University Relations
Carriage House
University of California
Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1077
Email: urrecept@ucsc.edu
Phone: (831) 459-2501

Gift Fee Policy

Gift Fee Procedure

©2004 UC Santa Cruz
Maintained by pioweb@ucsc.edu

Gift Fee Policy

POLICY ON THE ADMINISTRATIVE FEE ON GIFTS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SANTA CRUZ (REGENTS) AND THE UC SANTA CRUZ FOUNDATION

Effective: August 1, 2003
Issued: July 31, 2003
Issuing Office: Vice Chancellor, University Relations

SECTION I. PURPOSE/SCOPE

UCSC has made a commitment to a comprehensive development effort in order to meet increasing demands for private support to the institution. The amount of private support to UCSC has increased substantially in recent years and the benefits to our academic programs have been evident. University policy precludes using General Funds for fund raising efforts by Development. In order to recover a portion of the increasing costs of the private fund raising effort at UCSC, an administrative fee will be assessed on gifts to the University of California at Santa Cruz (The Regents) or the UC Santa Cruz Foundation. As of the date of implementation, seven of the ten UC campuses administer a gift fee.

Fund raising at UCSC includes not only the direct costs of soliciting contributions by Development Officers and other campus representatives, but also includes processing and accounting of gift funds. At UCSC, all gifts must be deposited and processed through the University Relations/Donor Relations Office.

This policy is not applicable to grant funding received from private foundations and administered through the Office of Sponsored Projects. In addition, the administrative fee is not designed to be in lieu of applicable UCSC indirect cost recovery rates for sponsored research. Departments should refer to the UC Development Policy Manual III. D.: Is it a Gift or a Grant? to ensure an award is appropriately classified as a gift.

SECTION II. POLICY STATEMENT

Effective August 1, 2003, an administrative fee of 3% from gifts to endowments and 5% from gifts to current use funds (see IV.C. Exemptions), made to either the University of California at Santa Cruz (The Regents) or the UC Santa Cruz Foundation, will be assessed for the purpose of strengthening the development program and partially defraying related administrative costs. New outright gifts and payments on pledges are subject to the fee as of the effective date. The fee percentage may be reviewed and revised periodically. The options for methods of payment of the fee are described below (see IV.A.). Departmental correspondence regarding interpretation of this Policy should be submitted through the originating department's Principal Campus Officer to the Vice Chancellor of University Relations.

Exemptions

Fees will not be assessed on:

1. Gift agreements, including documented pledges, executed prior to the effective date of this policy;
2. Gifts made for capital purposes;
3. Gifts of membership dollars or current use funds raised by Friends groups or officially recognized campus support groups for the first year of this policy;
4. Non-cash gifts (gifts–in-kind) made to the University that are to become inventoried useable assets of the University;
5. Grants received from private foundations and administered by the Office of Sponsored Projects.

SECTION III. DEFINITIONS

1. Current use fund: a fund established to receive and expend gifts intended by the donor to be used for current purposes or programs; a fund that is not an endowment
2. Endowed fund: a fund established to receive and invest gifts intended by the donor to be used for restricted purposes or programs; an endowed fund protects the gift in perpetuity by responsibly investing the principal and distributing an annual payout realized from a portion of the investment income allowing the fund’s real value to increase over time
3. Gift: the charitable and irrevocable transfer of money or property that is voluntary and motivated by something other than consideration or expectation of financial return or contractual obligation
4. Gift-in-kind: the charitable and irrevocable transfer of property or service that is voluntary and motivated by something other than consideration or expectation of financial return or contractual obligation
5. Pledge: the promise of a gift made legally binding by signed agreement
6. Principal: the actual amount of the gift; often refereed to as "corpus" of an endowment

SECTION IV. GETTING HELP

Questions regarding this policy may be directed to the Vice Chancellor of University Relations. [Phone: (831) 459-2501]

Questions regarding gifts or policy procedures may be directed to the Donor Relations Office. [Phone: (831) 427-4773]

Questions regarding grants may be directed to the Office of Sponsored Projects. [Phone: (831) 459-2778]

SECTION V. APPLICABILITY AND AUTHORITY

The Chancellor has approved this policy and delegates responsibility for administration and adherence to the Vice Chancellor of University Relations. Periodic review and revision of fee percentage or other administrative changes are subject to approval by the Chancellor. Routine procedural changes are subject to review and approval by the Vice Chancellor of University Relations.

SECTION VI. RELATED POLICIES & REFERENCES

A. Procedure on Administrative Fee on Gifts to the University of California at Santa Cruz (Regents) and the UC Santa Cruz Foundation

B. Letter from Vice President Baker, dated 1987, regarding University of California Policy on Use of General Funds for Development (PDF)

C. UCSC Policy and Procedure Manual (PPM)

D. Contracts and Grants Manual, Section 9: Gifts and Endowments

E. Development Policy Manual, January 1989 (Revised Spring, 1992)

1. Chapter I: Soliciting and Accepting Private Funds
2. Chapter III. D.: Is it a Gift or a Grant?
3. Chapter III. H.: Notification to Donors Regarding Gift Fees

F. Policy and Administrative Guidelines on Support Groups, Campus Foundations, and Alumni Associations