ASSESSMENT FEE POLICY ON GIFTS AND GRANTS TO BELLINGHAM
TECHNICAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION
Effective: July 1st, 2011
I. PURPOSE/SCOPE
Bellingham Technical College is committed to the development efforts of the Bellingham
Technical College Foundation. In order to support the Foundation operations and further
fundraising efforts, an administrative fee will be assessed on all gifts and grants (where
permissible) made to the Bellingham Technical College Foundation. The options for
methods of payment of the fee are described below.
II. POLICY STATEMENT
Effective July 1st, 2011, an administrative fee will be assessed on all current use gifts,
endowed gifts, grants and pledge payments (see exemptions below) made to the
Bellingham Technical College Foundation. The purpose of these fees is to strengthen
the development program and partially defray administrative costs. The fee percentage
stated herein will be reviewed annually. The options for methods of payment of the fee
are described below (see IV.A.).
Policy
• The fee assessment applies to all cash gifts and grants except as outlined by
exemptions below.
• A one-time only 5% assessment will be levied on all current use gifts and pledge
payments (on pledges made subsequent to the effective date of the policy)
received by the Bellingham Technical College Foundation.
• A 1% assessment will be levied annually—based on fair market value of the
endowment as at year end—June 30th—on all endowment gifts received by the
Bellingham Technical College Foundation.
• Any pledges made before July 1st, 2011and their subsequent pledge payments
will not be subject to this fee. Grants for proposals which were submitted before
July 1st, 2011 will be grandfathered.
• Gift receipts will inform the donor that a portion of the gift received has been
allocated to cover the cost of fundraising.
• Donors will receive credit for the full amount of their gifts.
• Deferred gifts, such as charitable gift annuities, trusts and bequests will be
assessed only at the time they are realized.
• Grants received from non-governmental sponsors such as corporations
and foundations, will be assessed a gift assessment fee of 5% except where pre-
existing guidelines or agreements prohibit it.
Exemptions
Fees will not be assessed on:
• Documented gift agreements, including documented pledges, executed prior to
July 1st, 2011.
• Non-cash gifts (gifts–in-kind) made to the College that are to become inventoried
useable assets of the College;
• Governmental grants or sub-grants where the funding source prohibits these
fees.
• Unrestricted gifts.
III. DEFINITIONS
Current use gift: a gift intended by the donor to be used for current purposes or
programs; a gift that does not exist in perpetuity.
Endowed gift: a gift intended by the donor to be used for restricted purposes or
programs; an endowed gift exists in perpetuity through the responsible investment of
the principal. From that principal, an annual payout is distributed that is realized from a
portion of the investment income allowing the gift’s real value to increase over time.
Gift: the charitable and irrevocable transfer of money or property that is voluntary and
motivated by something other than consideration or expectation of financial return or
contractual obligation.
Gift-in-kind: the charitable and irrevocable transfer of property or service that is
voluntary and motivated by something other than consideration or expectation of
financial return or contractual obligation.
Grant: generally, a grant can have some or all of the following characteristics, a
provision for audits by or on behalf of the grantor; grantor is entitled to receive some
consideration such as a detailed technical report of research results or a report of
expenditures, the research or project is directed to satisfying specific grantor
requirements (e.g., terms and conditions stating a precise scope of work to be done), a
specified period of performance is prescribed or termination is at the discretion of the
grantor, or funds that are unexpended at end of period shall be returned to the grantor.
Pledge: the promise of a gift made legally binding by a signed agreement.
Principal: the actual amount of the gift; often referred to as "corpus" of an Endowment.
IV. PROCEDURE DETAILS
A. Methods of Payment
1. Fees for all current use gifts will be deducted at the time the gift is made to the
Bellingham Technical College Foundation. Donors may elect to provide for the fee by
making an additional gift equivalent to the fee.
2. A fee of 1% of the fair market value of all endowed gifts will be deducted annually at
year end (June 30th).
3. When the terms of the gift specifically disallow fees or cost recovery, the academic
program or project benefiting from the gift may be asked to pay the fee from another
discretionary departmental funding source.
B. Disclosure to Donors
Disclosure of the fee policy is made to donors on all gift receipts. Additionally, written or
oral disclosure of the fee to donors is encouraged at the time of solicitation. Fee
information should be included in any proposals or gift documents issued to prospective
donors. Appropriate disclosure language for fund raising literature or letters of gift
purposes is as follows:
(a) “A one-time 5% administrative fee will be deducted from this gift to further
fundraising efforts on behalf of Bellingham Technical College”; OR
(b)“A 1% annual management fee based on the fair market value of the endowment
as at year end (June 30th) will be deducted to further fundraising efforts on behalf of
Bellingham Technical College.
V. APPLICABILITY AND AUTHORITY
The Board of the Bellingham Technical College Foundation has approved this policy
and delegates responsibility for administration and adherence to the Executive Director
of the Foundation. Periodic review and revision of fee percentage or other
administrative changes are subject to approval by the Foundation Board.