Gift Accounts & Endowment Funds

Setting up an Endowed or Gift account requires special permission from the Student Engagement Office. Organizations need to demonstrate consistent, high-level giving, as well as proven longevity of the org, to qualify. Endowed accounts require an initial deposit of $100,000. Gift accounts require an initial deposit of $10,000 and a plan for future donations; this is a limit decided by the DSO as these accounts are not meant to be for one-off donations. New student organizations will not be approved for these accounts. If you qualify for one of these, please email olivera@fas.harvard.edu to begin the process.

• Once you have reviewed the terms, we can proceed with getting them signed and approved by Alumni & Development Services (ADS)

• Please provide the Assistant Director of Finance and Administration for Student Engagement with the gift amount and the name of the donor who will be making the first gift - ADS will require this information before they sign off on the terms

• Finally, before we can officially establish the gift fund, you will need to send the first gift or a signed pledge from the donor to jesse_hergert@harvard.edu (Senior Associate Director, Academic and Development Coordination). The checks need to meet the $10,000 threshold and can come from multiple donors.

The student organization must complete a gift account request form and start the process with Keith Bitely, the Endowment, and Gift Administrator, FAS Finance Office. It is especially important to include the full proposed title of the fund, coding to credit the gift, fund terms, and the balance forward designation. Requests for new funds will not be processed without donor terms. Original donor correspondence indicating the gift purpose is sufficient for current use gifts.

Once a request is approved, a new fund number will be assigned. The FAS Office of Finance will notify the requesting student organization via email of the new fund number once it is established. Beginning in 2011, a notification process was put into place to ensure that all departments receive the information needed to manage new gift funds. Student organizations must acknowledge (via email) that they received the fund notification within two weeks of receipt. Requests for new funds usually are approved within a few days. The approval process may take longer during peak gift- giving periods such as calendar year-end (December/January) and fiscal year-end (June/July).

Because donations to Gift Accounts and Endowment Funds are legally made to Harvard University, Harvard has financial responsibility for those funds on behalf of student organizations. Student organizations earn interest on the money in their Gift Funds, the amount can be withdrawn from the fund and deposited into the HUECU bank accounts during the academic year. Endowment Funds are held in perpetuity and only the income generated by investing the endowment principal and the interest earned may be spent.

Students with a Gift Fund or an Endowment Fund can view their balance by emailing olivera@fas.harvard.edu to inquire about the fund balance.

All withdrawal requests must be processed by the Student Engagement Team. Only executive organization officers (treasurer) listed as such on SOCO can request withdrawals from gift accounts or endowment funds. To initiate a withdrawal email Olivera Saric Knezic at olivera@fas.harvard.edu.

All withdrawal requests should include an itemized business purpose explanation of how requested funds will be spent or receipts if the withdrawal is being requested to provide reimbursements.

Each business purpose must include:

• Who incurred the expense or who benefitted; specific names of individuals/groups are required.

• What the expense entailed (e.g., item purchased, or activity conducted)

• Why this is a student organization expense (i.e., specific reason, purpose)

• Where the event or activity took place (if not apparent in transaction detail or receipts)

• When the event or activity occurred (if not apparent in transaction detail or receipts)

For example, if the funds are being used for student organization travel, the request should include the purpose of the trip, travel dates, number and name of travelers, and cost per ticket. All itemized receipts and invoices should be kept, as these may be requested during an IRS audit.

Example of acceptable business purpose: Sam Jones and Kris Doe 12.1.2020-12.10.2020 round trip airfare to Montreal to perform at the Montreal Opera House

Requests will be processed within 5 business days from the date the request is received.

There are periods of the University's fiscal year when processing time may take longer. Harvard's fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30. Student organizations are highly encouraged to plan organization activities that will require the withdrawal of gift accounts and endowment funds far in advance. Please pay attention to reminders and deadlines the Student Engagement Team shares throughout the year.

Starting June 1st, 2021, student organizations can receive electronic payment directly to their HUECU account via Zelle. Please note the paper checks will not be processed. We encourage all student organizations to register by following these steps:

• Steps to pay Student Groups digitally via Zelle: https://b2p.procurement.harvard.edu/files/b2p/files/b2p_zelle_student_groups.pdf

• Confirm that the student group's bank account belongs to the group itself and the email address associated with that bank account (it must not be a personal bank account linked to any of the group's members).

• Register the group for Zelle via the website here: For HUECU-banked groups, click here: https://huecu.org/digital-banking/zelle/

• Confirm with olivera@fas.harvard.edu that the group is an active Harvard supplier in the B2P Supplier Portal: Within the portal registration, student groups may leave the "Payment" section set to Check

• Once the student group register Zelle, the Assistant Director of Finance and Administration for Student Engagement will email.

AP_SupplierOnboarding@harvard.edu with the email address associated with the student group's bank account & request to switch the group to a preferred payment method of Zelle. The Supplier Onboarding team will set up Zelle as the default payment method.

Donations can be received via check or online via credit card donations. All donations should be delivered on time, within six months of the check date, and always within the calendar year of the date on the check. Check should be sent directly to the Alumni & Development Services (ADS) Bank of America lockbox. Gifts arriving at the lockbox can be processed by ADS.

How the gift information should be sent to the lockbox:

1 transmittal per check. This means if you have 5 checks, there should be 5 transmittals.

• The check and accompanying transmittal can be paper clipped or stapled. This means if you have 5 checks and 5 transmittals, there should be five separate packets inside the envelope, each held together with a paper clip or staple. 1 check/1 transmittal.

• The transmittal should contain donor information (names, address), the amount of the gift, gift account number, and allocation.

Here you can find the gift transmittal form: https://finance.fas.harvard.edu/links/rsos-gift- transmittal-form

The lockbox address is:

Alumni & Development Services PO Box 419209 Boston, MA 02241-9209

The following reports may be requested by student organizations with gift and endowment accounts by contacting Assistant Director of Finance and Administration for Student Engagement, olivera@fas.harvard.edu. In your email, please specify the report you are interested in and include the name of the fund and fund number. All reports are run with the "Current Fiscal Year to Date" date range unless otherwise specified.

Harvard University's fiscal year begins on July 1st and ends on June 30th. An example: FY24 begins on July 1st, 2023 and ends on June 30th, 2024.

Please note, that online donation and check donations require 3 to 4 weeks of processing time before they are recorded into the reporting system.

Here are the reports available:

• Transaction Listing Report: Lists individual transactions (debits and credits) incurred in the fund.