Welcome to the Homecoming Weekend at DU!

Since LetsGoDU’s inception in 2008, our core purpose/mission has never changed  – to elevate school spirit at the University of Denver. It’s far more than just rah-rah stuff – we believe the bond between a school and its alumni and sports fans is a sacred one and that’s why we do what we do, all year long. If you are reading this far, chances are you are a serious Denver fan, and we’re so glad to have you with us in our shared community.

We all care deeply about our school, its athletic teams, and its fans. The team here at LetsGoDU volunteers hundreds of unpaid hours per year working on this blog to inform, entertain, and engage our audience in Denver and around the world. We do this because increased interest in our teams and our school creates deeper emotional bonds between our fans and our school, and that means larger, louder crowds at our games, (hopefully) more victories, more meaningful shared experiences and most of all, the building of tradition, pride and excellence of our university. In turn, that makes our school better on the field, ice, and court, more attractive to students, prospects, alumni, donors and fans, and grows the fan base while elevating our reputation.

Now, we believe it’s time to put more of our money where our mouth is as a blog community. It’s time to increase our financial support directly to the cause of elevating school spirit at the University of Denver. People connected with this blog have already contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to support DU in various ways, but until now, there has never been a dedicated DU-administered, tax-deductible fund where we could directly support school spirit efforts through the University. While people have always contributed directly to DU team-specific funds, general athletic funds, and to the broader University funds, there never has been a dedicated DU “school spirit” fund for those things that create game-day atmosphere.

All that has changed now that the “Go Denver Pioneers!” Spirit Fund has been established at DU!

The official language of the new Fund reads:

The purpose of the “Go Denver Pioneers!” Spirit Fund is to build a sense of collective and shared University community by deepening traditions, developing and supporting rituals and practices, and establishing greater affiliation and engagement through the building and enhancing of school spirit at “home” athletic events held in Denver.The Fund will support costs associated with the enhancement of the University varsity athletic game-day experience at “home” athletic events in Denver, including but not limited to: the development and support of student spirit squads (e.g. pep band, mascot, cheerleading, DU whiteboard, dance teams), as well as game day spirit events (e.g. tailgates, pep rallies, tifo displays, etc.), but not including tickets. The Fund also may be used for the enhancement and development of University athletic traditions and their associated displays (e.g. fight songs, school colors, banners, flags, retired numbers, Hall of Fame, arena and scoreboard displays, etc.) that communicate/build a sense of Pioneer pride in our community and promote our shared history, as well as promotional activities surrounding student participation and attendance at athletic events, provided those activities are not already funded or provided by the University.

The Fund shall be administered by the Vice Chancellor of Athletics and Recreation or his/her delegate (the “Vice Chancellor”) and shall be expended in addition to regularly funded activities for Athletics…Donations to the Fund will be included in benefit calculations for the various Athletics gift society levels.

To help kick-start this fund, donors we know (who have asked to remain anonymous) have issued an end-of-year challenge to match the first $2,500 donated to the new fund by our readers, beginning today and running until December 31, 2018. So we can keep track of your donations, enter code “57” in the “Optional Information” section of the online donor form.

We need YOU. Your gift will directly support school spirit initiatives at DU, and as usual with gifts to DU, your gift will be tax-deductible. So take advantage of this matching challenge to make your gift speak louder. Go Denver Pioneers!

Here is the link to DONATE to the Go Denver Pioneer School Spirit Fund:

“Go Denver Pioneers” Spirit Fund

Thank you,

The LetsGoDU Team