We have a local symphony who would like to fund an endowed chair for our music department who will also serve as the maestro for their symphony.
We have concerns of both the symphony benefitting from their gift, but also that supporting the maestro and the symphony falls outside of our mission of supporting the university and its programs.
The fundraisers are contending that since the symphony would not exist without the university and since it is a symbiotic relationship that it still meets that mission. Also since the symphony plays on campus and the music students are in the symphony the ties are tight and the existence of the symphony benefits the university program, yet they are not a legal program/entity of the university.
We're going to outside counsel to confirm if such a gift could meet our mission, but are struggling to see how we can accept such a gift.
Are we missing something?
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Amber Gichard
University of Alaska Foundation
argichard@alaska.edu------------------------------