculty that the size of the donation wasn't as important as the message that comes across when faculty believe enough in what we do to contribute toward the cause," said CU-Boulder professor Gail Ramsberger, chair of the department of speech, language and hearing sciences. "We've actually raised enough from faculty contributions that we're going to be able to make a substantial purchase for the department."

For more information or questions regarding payroll deductions, contact the CU Foundation at 303-541-1305 or payroll.deductions@cufund.org.