FundSvcs Community

The Episcopal Academy has just completed an endowment campaign as of June 30.  As we look ahead to new endowment/capital gifts that arrive in the new fiscal year and beyond, we are wondering what the best practice is for adding a "campaign code" to these gifts in the gift records.  As most places do, we will likely begin a new campaign in the coming years, but I'm not sure how to code any gifts that come in ahead of the "Advanced Phase" of the new effort.  Should I put a general campaign code on these gifts and not make a new campaign code until the "Advanced Phase" has begun?  Or can we make a "Campaign TBD" code for any new endowment/capital gifts that arrive prior to the "Advanced Phase" of the next campaign since they will not have been previously counted in the one we just completed?

The guidance I found in the CASE library from Charitable Gift Planners in 2021 (and also in the AASP archives from 2017) indicates that we are not supposed to count "reach-back" gifts, but it is not clear if that means gifts previously counted in other campaigns or merely gifts that arrive between the reporting periods of two campaigns.  It does say this: Gifts made in contemplation of a campaign (i.e., gifts for specifically defined campaign priority projects committed before the advance gift phase), however, must be acknowledged and counted on all campaign reports.

I appreciate any guidance you can give from your own institutions.  I have only been in this role during a campaign, so I need your excellent expertise. 

Thank you!

Stephanie

The reach-back definition includes all gifts received "between" campaigns. Unless you are actively soliciting a gift for a defined new campaign, they do not count. Donors must know to which campaign and purpose they are giving to count in a campaign.

If you want to "legally" reach back and count older gifts made after a campaign ends, then you should intentionally set the silent phase start date such that those are automatically included in the campaign. However, I would be careful about artificially inflating campaign totals by reaching back too far. The purpose of a campaign is to raise new money for new initiatives - not to see how big a number you can achieve!

John