Happy Friday!  I am researching spending policies for restricted funds.  Specifically, what are some examples of athletics-related expenses that have met the donation restrictions?  For instance, let's say the softball team has $15,000 in their restricted fund.  Aside from team equipment and uniforms, what else would this fund be used for? 

Does anyone in this group work on the finance side of development? I would welcome the connection!

Hi Tracy,

As others have said, if there are no other restrictions on the funds, we would use them for any general operating support for the teams - uniform, travel, equipment, meals on the road, etc. It's possible the funds would also help cover coaching and staffing related to the teams.

Cheers,

Emily

Hi Tracy - we recently unrestricted all of our funds that were aligned the way you described.  What was happening was the team was using this restricted account as their little savings account and not spending it.  Instead, they would overspend their operating accounts each year.  We have fundraising for each of our teams, but never enough to pay for all coaching, uniforms, travel, etc.  It hasn't been a terribly popular change, mostly due to poor communication planning, but now there is more budget transparency.  Coaches and the AD are to budget for what they actually need to support the student-athlete experience.  If a donor wants to make a truly restricted major gift, we will handle that separately.