Gift Acceptance Policy Syllabus

Slide 1: Welcome!

Welcome back. In the last lesson, you learned how to structure a planned giving strategy mindful of legacy management. In this lesson, we will address documenting gift acceptance policies.

Slide 2: Learning Objectives

After this lesson, you will be able to explain what goes into a gift acceptance policy, discuss the proper administration of planned gift to ensure policy compliance and list of benefits to the donor, the charity for having good gift acceptance policies in place. Let's get started.

Slide 3: Acceptance Policy

When I use the term gift acceptance policy, I mean a policy or document that details the gifts that your charity will accept. It seems simple and self-explanatory but I can't overstate the importance.

I provide sample documents in your resources for you to study further. What is important to note about this document that will be generic to other such documents is that the components of the document are meant to protect the donor as well as the charity. These components cover almost every potential gift option. It's like a menu that you can choose which parts are applicable to your organization and build your own policy. For the parts that are not applicable, it would still be valuable to leave then in with a note that you did not accept that particular gift option. This policy document should continually be reviewed and updated. As your charity evolves, you may be in a position to accept a larger variety of gifts or the minimum levels of certain gift options may

The donor cannot access the original gift or their principle of the charitable gift annuity. This particular donor wanted to put most of his assets in the charitable gift annuity because it will provide more than enough income for him to live on.

Slide 11: Example

On the surface, this sounds like a great opportunity for the charity but it doesn't meet the fiduciary responsibility as established by your gift acceptance policy. Why? Because the donor cannot access the principle of the charitable gift annuity. If something catastrophic were to happen to him and he could be adversely affected, you wouldn't want him to be able to pay for healthcare services or basic needs because he made this gift. Therefore, the right thing to do is to counsel the donor towards a different gift strategy. This demonstrates fiduciary responsibility to the donor.

Slide 12: Professional Counsel

When I use the term professional counsel, I'm referring to attorneys, accountants, tax advisers and financial advisers. These professionals should be part of the donor's team and should be used to provide counsel.

Slide 13: