Fund Management

Fund Management

Effective gift and fund management requires cooperation between campus and UIF advancement professionals as well as budget officers and business managers within the unit. Key components of good fund management include:

  • Communicating donor expectations to parties responsible for spending, as well as tracking and documenting fund beneficiaries.
  • Conducting audits to ensure funds are being spent and expenditures align with purposes/guidelines.
  • Deploying appropriate actions to address funds that require attention or have issues.
  • Providing fund information to units on an annual basis to inform of any changes, new funds, or amendments, confirm fund purpose prior to spending, and prepare for impact reporting to donors.

Guidelines

Coordinating Spending & Documenting Gift Use

Coordinating spending per fund guidelines and subsequently monitoring and documenting gift use is crucial to demonstrating responsible administration of gifts. To do this, each unit is encouraged to create a spending plan for each of their gift funds. Advancement professionals should work with their business managers to develop this plan. The basic information that should be included in the plan are:

  • Who is authorized to use the funds?
  • What will the funds be used for?
  • How much of the funds will be used?
  • When will the funds be used?
    • Annually
    • Fall, Spring, or Summer

This plan should be reviewed at least once a year and updated as needed. As funds are amended, advancement professionals need to communicate the new guidelines to those authorized to use the funds and explain why it was amended. Documenting uses of funds and fund beneficiaries enables unit advancement professionals to report impact back to donors efficiently. As expenditures are made, advancement professionals should confirm with business managers for accuracy.

Leveraging Audits

Audits demonstrate a commitment to appropriate fund use and provide the opportunity to identify funds in need of corrective action. To ensure appropriate use of gift funds, UIF and the campus leverage ongoing audit processes. On an annual basis, UIF Gift Administration conducts a donor intent audit in collaboration with University Accounting. Gift funds are randomly selected, and expenditures are reviewed for compliance with fund guidelines. This is different from UIF’s regular fund review that occurs every 2-3 years on a rolling basis by unit.

In addition, every unit should have an audit process to review gift funds annually with leadership and the business office to improve the management of gift funds and adhere to guidelines established by the Office of University Audits and the University of Illinois Foundation.

Some things that might be identified during an audit include:

  • Potential funds for termination
  • Fund deficits or accumulations
  • Funds with Sweep Code review needed
  • Funds with no guidelines
  • Expenditures not in line with donor intent

An audit also provides opportunities to explore ways to administer funds more appropriately or efficiently (e.g., administered at the department level vs. at the college level), or potentially if needed explore alternative uses to spend the funds.

When conducting audits, units will mostly use Static Designation Reports (see below for descriptions) and Fund Search in TED when reviewing their gift funds. As of FY24, OVCIA Performance Management is creating a Fund Spending Status Report that will also assist in this process when available.

Gift Fund Spending Status Report

The Gift Fund Spending Status Report is a tool designed to simplify your workflows, enhance donor stewardship, and support more effective fund management. Developed collaboratively, the report reflects the invaluable feedback and contribution of SDR professionals across campus, and we’re thrilled to share it with you.

Read more about the report

Budget-Preliminary Report

This report displays the estimated budget income for Foundation and University endowments for the upcoming fiscal year.

Budget-Final Report

This report displays the final budget income for Foundation and University endowments for the upcoming fiscal year.

Financial Reports

Provides information about every gift fund, including guidelines for spending and a comments section.

Management Reports Banner Accumulations

This report is generated for any Foundation or University endowment fund when the balance of the related Banner gift fund (C-FOP) is 3X or greater than the current fiscal year annual budgeted income amount.

Management Reports Banner Deficits

This report is generated for any Foundation gift fund with a related Banner gift fund having a balance of less than zero.

Synopsis Report

This report provides a summary of each gift fund, related gift funds, and all other information about the fund, including guidelines for spending and comments section.

Fund Search

Fund Search is a user-defined search capability providing access to gift fund’s balances, market values, fund guidelines, unit managed fund attributes, and other information pertinent to gift funds. To better understand the information presented in the Fund Search Report, click on the Help button on the Fund Search screen to access the “High Level Overview for Searching Funds” document.

Deploying Corrective Measures

Robust monitoring will result in the identification of gift funds that require attention. For instance, a unit may not be aware of a gift fund (due to staff turnover or lapses in training) and, as a result, it may accumulate income. Alternatively, a fund could have restrictive guidelines, making it difficult to spend.

Below are some common issues and recommendations for initial corrective measures:

Banner funds at $0 or low balances (under $200)

If it is a newly created fund, then it is probably waiting for gifts to come in. If the fund hasn’t received a donation in 5 or more years, this is a good sign that the fund can be closed. Work with the business manager to spend down low balances or make a transfer to bring the balance to $0 to close the fund (review this process in the Closing Funds section of this document).

Banner funds with deficits

Work with the business manager to investigate and make transfers to replenish funds if possible. First by seeing if there is an endowment fund with the same Banner that will replenish the deficit.

Banner funds with high accumulations (3x the earnings)

Work with unit leadership to determine a spend-down plan (or reinvest the income).

Missing Banner codes to sweep funds

Work with the business manager to determine if a new Banner fund needs to be requested or to use an existing fund. Email UIF Gift Admin for assistance.

No governing documents for endowment funds

Work with donor(s) or unit to establish a governing document. Email UIF Gift Planning to confirm what documentation is needed and if there are any previous drafts.

Fund needs to be amended

Work with unit leadership to confirm funds cannot be used based on current guidelines. Work with donor(s) to amend a fund to be more flexible or in line with current unit needs. Last case scenario, submit a proposal to the UIF Stewardship Committee to enact the alternate use clause in a fund agreement.

Closing Funds

Gift funds and associated Banner funds should be closed when they are no longer needed, being used, or have become dormant. Gift funds can be closed as needed throughout the fiscal year. You may also opt to designate a time during the fiscal year to review all your gift funds specifically for any needed closures.  Most gift funds that get closed are current use funds because funding eventually gets depleted. Gift funds that have a $0 book value balance should be reviewed for potential closure. You can pull up the balance of a fund or group of funds via the Fund Search Report in TED. When a $0 book value balance is confirmed, review if the gift fund should remain open.  

Reviewing Gift Funds for Closure 

  • If there is a corresponding Banner fund, doublecheck that its balance is also $0. If it isn’t, there is still funding to be spent and the gift fund should not be closed. Ask your Unit Business Manager when the fund last had activity in it, make sure to provide them with the CFOP. 
  • If the Banner balance is $0, look at when the gift fund was created. If created recently, the balance is likely $0 because the first gift has not been deposited yet, in which case, the fund should not get closed. Further research will be needed if the fund was not created recently.  
  • Review older gift funds further by utilizing the Purpose Search in TED to confirm when the last gift was received. If gifts have been received within the last 5 years, keep the fund open as there is still activity taking place. If it has been over 5 years since a gift was last made, look at the stewardship recipient information on the Fund Purpose.   
  • If there are stewardship recipients, a conversation is likely needed to discuss the future of the gift fund. Doublecheck the individual/household records of the stewardship recipients to confirm if a gift officer is assigned to them. Also review the interactions tab for any communication regarding the past, present, or future funding plans. Determine who is the most appropriate staff member to contact the stewardship recipients if needed. 
  • If there are no stewardship recipients, check with your unit CAO or appropriate advancement team member to confirm if fundraising is still taking place for the gift fund.  
  • If there may be additional gifts coming (including planned gifts,) the gift fund should remain open for now. If there are no plans for additional gifts to be received, the gift fund should be closed.  

Requesting to Close Funds 

Email UIF Gift Administration at giftadmin@uif.uillinois.edu with your Unit Business Manager copied, ask them to close the gift fund(s) with an explanation as to why. Also request for the Banner fund to be closed if it is not tied to any additional gift funds. If it is, then the Banner fund should remain open for the time being. Doublecheck the fund database to confirm that the closure is finalized within a week.  

Resources

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