Skip to main content

Gift and Grant Award Notification and Monitoring Procedures

PPD-0204

Purpose:

The VIMS Foundation Accountant is responsible for notifying award recipients of available funds (gifts or grants) in the VIMS Foundation to support their program in a timely manner, and to distribute and monitor these funds for expenditure in order to ensure their most prompt and efficient use by the award recipient and in accordance with Board approved budgets.

Definitions:

Banner Index:  Account number assigned within the Banner Financial Accounting System which allows financial activity to be tracked by funding source, responsible organization, and program code.  

Endowment:  Donor gift that lasts in perpetuity where only the earnings generated on the gift through investment are used to fund either activities restricted for a specific purpose stipulated by the donor or unrestricted for purposes to be determined by the VIMS administration and VIMS Foundation Board.

Restricted Gift Funds:  Donor current use gifts or grants restricted for specific purposes such as research or the purchase of equipment.

Restricted Endowment Spendable Funds: Funds generated from earnings on restricted endowments calculated based on the most current spending policy as approved by the VIMS Foundation Board less the most current administrative fee in effect as approved by the Board.  The proceeds from the administrative fee are used to fund unrestricted operating or programmatic costs as approved by the VIMS Foundation Board during the budget process.

Unrestricted Endowment Spendable Funds: Funds generated from earnings on unrestricted endowments calculated based on the most current spending policy in effect as approved by the VIMS Foundation Board.

Procedures:

Restricted Current Use Gifts or Endowments

Notification Process

  • A gift/award notification and information package is received by the VIMS Foundation Accountant from the W&M Office of Advancement.
  • The VIMS Foundation Accountant creates a Banner index(es) for the gift and then notifies the relevant award recipient and department financial officer of the new funds via email.
  • The gift/award notification package from the VIMS Foundation Accountant includes:
    • On VIMS Foundation letterhead:
      • The type of restricted funds (endowment or current use)
      • Date of award notification
      • Index number and title
      • Amount of gift
      • For endowment gifts only: when the spendable amount will be known and available, and the spendable index number. (If a gift is received prior to the December deadline with completed paperwork, the spendable amount will be available the second subsequent fiscal year beginning July 1.)
      • Purpose as outlined by the donor
      • Fund Administrator/Section
      • Financial Manager
    • Donor signed letter of intent, letter of commitment, endowment agreement and endowment abstract, and/or advancement solicitation
    • Award letter and project proposal, if applicable
  • If labor charges are included in the project, an index is also created in the VIMS chart of accounts (chart V) as the VIMS Foundation chart of accounts (chart M) is unable to process labor expenditures. This normally occurs for grant awards based on proposals submitted with a scope of work.  In this instance, only the Chart V index will be provided in the award notification package above to the responsible party either by the Institutional Accountant or by the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). The process for handling awards that flow through Chart V is:
    • A sub-award agreement from the VIMS Foundation to VIMS is processed to create a chart V index to track all expenditures.
    • The chart V index create form is reviewed and approved by the VIMS Foundation’s Director of Financial Operations prior to creation.
    • The Financial Administrator (either Institutional Accountant or OSP Administrator) notifies the award recipient, and Financial Officer of the Chart V index for the project.
  • For endowment gifts, once the associated spendable funds are calculated and approved by the VIMS Foundation Board in April of each year, a report of the spendable amounts by endowment will be provided to the VIMS Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the VIMS Budget Director to incorporate into the internal budget development process. Once the budget process is finalized, the relevant Financial Manager and award recipient will be notified by the Foundation Accountant with the allocated amount and a spendable index.
  • Notification of those endowment spendable funds not distributed by the CFO will be provided by email to the responsible Financial Manager and award recipient along with the spendable index by the Foundation Accountant.

Monitoring Process for Restricted Current Use Gifts and Restricted Endowment Spendable Funds

  • For Foundation funds in chart V, indexes in the 7Z series are used to track expenditures for less complex donor grants. These funds are monitored by the Institutional Accountant, and current balances are updated semi-annually in Banner based on additional awards received by the VIMS Foundation or by direct charges to the VIMS Foundation.  Indexes in the 79 series are used to track VIMS Foundation expenditures for more complex grants such as those that require sub-awards or financial reports.  These funds are monitored by OSP.  For all VIMS Foundation funded indexes in Chart V, expenditure certification reports which reflect current balances are run on a quarterly basis and provided in hardcopy form and delivered to the responsible party via interoffice mail.
  • For Foundation funds expended directly in Chart M that do not also have an index in Chart V, a cash balance is provided semi-annually to the award recipient and Financial Manager.

Unrestricted Gifts and Unrestricted Endowment Spendable Funds

Unrestricted gifts and unrestricted endowment spendable funds are used to fund the operations of the VIMS Foundation such as finance, development, and outreach, but programmatic costs can be funded as well.  

  • Between mid-February and early March, an internal meeting is held with the CFO, the Executive Director of Advancement and VIMS Foundation, the Dean and Director, the VIMS Foundation Director of Financial Operations, and the Foundation Accountant to develop an operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
  • In mid-March, the operating budget is presented to the VIMS Foundation Budget and Finance Committee for review, input, and approval to recommend to the full Foundation Board.
  • The Budget and Finance Committee presents the recommended budget to the full Foundation Board in mid-April.
  • If applicable, once the Board has approved the budget, notification of unrestricted funds budgeted for programmatic purposes will be provided by the Foundation Accountant.

Monitoring Process for Unrestricted Gifts and Unrestricted Endowment Spendable Funds

  • In July, the Foundation Accountant loads a budget by index into the Banner Finance System based on the approved line item budget. This allows the Offices of Advancement and Finance to see the available operating budget line item balance for which each is responsible at all times.
  • The Foundation Accountant provides the VIMS Foundation Director of Financial Operations with a report of unrestricted operating budget balances available on a quarterly basis.
  • The VIMS Foundation Director of Financial Operations meets with the Executive Director of Advancement and VIMS Foundation, and the Director of Outreach three times per year to provide and discuss budget status.