I had a conversation with a colleague at another institution and they posed a question to which I didn't quite know the answer. Said institution runs a scholarship program that has been replicated at other institutions. When they receive Governmental funds for this program, part of it stays with them and the other part is distributed by them to the other institutions. They now have a private donor who would like to make their entire check out to them instead of writing individual checks to each institution for the appropriate portions. This is an important donor for them and are cognizant of the ongoing cultivation of their relationship with the donor. My colleagues main question was whether they can count that donors entire gift in their gift production for this year. In reading back through similar threads/posts in this group I found what I think is the answer (and mine and my colleagues conservative thinking answer). I'm operating under the idea that the main institution is acting as a pass through of sorts. Here is information from a question posted in January 2021 about scholarship funds that go between the poster's university and a med school they 'divorced' but still have some legal ties to:
This will largely depend on your campaign counting policy. It needs to mention that you will count gifts to certain "affiliated" organizations at the outset. You generally cannot change horse in the middle of the stream.
If, however, the actual cash for your portion of the agreement (undergraduate scholarships) is given directly to you - or as a passthrough, then a case can be made for counting that portion. But not the portion of the funds that only benefits the other organization.
I attached that email thread for more complete reference. Above, I highlighted what feels like the answer but I wanted to check my knowledge here first. Can my colleague count their donors entire check towards their productivity or only the portion that benefits them?
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Jessica Baker
University of Texas at Austin
jbaker@austin.utexas.edu------------------------------