These instructions are relevant for those who will be performing Functional level reviews, including personnel in the following offices:
- Office of Donor Relations & Special Events
- Bursar Office, Student Financial Services
- Office of Student Aid
Step 1: Retrieve Documents Requiring your Review
You will receive an email message from the Office of Gift Planning alerting you that your approval is required. You can retrieve the document using a link provided in the email message.
You can also find the document by using the application’s Dashboard. If using the application’s Dashboard, scroll to the ‘GA/SODI’ – ‘In Review – Action Required’ section and click on the appropriate button (Normal or Urgent: The button will have a number corresponding to the number of guidelines that need reviewed). Then scroll down to the ‘Functional Review’ section. Click the ‘View Detail’ button (appearing as a plus sign). Next, find the correct Guideline Agreement or Statement of Donor Intent to review and click on its folder icon (appearing in the “Action” column). Then scroll down to the “Document Content” section and click the arrow next to “Document Content” to view the document that needs approval.
Step 2: Review the Documents/Procedures for Specific Offices:
After the arrow is clicked, the content of the document will drop down. Read through the document carefully…
- Look for any notes from Gift Planning concerning exceptions granted, special circumstances, approvals received, etc.
- Compare the document to the questionnaire data (click ‘Open Questionnaire’ button), looking for any mismatches.
Office of Donor Relations & Special Events Staff:
1 – Check specific parts of the document:
- dates (e.g. date out five years for term endowment review?)
- signors correct?
- revert/retain is there?
- sections all there?
- basic fields at the top of the new view match the document?
2 – Read actual document looking for:
- typos
- what is written makes sense?
- what is written matches policy?
- what is written can be stewarded in perpetuity (e.g. is award criteria too narrow?)
Bursar Office, Student Financial Services:
1 – Read each section of the guideline and make sure that the following are correct:
- Guideline name (header and various sections)
- Donor names (various sections)
- Pledge amount (Principal Amount/Source of Funds section):
- Verify that the pledge amount meets minimum requirement for endowment
- Verify that any kind of matching is detailed.
- Verify that the Utilization of Funds section is accurate:
- Verify that funds cannot be used in a way that violates University policy.
- Verify that guidelines do not allow funds to be used in a way outside of what is acceptable for the level of the endowment (for example, a program support fund for $25,000 should have language prohibiting the use of the fund for student support).
- Verify that the awarding unit is displayed in this section
- Verify that the Endowment Administration section is correct:
- This section should include language for whether the income at the end of the year should revert or retain.
- There should be standard language regarding the investment of the funds.
- If the endowment is strictly for student support, there should be language regarding award renewals
- Verify endowment type specific information:
- Trustee scholarships – $100k minimum pledge level, financial need language and only allow one criteria with multiple preferences.
- Renaissance scholarship – $30k minimum pledge with financial need language.
- Early career professorships – $500k minimum level. Usually involves a $333,333 pledge from donor with a $166,666 match from University (there should be match language in guideline).
- Honors scholarship – $50k minimum pledge, identify the awarding unit.
- Athletic position scholarship – $300k minimum pledge with the sport and position identified.
- Fellowships – True fellowship or not?
- Verify that the correct signature lines are added:
- Donors line.
- College/unit representative for endowments supporting specific units.
- Office of Student Aid line ONLY for endowments with student support.
- Corporate Controller Office line (Joe Doncsecz).
Office of Student Aid:
1 – Review Document Content
- Review each paragraph of the GA/SODI paying close attention to the Utilization of Funds.
- Review title to be sure it does not contain a reference to a preference.
- Review signature lines to ensure they are accurate based on the Utilization of Funds.
- Review that the Utilization of Fund matches the Gift Level. For example, if the gift level is for an award ($20k gift level), does the Utilization of Funds not allow a preference, financial need, etc.?
- Review questionnaire to confirm the population/awarding plan has been completed when necessary and there are appropriate comments to support the GA/SODI Utilization of Funds.
2 – Functional Review Status
- Make comment on how criteria string would be established in eSteward for funds that will be awarded to students. This is especially important if the Utilization of Funds could be troublesome for awarding staff.
Step 3: Provide your Review Decision
After you review the document, scroll down to the “Functional Review Status” section. Your name should appear under the Approver area. In order to approve the document and write your comments (if needed), click on the plus sign under the “View Detail” column. Once the plus sign is clicked, the section will drop down and you will be able to write your comment in the “Please enter your Comments/Questions here” box. After you enter your comments (if any), please select one of the following options:
- Approve – if everything is correct and you have no further questions.
- Reject – if there is a major issue that cannot be easily corrected (e.g. your review of the document resulted in an unresolved question, or it appears that there is no awardable population, or it appears that there is no awarding plan, etc.). Type comments first before clicking this button. The Office of Gift Planning will respond to your comments and will resend you the document to approve after responding.
- Approve with Comments – if everything looks good enough to approve but you want a response to a question before the Guideline Agreement or Statement of Donor Intent can move forward. Type questions/comments first before clicking this button. The Office of Gift Planning will respond to your comments.
- Question – if it’s not ready for approval and you have a question that needs answered. Use this option if there is a small change/verification that is needed before approving. Type questions/comments first before clicking this button. The Office of Gift Planning will respond to your comments and will resend you the document to approve after responding.
Tip: Want to View Other Reviewers’ Decisions?
In the Dashboards screen, click on the ‘My Team’s Dashboard’ tab. Here’s where you can view all of your team’s (all reviewers) latest approval decisions and comments.