FundSvcs Community

Greetings!

We have a large software company who has donated close to 1,000 licenses for their product so that our accounting students could develop analytics skills and build analytic applications that solve business problems. This is very specific accounting software currently used by many of the top accounting firms across the country.

We are trying to determine whether or not we can count this in our fundraising totals. This year's licenses have a retail value of $2M+ as a point of reference. The company has been providing these licenses for the past 5-years, but recently requested their donation be acknowledged. 

In the CASE Global Reporting Standards, I am seeing this under 3.3.2: Software and Hardware:

Software: Gifts of software are not countable and will not be included in the grand totals for CASE amAtlas surveys. The only exception to this rule is when software is highly-developed/customized for the institution....While gifts of software are generally not countable in CASE amAtlas surveys, CASE understands and supports institutions continuing to recognize donors and stewarding such software gifts even if not countable in CASE amAtlas surveys. 

Can I ask that you weigh in on how you interpret the above and also, what is your organization's policy on software gift-in-kinds? Would this potentially qualify as a high-developed software (not designed specifically for our university, but a niche product with a very specific highly-developed function in the business world)? If it does not qualify for counting for CASE purposes, would your organization still include it in your fundraising totals?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Greetings!

We have a large software company who has donated close to 1,000 licenses for their product so that our accounting students could develop analytics skills and build analytic applications that solve business problems. This is very specific accounting software currently used by many of the top accounting firms across the country.

We are trying to determine whether or not we can count this in our fundraising totals. This year's licenses have a retail value of $2M+ as a point of reference. The company has been providing these licenses for the past 5-years, but recently requested their donation be acknowledged. 

In the CASE Global Reporting Standards, I am seeing this under 3.3.2: Software and Hardware:

Software: Gifts of software are not countable and will not be included in the grand totals for CASE amAtlas surveys. The only exception to this rule is when software is highly-developed/customized for the institution....While gifts of software are generally not countable in CASE amAtlas surveys, CASE understands and supports institutions continuing to recognize donors and stewarding such software gifts even if not countable in CASE amAtlas surveys. 

Can I ask that you weigh in on how you interpret the above and also, what is your organization's policy on software gift-in-kinds? Would this potentially qualify as a high-developed software (not designed specifically for our university, but a niche product with a very specific highly-developed function in the business world)? If it does not qualify for counting for CASE purposes, would your organization still include it in your fundraising totals?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

John,

Thank you for this thoughtful answer. I reviewed partial interest for IRS charitable donations after reading your reply and this now makes so much more sense to me. I was unable to find the CASE detailed memorandum you mentioned, (page no longer found), but your answer clears up the question for me even without having that document to consult. 

I greatly appreciate you sharing this insight!

Steph

Greetings!

We have a large software company who has donated close to 1,000 licenses for their product so that our accounting students could develop analytics skills and build analytic applications that solve business problems. This is very specific accounting software currently used by many of the top accounting firms across the country.

We are trying to determine whether or not we can count this in our fundraising totals. This year's licenses have a retail value of $2M+ as a point of reference. The company has been providing these licenses for the past 5-years, but recently requested their donation be acknowledged. 

In the CASE Global Reporting Standards, I am seeing this under 3.3.2: Software and Hardware:

Software: Gifts of software are not countable and will not be included in the grand totals for CASE amAtlas surveys. The only exception to this rule is when software is highly-developed/customized for the institution....While gifts of software are generally not countable in CASE amAtlas surveys, CASE understands and supports institutions continuing to recognize donors and stewarding such software gifts even if not countable in CASE amAtlas surveys. 

Can I ask that you weigh in on how you interpret the above and also, what is your organization's policy on software gift-in-kinds? Would this potentially qualify as a high-developed software (not designed specifically for our university, but a niche product with a very specific highly-developed function in the business world)? If it does not qualify for counting for CASE purposes, would your organization still include it in your fundraising totals?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

I was off by a year.

The memorandum was issued in 2011 and addressed three common counting (or not!) issues:

• Intellectual Property (IP) & Patents
• Conservation Easements
• Corporate Partnerships

The last of these three includes a further discussion on donations of this type. Here's a screenshot of that section:

John H. Taylor, Principal

John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC

2604 Sevier Street

Durham, NC     27705

johntaylorconsulting@gmail.com

919.816.5903 (cell/text)

Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987

John,

Thank you for this thoughtful answer. I reviewed partial interest for IRS charitable donations after reading your reply and this now makes so much more sense to me. I was unable to find the CASE detailed memorandum you mentioned, (page no longer found), but your answer clears up the question for me even without having that document to consult. 

I greatly appreciate you sharing this insight!

Steph

Greetings!

We have a large software company who has donated close to 1,000 licenses for their product so that our accounting students could develop analytics skills and build analytic applications that solve business problems. This is very specific accounting software currently used by many of the top accounting firms across the country.

We are trying to determine whether or not we can count this in our fundraising totals. This year's licenses have a retail value of $2M+ as a point of reference. The company has been providing these licenses for the past 5-years, but recently requested their donation be acknowledged. 

In the CASE Global Reporting Standards, I am seeing this under 3.3.2: Software and Hardware:

Software: Gifts of software are not countable and will not be included in the grand totals for CASE amAtlas surveys. The only exception to this rule is when software is highly-developed/customized for the institution....While gifts of software are generally not countable in CASE amAtlas surveys, CASE understands and supports institutions continuing to recognize donors and stewarding such software gifts even if not countable in CASE amAtlas surveys. 

Can I ask that you weigh in on how you interpret the above and also, what is your organization's policy on software gift-in-kinds? Would this potentially qualify as a high-developed software (not designed specifically for our university, but a niche product with a very specific highly-developed function in the business world)? If it does not qualify for counting for CASE purposes, would your organization still include it in your fundraising totals?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!