To support CU Boulder’s advocacy in Washington, D.C., the university’s Federal Relations team is soliciting campus input to help identify the university’s priorities for congressionally directed and programmatic funding for federal Fiscal Year 2024.

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. Campus leadership is seeking your input on two types of federal funding requests: ​

Programmatic requests

Each year, Federal Relations seeks funding for existing federal programs and accounts relevant to University interests, 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.

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. Members of Congress can only support a handful of projects in their district or state and the process is extremely competitive and unpredictable. In the past, these requests have been for one-time funding only.

Please submit programmatic requests using this form and congressionally directed spending requests using this form by Friday, February 3, 2023.

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 (innovation, DEI, student success, mental health and wellness, and campus resource resilience) will be favorably considered. Proposals relevant to congressional and federal agency priorities are more likely to receive federal support. CU Boulder anticipates selecting only a handful of proposals for FY 2024, but may be able to support additional projects through other means or in future fiscal years.

Learn more (recorded webinar)

To learn more about what makes a compelling and effective congressionally directed spending or programmatic funding request, please watch the webinar recording featuring Heather Bené, Associate Vice President of Research and Federal Policy for CU, and Miriam Quintal, managing principal at Lewis-Burke (a DC-based government relations firm), who detailed the process and importance of advocating for CU at the federal level.

CU’s Office of Government Relations partners closely with Lewis-Burke on federal strategies to amplify the interests of the CU Boulder community.

Questions may be submitted to rio@colorado.edu.