When offered a donation the immediate reaction of most organizations is to accept gratefully, this might not always be the best decision. What if the gift comes from a dubious source? What if the donor's motivation is to further their agenda? The institution runs the risk of damaging its reputation or accepting a gift that might cost too much in time and money to administer. Those are gifts that I refer to as, 'gifts that eat'. A sensible policy defines what gifts are acceptable and what the institution's obligations, if any might be, should it accept a gift. Gift acceptance policies make it easier for an institution to accept a gift with a clear conscience and just as easily to reject an unsuitable gift. These policies reduce risk, they should be developed before an institution sets boundaries for fundraising activities. An example from my previous experience shows how valuable a gift acceptance policy can be, I was approached by a donor who had a piece of commercial property nearby the primary campus of our university. The campus was interested in the property for additional parking and the donor was willing to proceed. However, a review of the properties title history showed that it had previously been a gas station with underground fuel tanks still buried on the site. Prior to accepting the gift, my foundation required that the tanks be removed and an environmental impact study done to limit the liability exposure for the organization. Developing a gift acceptance policy affords an organization the opportunity to discuss how to handle practical issues that can be triggered by certain fundraising scenarios. It is useful to working through various scenarios with fundraising personnel and other senior staff. This develops a fundraising culture that adopts a sensible and professional approach to gift acceptance. The process is closely related to ethics. It is often useful to gather information from independent advisers who bring an objective perspective. Developing a gift acceptance policy can strengthen in institution's internal gift administration procedures. Both policy and procedures benefit from regular reviews to ensure that they are compatible. A gift acceptance policy should specify who is responsible for implementation and administration. This is normally handled by a committee of senior staff, both fundraisers and non fundraisers, along with independent representatives including those from financial and legal sectors. A policy might also contain the following: a reminder of the institution's purpose in fundraising, your mission statement, a statement of the purpose of the policy, the remit of the gift acceptance policy committee, a designation regarding the point at which professional advice from lawyers and finance specialists should be sought. For example, if a gift exceeds $1 million or a donor wishes to donate a substantial asset, it should include or could contain a definition of what constitutes a conflict of interest, a definition of the institution's response to proposed gift restrictions such as, how to respond if a donor says that his or her gift can only benefit a certain type of student. An outline of institution obligations, in relation to gifts administration and stewardship. Specifics about forms of acceptable gifts for example, can you accept gifts from overseas, or can you accept tangible assets? It could or should include information about who is responsible for the completion of a gift, that is, who pays any legal or banking fees associated with it? It could have a reference to a donor recognition policy, a reference to transfer of liabilities, for example, if a donor gives your institution a building with sitting tenants, who takes responsibility for the welfare of the tenants? If you are given a share in a racehorse, who is responsible for the horse's welfare? And finally, it should contain an outline of how and when the policy will be reviewed and amended. A gift acceptance policy protects your institution from being forced to react without adequate time to consider all possible ramifications when it is offered a major gift. In such circumstances, errors in judgment can be made. It is far better to adopt a preemptive approach and establish a strong gift acceptance policy initially. Your institution will appear more professional, donor and recipient will have a better fundraising experience, and the risks to both parties will be considerably reduced. Donor relations are the comprehensive effort of any nonprofit that seeks private gifts support to ensure that donors experience high quality interactions with the organization fostering long-term engagement in investments. Donor relations are commonly thought to have four elements. First, gift acceptance and management. This encompasses policies and procedures that address a variety of issues that must be considered before accepting gifts as well as procedures that ensure gifts are put to work as donors intend. Among those are: processes for reviewing gifts to ensure that the donor's intentions and the organization's needs align, understanding upfront, whether or not a gift can be deployed according to a donor's wishes can prevent a loss of goodwill and avoid needing to return a gift, structures for giving opportunities including levels required to establish endowed funds or to be recognized with name spaces on donor walls or in giving society's, procedures for tracking the expenditures of gifts to ensure that they are being used according to donor's intentions and mechanisms for rectifying situations where they are not. Importantly, organizations need to have processes for handling gifts that can no longer be utilized because of changes in programming. These processes need to address instances where the donor is living as well as those where the donor is deceased. The second element, acknowledgement, covers protocol for an execution of accurate, timely, and meaningful expressions of gratitude. Acknowledgment includes gift receiving which fulfills internal revenue service requirements and personalized written correspondence, it might also include emails, phone calls, or personal visits. Usually, the most heartfelt and impactful acknowledgement come from those who directly benefit from a donor's generosity, for example, clients of a social services agency, artists of a performing arts company, or students of a college or university. Donor recognition is the third element. This incorporates opportunities for meaningful donor recognition, considering such factors as donors preferences, institutional culture and values. Preferences might be anonymity or the format in which their names are presented, recognition is the public form of donor acknowledgement, it ranges from systematic responses to giving, such as giving societies to those undertaken with donor involvement as is the case with name space signage. Examples of recognition programs could include: giving societies and honor rolls categorized donors according to giving levels, depending on how they are structured, they may reflect only a certain type of giving for example, giving to annual funds to certain areas of the organization or during a specified time, such as a campaign. They may be defined as cash based or to include pledges of future giving. The treatment of particular forms of giving such as a deferred or plan gifts and gifts in kind must also be determined when developing giving society and honor roll programs. Giving societies often incorporate tiers that encourage donors to reach higher giving levels. Tiers are generally named and may offer differential benefits, for some organizations, it is appropriate for the benefits to have tangible value which then can affect the tax deductibility as stipulated by the Internal Revenue Service. It is increasingly common however, for such benefits to offer access to the content and leadership of the organization, there might mitigating quid pro quo issues that organizations must manage. Honor rolls that categorize donors according to giving levels are usually incorporated into print publications such as campaign progress reports and annual reports to signal the specific contributions of individual and organizational donors in the context of the total raised. The preparation of honor rolls can be tedious. They must be checked repeatedly to assure that they are error free. There are strong reasons to move honor rolls online from print including cost savings and the ability to make changes as necessary. Donor walls and name space signage provide highly visible recognition, usually for those giving to campaigns and capital projects. Donor walls can also be used to recognize annual and lifelong giving. It is critical to define listing standards and confirm those with internal decision makers before approaching donors about listing options. A very important consideration for both types of physical recognition is handling the removal of walls and signage when spaces are repurposed or demolished. Organizations should have policies for dealing with these situations and should communicate early with donors or heirs of donors who will be affected. Highly public forms of recognition include: donor profiles and publications such as newsletters, magazines, and annual reports, as well as their online counterparts, and external publicity such as press releases. Donors or their representatives should be actively involved in the preparation and review of these materials to avoid potentially embarrassing errors or omissions. Other important forms of donor recognition include: donor recognition events, awards, mementos, and volunteer engagement opportunities. These can be features of giving societies, annual funds and campaigns or stand-alone opportunities to engage and cultivate donors as they move toward future giving. Events have a prominent place in donor recognition's toolkit because they can effectively reach and foster long-term relationships with a broad spectrum of donors. They can range from large scale events where the objective is to create and reinforce connection to intimate gatherings that deepen personal relationships between the organization's leadership and its most important donors. The fourth and final element is reporting to donors about the impacts of their gifts on the organization's mission. Reporting can fall into two broad categories: the first, qualitative, which is storytelling that confirms to the donor that their investment was sound because of the difference it is making in the organization's mission. Secondly, quantitative, which verifies the fulfillment of fiduciary responsibility. Reporting can be included in broadly distributed print and online vehicles. Quantitative reporting can be highly personalized from simple financial reports regarding the status of an endowed fund to comprehensive impact reports that chronicle several decades of investment in the organization. Donor relations activity has grown in part as a response to donors growing sophistication as informed philanthropists and their increasing scrutiny of the organizations they fund regarding their outcomes. This has necessitated more reporting with attendant potential to uncover organizational weaknesses in terms of spending donations in the manner which they are intended. Most organizations have implemented donor stewardship activities. These adopt an external viewpoint to draw donors closer to the outcomes they are making possible. These activities demonstrate how the organization is fulfilling its fiduciary responsibility to deploy funds as the donor intended. The term stewardship covers gift administration, oversight, protection in care of the donor's relationship to strengthen and preserve those relationships over time.
