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  • 1.  Gift eligibility

    Posted 10-24-2023 10:09 AM

    Hello! A donor directed a gift to us via Schwab Charitable. The gift is to pay for a speaker who is named X. Schwab Charitable reached out with some questions before the gift can be released to us. The questions were:

    1. Will this donation directly benefit speaker X or their family? (Yes or No)

    2. Will speaker X have majority control over the funds? (Yes or No)

    I believe the answer to those questions would be Yes and we won't be eligible for the donation? Should we use a different fund to pay for speaker X and then we could accept the donation?

    Thank you for your help in advance! 



    ------------------------------
    Marta Kostrzewa
    Director of Finance
    Pratt Institute
    mkostrze@pratt.edu
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Gift eligibility

    Posted 10-24-2023 10:58 AM
    The gift was likely solicited improperly.

    I prefer to assume that Pratt retained a speaker for a mission-related activity. And that Pratt solicited unrestricted funds to defray the expenses associated with getting the speaker to come to Pratt.

    In such a case, Pratt would have paid the speaker from Pratt funds and then asked for donations to relieve the budget. Instead, it sounds like a donor was asked to pay for the speaker, and the donor submitted the request specifying the speaker's name.

    On the surface, your responses are appropriate. But I think more digging is needed. Please confirm that the speaker was already paid and that this donor had nothing to do with selecting and paying the speaker for something Pratt wouldn't have done. If you can confirm that then let Schwab know that this is a budget-relieving unrestricted gift and put the money in the annual fund!

    But, if the gift truly was intended to pay THIS speaker by THAT donor, then a DAF cannot be used.

    John

    John H. Taylor
    Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier St.
    Durham, NC   27705
    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987




    Original Message


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