Gifts vs. Grants, Processing, Fund Numbers

IS IT A GIFT OR A GRANT?

Funding is considered a gift when:

1. The basis of the donation is to make a charitable contribution;
2. The grantor is not requesting any contractual requirements;
3. The donation is irrevocable. 

Funding is considered a grant when:

1. The grantor expects detailed technical or financial reports;
2. There are start and end dates specified;
3. The sponsor expects unexpended balances to be returned.

For more considerations, please refer to the Gift Processing section of the External Relations web site.  The aforementioned are those that most often relate to the International Institute.

REGENTS VS. UCLA FOUNDATION

Consider the following when confronted with this sticky issue:

REGENTS

• Research gifts
• Gifts in kind
• One-time only gifts
• Grants
• Real estate not for immediate sale
• Major gifts
• Endowment gifts
• Construction gifts

There are differences in allocation and investment policies of the Regents and Foundation.Interest:

1.  payments on Regental endowments are made at the beginning of the fiscal year.
2. Payout on Regental endowments is slightly (approx 1 %) less than Foundation endowments.  This encourages long-term corpus growth and greater interest payments.
3. Gifts must have 6.5% taken off the top as the gift recovery fee.
4. No paper work is required to access your funds.

UCLA FOUNDATION

• Mass solicitation gifts
• Gifts with benefits
• Annual membership gifts
• Real estate for immediate sale
• Planned/deferred gifts
• Major gifts
• Endowment gifts
• Construction gifts

There are differences in allocation and investment policies of the Regents and Foundation: 

1. Interest payments on Foundation endowments are made on a monthly basis.
2. Payout on Foundation endowments is slightly (approx 1 %) more than Regental endowments.  More funds are available resulting in slower growth of the corpus.
3. For current expenditure funds, funds are released on a monthly basis while the gift earns 5%. 
4. You must submit a Monetary Transfer Form  (MTF) to access your funds.

WHAT IS THE 5% GIFT RECOVERY FEE?

This one-time fee is assessed on both Regental and Foundation gifts.  Gifts in kind are exempt.  How these fees are assessed has been discussed in the previous section.

HOW DO I APPLY FOR A NEW FUND NUMBER FOR A GIFT?

1. For Regental gifts, complete the on-line UCLA Regents Gift Transmittal and select the Establish a New Fund option.  The form is available here.
2. For Foundation gifts, print and complete the UCLA Foundation Transmittal Form

When the funds are released, the Regental fund number (regardless of whether this is a Regental or Foundation gift) will be assigned.

IF YOUR QUESTION HAS NOT BEEN ANSWERED?

Please refer to the Gifts Processing page for answers to more complicated inquiries such as how to handle gifts of real property, policies concerning mass solicitations, process foreign checks, or the level of funding to establish an Endowed Chair.

Published: Tuesday, April 16, 2002