The Gift Accounting Office is also responsible for preparing the University's report for the Council for Aid to Education (CAE) and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) as part of the SURVEY OF VOLUNTARY SUPPORT OF EDUCATION.  As related to this reporting, there has been some confusion on campus for several years regarding funds to be counted under the categories of "Research," "Grants and Contracts," and "Foundations."  The excerpts below are taken from the CASE publication entitled Management Reporting Standards - Standards for Annual Giving and Campaigns in Educational Fund Raising.

RESEARCH

"Report outright gifts for current operations restricted for scientific, technical, and humanistic investigation.  This category includes private grants (gifts) for individual and/or project research as well as grants for institutes and research centers.  It does not include corporate grants for programs in which the grantor receives a product or service commensurate with the fee paid nor does it include government grants for sponsored programs.  Government grants and awards, whether local, state, federal, or foreign, should not be included in these reports." TOP

GRANTS AND CONTRACTS

"Reports should include grant income from private, nongovernmental sources but should not include contract revenue.  The difference between a private grant and a contract depends on the intention of the awarding agency and the legal obligation incurred by an institution in accepting the award.  A grant, like a gift, is donative in nature; it is bestowed voluntarily and without expectation of any tangible compensation.  A contract carries an explicit quid pro quo relationship between the source and the institution." TOP

FOUNDATIONS

"This category includes personal and family Foundations and other Foundations and trusts that are private tax-exempt entities operated exclusively for charitable purposes.  'Personal and Family Foundations' are those that have been established and continue to operate as the conduits for the charitable donations of an individual or immediate members of a family.  'Other Foundations and Trusts' include all private Foundations and charitable trusts that meet the definition above, including most of the major private Foundations such as the Rockefeller, Johnson and Kellogg Foundations - and community Foundations." TOP

PRIVATE GIFT/GRANT DEFINITION

When reporting charitable contributions, a differentiation must be made between private (non-government sources) gifts and grants.  For management reporting purposes only private gifts/grants are to be reported.  Both private gifts/grants and contracts may be awarded on the basis of an unsolicited proposal.  Both may be based on line-item budgets submitted to the awarding agency and may involve the institution in at least the responsibility of periodic and final reports on the uses made of the funds.  A private grant, like a gift, is bestowed voluntarily and without expectation of any tangible compensation; it is donative in nature.  A contract is a written, often negotiated, agreement between the institution and the awarding agency and is enforceable by law.  Responsibility under a contract normally involves the generation of some tangible product or service, such as a report of research, often for the exclusive or proprietary use of the contracting agency and subject to certain standards of performance and the expectation of economic benefit on the part of the grantor. TOP

The following must be deposited with the University Finance and Administration Office in a University account:

• any checks made payable to The University of Georgia or a unit thereof;

• any funds which are received in accordance with the terms of a contract, grant, or other agreement for the performance of services or any other expenditures of funds by a University unit; and

• unrestricted gifts designated to benefit the University of Georgia or a unit thereof.

Any checks made payable to The University of Georgia or a unit thereof cannot legally be deposited in a non-University of Georgia account. TOP

In order to preserve the tax deductibility of the gift, the amount given must:

A. Be contributed voluntarily.

B. The account administrator must not be able to derive any direct benefit from the contribution.  If the account administrator receives a payment from the account he or she has contributed to, and it is deemed to be a "private benefit," the gift will be disqualified (per Internal Revenue Code Section 170(c)(2)(C)).

    The Account Administrator cannot be the major donor to an account for which they are an authorized signer. TOP