61-01 Fund-Raising Donations to the College

Procedure Description

I. PURPOSE

Fund raising is an integral part of the on-going operation of Florence-Darlington Technical College. The President of the College serves as the institution's chief executive officer and has ultimate control of the institution's fundraising activities. Access to College programs and the excellence of the educational experience at Florence-Darlington Technical College are greatly enhanced by the receipt of donations whether monetary, in-kind, or comprised of other personal or real property from citizens, philanthropic institutions, public agencies and businesses. The Florence-Darlington Technical College Educational Foundation is the major fundraising vehicle for the College. All faculty and staff are encouraged to promote the efforts of the College to secure gifts. This procedure sets forth guidelines for fundraising activities.

Definitions:

Fund raising means those activities, such as the solicitation of gifts and sponsorship of programs and events, designed to promote and support the College’s educational needs, programs, and services. Gifts include any type of contribution including, but not limited to: cash, real or personal property, securities and in-kind. Bequests made through wills, insurance policies or trusts, which name the College as beneficiary, are another means of giving. The gifts may be designated (restricted) or unrestricted, and may be made in one tax year or spread over several tax years.

General:

The Executive Director for the Florence-Darlington Technical College Educational Foundation is designated as the College official responsible for developing procedures to coordinate the solicitation and acceptance of donations to Florence- Darlington Technical College. The President and the Executive Director for the Florence-Darlington Technical College Educational Foundation are the sole officials authorized to accept donations to Florence-Darlington Technical College. No search for, nor commitment to accept a donation, shall be made by any employee of the College prior to the formal approval from the College President in accordance with this procedure.

This procedure does not apply to the acceptance of consumable supplies valued at less than $5,000 to be used in instructional programs. Department Heads of instructional programs are authorized to accept such supplies based on their evaluation of the need, but must also inform the Executive Director for the Florence- Darlington Technical College Educational Foundation of such donations, the value, and the source of the donation. The Educational Foundation will generate a letter to the donor acknowledging receipt of the gift.

Letters of acknowledgment for all gifts will be sent by the Executive Director for the Florence-Darlington Technical College Educational. The President will send an additional letter of acknowledgment on all gifts over $5,000 in value. Department Heads will be encouraged to send letters of thanks to all donors who make donations to their departments.

Procedures:

A. Solicitation of Donations

The Florence-Darlington Technical College Educational Foundation shall be the primary fund-raising entity on behalf of the College in seeking donations from the private sector. The Foundation is responsible for coordinating all fundraising efforts. The Foundation will serve as a clearing house for solicitation information about public, corporate and individual donors. Any approaches to these sources must be coordinated through the Foundation. The information collected by the Foundation is intended to avoid duplicate requests by other college groups for small donations, whether monetary, in-kind, or property gifts, when a substantial gift is possible or in progress and to help the College avoid duplication of fundraising efforts to the same source. The Foundation currently works closely with many individuals, community leaders, business and corporate executives on targeting and approaching potential donors of both cash and other gifts to the College.

The involvement of the Foundation is not to inhibit college representatives, especially faculty and staff members, who may have contacts in business and industry, from taking advantage of opportunities to secure gifts and assisting with fundraising efforts. The purposes are to ensure that all solicitations are orderly and do not represent multiple requests to the same source from several college groups. The gifts should be appropriate, properly acknowledged and recorded on inventory. The Foundation must be consulted prior to acceptance of gifts of substantial value or if there are questions about a gift's appropriateness, value, method of donation, tax documentation or related issue. Monetary gifts should be directed to the Foundation. All college personnel must inform the Foundation Office before they solicit monetary gifts for the College. Any College employee seeking, or offered, a donation from a private donor for their Division, Department, or Unit, is to coordinate this effort with the Executive Director for the Florence-Darlington Technical College Educational Foundation before any action is taken.

Student organizations may conduct activities to raise funds for their organization without this requirement to coordinate as long as such efforts are clearly limited to raising funds for the organization's purposes. If a student organization seeks to raise funds on behalf of the College, prior coordination with the Executive Director for the Florence-Darlington Technical College Educational Foundation is required. Organizations seeking to raise funds for its purposes must obtain approval through from the Vice President of Student Services, with final approval from the College President.

B. Designation of Recipient

Donations, whether in the form of cash or non-cash gifts, which are received from private donors, should be made to the Florence-Darlington Technical College Educational Foundation if at all possible. Private donations given directly to the College should be made only when other constraints prevent donations to the Foundation.

C. Initial Contacts

A College employee who is the initial contact concerning a potential donation to the College, either directly or through the Foundation, is to contact the Executive Director for the Florence-Darlington Technical College Educational Foundation. The Executive Director for the Florence-Darlington Technical College Educational Foundation will coordinate with the College employee initially contacted in obtaining from the prospective donor as much specific information as possible concerning the donation to include the status of any equipment or goods, restrictions on their use (if any), and commitments necessary to receive the donation. Based on this information, and in coordination with the head of any intended receiving College department, an evaluation of the usefulness of the potential donation shall be made. If the potential donation cannot be used, the Executive Director for the Florence-Darlington Technical College Educational Foundation will express his/her appreciation to the prospective donor, but decline the offer.

Note: If installation of equipment would result from the donation, coordination with the Director of Physical Plant is required. For all information technology equipment and software donations, coordination with the Vice President of Information Technology is required.