11.1 University Gifts

Policy Statement

All University of Illinois System units must remit any donations received or pledged to the unit on to the University of Illinois Foundation (UIF) for receipt, acknowledgement, acceptance, and deposit.

Reason for the Policy

Donations are gifts that further education, research, public service, and economic development. As designated in a service contract between the parties, the University of Illinois Foundation (UIF) is the gift receiving and receipting arm for the University of Illinois System. No gift funds may be accepted under terms stipulating prohibited discrimination or that conflict with federal or state law or system or university policy. Gift agreements with a donor are highly recommended and are required for endowment gifts.

Applicability of the Policy

This policy applies to all gifts to the University of Illinois System and each of its three universities.

UIF exists for the purpose of assisting the system by providing fundraising services and other assistance to attract private gift funds to support system and university programs. Through an annually renewable service agreement with the system, UIF performs a variety of functions to secure, solicit, receive, record, accept, and administer private gift funds. UIF is the primary receiving point for gifts made to the system and its universities. Donors should be instructed to direct their gifts to UIF. Donor gift history is confidentially retained in the Tracking and Engagement Database (TED).

Procedure

Authority/Responsibility

Chancellors—Each system university chancellor has the authority to evaluate whether or not to accept a gift or gift-in-kind. NOTE: the following potential donations are all outside the Chancellor’s purview:

• UIF Chief Operating Officer (COO)/Chief Financial Officer (CFO) purview:
  • Bequests
  • Marketable securities
  • Real estate
• UIF COO/CFO and System CFO/Comptroller purview:
  • Unrestricted research gifts

There are times when it is not entirely clear whether money received is actually a gift or for a sponsored project (e.g., a grant). For further details on the distinctions between gifts and sponsored activities, see 11.2 Distinctions Among Gifts, Grants, and Contracts. If a chancellor receives indication of forthcoming funds that appear to have characteristics of a sponsored activity (e.g., a grant), the chancellor forwards the documentation to its applicable sponsored programs office for review. During this review, it may be determined that the funds are intended for a sponsored activity; if so, the applicable sponsored programs office will process these grant applications, including the review, approval, processing, monitoring, and reporting. However, if the funds do not appear to be intended for a sponsored activity, then the applicable sponsored programs office notifies the chancellor of that fact, then the funds must be processed as a gift.

College/Unit—The college/unit completes appropriate forms and sends all available documentation to UIF’s Cash Receipts office for further processing. The unit acknowledges receipt of donor gifts, reviews and reconciles gift reports, and monitors expenditure of funds in accordance with donor restrictions. Detailed procedures regarding university/unit responsibilities for gift processing are outlined in 11.3 Processing of Gifts. Additionally, units, in coordination with their advancement offices, are strongly encouraged to provide the donors with a report of how the gifts have been expended.

University Accounting and Financial Reporting (UAFR)—UAFR has several responsibilities relating to the administration of private gifts. Namely, UAFR:

• Processes all bequests determined by University Counsel to be held as university long term investment pool.
• Reconciles gift revenues with UIF's records to help ensure gift revenue has been properly recorded on UIF's, the system’s, and the university’s records.
• Creates Banner gift funds to account for gift revenue and expenditures as well as ensuring the gift C-FOP is assigned with the proper National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and donor intent coding.
• Reviews non-mandatory fund transfers involving Banner gift funds or Banner endowment income funds that meet certain materiality thresholds to ensure compliance with donor intent restrictions and fund accounting guidelines.
• Completes an annual review of expenditures from a judgmental sample of gift funds from each university to ensure compliance with donor intent restrictions.

University of Illinois Foundation—UIF secures, solicits, receives, accepts, and processes official receipts to donors, and processes matching gift forms for the system and its universities. UIF also provides stewardship services and guidance regarding spending in accordance with donor intent. If necessary, UIF coordinates with the Office of Real Estate Services to review any gifts of property to the system or its universities before acceptance.

Gift Administrative Fees

University-Held Endowment Funds

University-held endowment funds are also assessed a gift administrative fee. This fee funds system, university, and UIF development and administrative costs.

These fees are reviewed annually by the Office of Treasury Operations and the University Comptroller and are assessed against the income earned on unexpended gift fund balances.