Fund and Friend Raising
A Primer for College Faculty and Staff
The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) Office of College Advancement (OCA) is prepared to assist and advise you with fund and friend raising. Our mission is to support the College's efforts to increase private gifts for individual, departmental, and college-wide programmatic and non-programmatic objectives and to provide opportunities for our alumni and friends to be involved with the CAES.
The Office of College Advancement identifies, cultivates, solicits, and stewards all gifts given to the Arch Foundation designated for the College. To best accomplish this task, the OCA also coordinates proposals and gifts to individuals, corporations, and foundations per the definitions listed below. Our office is also responsible for the CAES annual giving efforts.
The OCA also coordinates alumni relations programs by working in conjunction with the CAES Alumni Association. We provide support for college and departmental alumni related activities, including mail correspondence, event planning, and communication materials.
We look forward to working with you to enhance the development and alumni relations areas of the the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. You may contact us at any time for assistance and support of fund and friend raising for the CAES.
Rob Cooper, Director of Development
Office of College Advancement
ocamgr@uga.eduJuli Fields, Director of Alumni Relations
Office of College Advancement
jfields@uga.eduCollege of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Office of College Advancement
117 Four Towers
Athens, GA 30602
(706) 542-3390
Definitions
Charitable Gift - A gift is an irrevocable transfer of personal property (e.g., cash, securities, books, equipment) or real property by a donor, either outright or through a planned/deferred gift vehicle (e.g., charitable gift annuity, retained life estate, charitable remainder trust, life insurance, will bequest). Charitable purposes are designated by the donor and without expectation of a tangible or economic benefit to the donor except tax benefits and life income in the case of planned/deferred gifts. A gift to the University of Georgia implies no responsibility to provide the donor with a product, service, technical or scientific report(s), or intellectual property rights. Providing stewardship services to the donor (such as the names of recipients of scholarships, awards, appointing the donor to membership on advisory committees, etc.) or providing a proposed budget or summary of how the funds were expended does not prevent the contribution from being considered a gift. The donor may specify the use of the funds or the gift may be unrestricted for use in meeting needs identified by the University and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
*Gifts should be made payable to the Arch Foundation, the private gift repository of the University of Georgia.
Current Gifts - Current gifts are gifts made in the current year that can be utilized immediately. They are commonly referred to as "outright gifts" or "immediate gifts". Current gifts may be designated to help fund opportunities for today and can be assigned to benefit a specific area of interest to you, including academic, research, and/or extension priorities in the CAES.
Deferred Gifts - Deferred gifts are often called "planned gifts" because they are integrally connected to financial and/or estate plans. They range in size from smaller bequests to multi-million dollar trusts. They are called deferred gifts because even though they are given today, the benefits will not be realized until sometime in the future.
Designated Gifts - A donor may choose to designate a gift to any research, extension, and teaching objective within the CAES. A gift may be designated for counties and/or state-wide support.
Programmatic Objectives - Examples of programmatic objectives are student enrichment and scholarships, faculty and staff support, capital improvements, commodity field days, and extension training and workshops. Programmatic gifts solicitations greater than $5,000 should be coordinated with the Office of College Advancement.
Non-Programmatic Objectives - Examples of non-programmatic objectives include conference sponsorships and regional/national meetings. For all non-programmatic gift solicitations, please coordinate with the Office of College Advancement.Endowed Fund - An endowed fund is one in which the original principal is never invaded and the gift exists in perpetuity. Endowments are generally funded within five years of the initial contribution. Income is distributed annually pursuant to spending policies adopted by the Arch Foundation and no income will be distributed until the endowment is fully funded.
There is no limit for donating gifts to already-existing endowments, but the Arch Foundation has minimum requirements for establishing new endowments. Each endowment will be supported by an accompanying fund agreement which is signed by UGA, the Arch Foundation, CAES officials, and the Donor or Donor Representative. All fund agreements explain the gift's purpose and use.
Non-Endowed Funds - Non-endowed funds consist of funds of which both principal and income may be expended, but only for purposes specified in the fund agreements. These receive short-term earnings and an internal administrative fee is assessed.
Non-Endowed "In-and-Out" Funds - These funds are designed to handle gifts of relatively small amounts made for a specific purpose, to be disbursed on a one-time basis. These are generally expected to be expended within twelve months of the fund's establishment, as set forth in the fund agreement. These earn no return from investments and no fees are assessed.
Steps to Follow When Submitting Proposals for Individual, Corporate, and Foundation Gifts:
Talk with your department/director about the possibility of private fundraising for your program or project so that you have the approval to proceed. Then, contact the Director of Development at the Office of College Advancement, Rob Cooper, to coordinate the efforts.