Published: Jan. 5, 2024

Webinar: What Makes Compelling Requests to Congress

The Office of Government Relations and Lewis-Burke Associates—a government relations firm advocating for the University of Colorado at the federal level—invite CU Â鶹¹ÙÍø faculty and staff to join this webinar to learn more about developing effective appropriations and programmatic requests. Links for submitting requests are included below.

ÌýWho: All CU Â鶹¹ÙÍø Faculty and Staff
ÌýWhen: Thursday, January 18, 2024, 10-11 a.m.
ÌýWhere: Virtual via Zoom


Please register using your CU Â鶹¹ÙÍø IdentiKey Login email.


Questions may be submitted in advance toÌýrio@colorado.edu.

To support CU Â鶹¹ÙÍø’s advocacy in Washington, D.C., the university’sÌýFederal RelationsÌýteam is soliciting campus input to helpÌýidentify the university’s prioritiesÌýfor congressionally directed and programmatic funding for federal Fiscal Year 2025.


Your participation in the process will aid in developing the annual fiscal and policy requests that Federal Relations delivers to the Colorado congressional delegation on behalf of the university. Please submit your ideas by Friday, Feb. 2 for consideration.

Input can be submitted for two types of federal funding: ​Programmatic Requests and Congressionally Directed Spending Requests. Please submitÌýÌýandÌýÌýbyÌýFriday, Feb. 2.

Programmatic Requests

Each year, Federal Relations collaborates with other universities and stakeholders to grow funding for existing federal programs and accounts relevant to university interests. Across CU's four campuses, the university submits approximately 20 programmatic requests per year for our top priorities, including topline funding levels for executive agencies and programs such as NSF, NIH and NASA, as well as for federal student aid programs such as Pell, TRIO, Federal Work Study and more. These programmatic requests may also include language directing federal agencies to implement programs in specific ways. Please submitÌý.

Congressionally Directed Spending Requests

Federal Relations also undertakes efforts to secure funding from Congress for compelling projects that fall outside peer-reviewed and other existing processes, including through congressionally directed spending or earmarks. Earmark funding supports small-to-medium sized projects, typically less than $1 million. Congressionally directed spending is one-time funding. While it cannot fund research, it can support training, equipment and program implementation activities. Members of Congress can only support a handful of projects in their district or state and the process is competitive and unpredictable. Please submit .

Proposals relevant to the Chancellor's Strategic Imperatives (Shape Tomorrow's Leaders, Be the Top University for Innovation, Positively Impact Humanity) and the campus strategic priorities of innovation, diversity, equity and inclusion, student success, mental health and wellness, and campus resource resilience will be favorably considered. Proposals aligned with congressional and federal agency priorities are more likely to receive federal support. CU Â鶹¹ÙÍø anticipates selecting only a handful of proposals for FY 2025 but may be able to support additional projects through other means or in future fiscal years.

The Federal Relations team will compile and coordinate all CU Â鶹¹ÙÍø requests and submit a prioritized list for the Chancellor's review and approval. Federal Relations is available to provide direct guidance and clarification prior to the submission deadline. Please email Associate Vice President for Research and Federal Policy Heather Bené (heather.bene@cu.edu) to discuss your project in advance of the Feb. 2 submission deadline.

Federal Relations and Lewis Burke Associates—a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy firm that supports CU's engagement at the federal level—will offer a webinar "Federal Funding: What Makes Compelling Requests to Congress" on Jan. 18 at 10 a.m. MT. Register for the webinar here.