B.3. Accepting, Acknowledging, and Documenting the Receipt
     of Gifts
     January 1989

Development Policy and Administration Manual 
Chapter I. Soliciting and Accepting Private Funds
Section B. Soliciting, Accepting, and Acknowledging Gifts      
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           ACCEPTING, ACKNOWLEDGING, AND DOCUMENTING 
                     THE RECEIPT OF GIFTS                   


Accepting Gifts.  When a gift is given to the University, it is
not considered legally consummated until the University agrees to
the conditions and notifies the donor of acceptance of the gift. 
If a gift or bequest is received without disclaimer by the
University, the University assumes the legal obligation to
administer the gift or bequest in a manner consistent with the
terms specified by the donor.  This obligation arises under an
area of the law known as the law of charitable trusts, and is
subject to enforcement on behalf of the public by the Attorney
General of California.

Certain gifts may be accepted only by The Regents (see Section I:
B.1, Who Has Authority to Solicit and Accept Gifts?).

The notification to the donor of acceptance should indicate the
date of receipt of the gift and the amount (if cash) or a des-
cription of the gift sufficient to link it to the donor's records
(e.g., check for $1,000; 70 shares of Schlumberger, Ltd.; auto-
graph manuscript of D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers).  It may be
either in the form of a letter or in the form of a receipt from a
person who has been delegated the authority to accept gifts on
behalf of the University.  

Acknowledging Gifts.  An acknowledgment provides timely confirma-
tion to a donor that a gift has been received, and may or may not
also constitute acceptance of a gift.  If an acknowledgment
letter is signed by a person authorized to accept gifts on behalf
of the University, indicates acceptance, and includes a descrip-
tion of the gift and the date of receipt, it constitutes legal
acceptance of the gift (see above).  Letters of acknowledgment
from persons other than those with delegated acceptance authority
do not constitute legally recognized acceptance and should not
state or imply that a gift has been accepted.

In the case of gifts other than cash, care should be exercised so
that the acknowledgment and/or acceptance letters do not indicate
a value for the gift that could be construed in any way as an
endorsement of its value for tax purposes.  (For information on
acknowledging gifts of securities, see Section IV: D.1; for
information on acknowledging bequests, see Section IV: E.2).

Chancellors are responsible for establishing appropriate accep-
tance and acknowledgment procedures for their campuses.  If
acknowledgment by the President is also desired, a draft letter
should be forwarded to the Director--Development Policy and
Administration, Office of the President.

ACCEPTING, ACKNOWLEDGING, DOCUMENTING


Documenting Receipt of the Gift.  In order to protect the tax-
deductibility of a donor's gift for a given year, it is important
that the University be able to provide concrete evidence that the
donor relinquished possession of the gift before the end of the
year.  Therefore, it is especially important during the last few
days of the year that all gift mail be date-stamped when re-
ceived.  For a gift received after December 31 that was mailed
before that date, it is important to retain the envelope bearing
the postal cancellation date.  It is not necessary that the gift
be deposited or accepted by December 31.  If the donor has taken
all steps necessary to irrevocably tender the gift, then upon
acceptance by the University, the date of the gift is deemed for
tax purposes to be the date of tender.

The Gift/Private Grant Acceptance Report (UDEV 100) is the
University's official internal record of acceptance of a gift by
an authorized official and should be prepared for all gifts of
$1,000 or more (gifts of less than $1,000 are to be documented
using procedures established by the campuses); for all gifts to
endowed funds; and for all gifts of real property (see Gift/Pri-
vate Grant Acceptance Report, Section IV: B.2).  For gifts of $1
million or less, the form must be signed by the Chancellor or
someone designated by the Chancellor (see Who Has Authority to
Solicit and Accept Gifts?, Section I: B.1).  For gifts requiring
Presidential or Regental approval, forms will be initiated by the
Development Policy and Administration Office, Office of the
President.