Denver ? The University of Colorado’s fund-raising foundation paid more than $700,000 in questionable expenses, failed to adequately ensure that donations were spent where donors wanted and made poor choices in accepting some contributions, prompting CU officials to promise changes.

In a report released to lawmakers, state auditors criticized CU Foundation expenditures of $606,600 for food and catering, $94,000 for flowers and gifts, about $15,200 for alcohol and $1,600 for limousine services.

Auditors also singled out a $680 payment to charter a plane that flew 25 miles across the metro area, but it wasn’t clear whether it was carrying passengers or simply being moved to make it accessible to sports staffers for a long-distance trip.

University President Hank Brown said none of the expenditures was illegal, but he said many were unacceptable.

Brown and foundation President Michael Byram accepted each of the 21 changes auditors recommended, from bringing the organization under state spending guidelines to re-evaluating the relationship between the university and the foundation.

“Our intention is to implement every single one of them in their entirety. What the state auditor has done is give us a roadmap,” Brown told members of the Legislative Audit Committee.

Brown said CU and other universities established fund-raising arms like the CU Foundation because they could pay for things that their parent schools could not. He said that practice had changed at CU under new policies approved last week.

It was the first comprehensive, independent audit of the 38-year-old foundation, auditors said. Former CU President Elizabeth Hoffman asked for the audit in November 2004 after a statewide grand jury report was leaked to some news organizations.

The grand jury report included questions about numerous unexplained transactions involving CU, the foundation and two football camps run by head football coach Gary Barnett. A separate state audit of those camps is scheduled to be released Dec. 13. Barnett has denied any wrongdoing.

Brown and Byram said the audit was helpful and would reassure donors that their money would be used properly.

“This process gives us a roadmap to reform,” Brown said. “In effect it gives us an entirely new beginning.”

Paul Schauer, chairman of the Board of Regents, said examples of questionable money management included in the audit report were the exception.

“The concern is that we make sure that going forward, we have all the necessary controls in place so there’s never any question about gifts made to the institution,” he said. “Donors should feel confident their funds will be used properly.”

Auditors said many expenses lacked appropriate documentation, explanations or approval, and the foundation did not have strong policies in place requiring such review. The report also questioned the foundation’s handling of noncash gifts, saying some such gifts were inadequately documented and some required significant expense by the university.