Contributions may be received by a USM institution, school, department, or directly at the USM Foundation Business Office.

 

Upon receipt of a contribution, the procedures are as follows:

 

  • Review checks as to payee and restrictively endorse them for deposit to the USM Foundation. (See Check Acceptance Guidelines above)

 

  • Forward funds to be deposited to the appropriate Office of Institutional Advancement (OIA) with the transmittal form required by the institution. OIA enters all contributions into the Advance donor database to ensure the institution’s fundraising totals are complete.

 

  • Include the name and number of the account to which each contribution is to be deposited.

 

  • Attach documentation that verifies the contributive nature and purpose of the gift, unless funds are for an already established endowment or a payment on an already recorded pledge.

 

Note: USM Foundation personnel can post contributions that are received by the USM Foundation Business Office, provided they are not designated for a specific USM institution, and provided documentation supporting the gift is included.

 

  • Process all funds within 48 hours of receipt, unless there is a problem (i.e., not knowing the purpose of the contribution, payee incorrect, etc.).

 

  • Retain unprocessed funds in a locked file. If problems are not resolved within 10 business days, checks should be returned to the donor or deposited in a university account.

 

  • Separately batch contributions to the USM Foundation from those to an institution. Separately batch credit card contributions, Gifts in Kind, payroll deductions, and other non-check type gifts from check batches.

 

  • File supporting documentation (i.e., a letter from the donor and/or a copy of the check) with the Batch Detail Report at each OIA.

 

  • Remit checks and two copies of the Advance Batch Detail Report to the USM Foundation. For non-check batches remit copies of supporting documents with two copies of Batch Detail Reports.

 

  • For campuses scanning their own checks for deposit, remit a copy of scanned deposit batch with two copies of the Advance Batch Detail Report.

 

When received, the USM Foundation Gift Processor does the following:

 

  • Signs the Batch Detail Report, indicating receipt of the checks and/or supporting documents, subject to verification

 

  • Returns the signed copy to the applicable OIA office

 

  • Reconciles the checks to the transmittal documentation


  * Closes the batch in Advance. This action releases the "gift receipts" (they are now ready for printing/saving) and flags the gift records for posting to the USM Foundation's accounting software during the nightly posting process

 

  • After batches have been imported to the accounting software, reconciles the reports from the accounting system to the Batch Detail Reports

 

  • Prepares the bank deposit and scans the checks for deposit

 

Gift Receipts are printed and mailed to the donors by the OIA office that entered the gift.

 

The Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993, The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, and the Pension Protection Act of 2006 include contribution substantiation requirements.

 

All donors who wish to take a deduction for charitable contributions of $250 or more in cash and non- cash donations must have receipts, and those receipts must indicate whether the donor received any goods or services in exchange for that “gift.” IRS policy suggests the following language, which we recommend:

 

“The amount of your contribution that is deductible for Federal income tax purposes is limited to the excess of the amount contributed by you over the value of the goods and services that you receive. We estimate the value of those goods and services to be $                                                      and therefore you may be able to deduct any contribution in excess of that amount.”

 

Note: The USM Foundation usually prints and mails gift receipts for contributions received from USM Foundation Board members and for contributions of $1,000 or more that are specifically designated for USM, university-wide or USM Foundation purposes. These gift receipts are reviewed by the Vice President for Finance and then given to the President of the USM Foundation, who sends the receipt to the donor along with a personal letter.

 

Each USM institution has its own procedures for stewardship of its large donors.