The other camp use proposals/opportunities to track this information, and for YTD progress reports some orgs use the % chance to assign them an expected value. They are typically broken out as their own line item. 

In practice, my feeling is that if you intend to count them fully, you should have a commensurately larger reserve against bad pledges/intentions. I tend to prefer counting them fully, because otherwise you're giving gift officers less credit for securing these kinds of gifts, simply because of the mechanism of the gift. That doesn't create good incentives, and it doesn't give more insight into how Advancement is actually doing. 

Marquette University is investigating the feasibility of offering hosted alumni email addresses. Has your institution implemented alumni email addresses? If so, we have a few questions:  

 

·        Does your university use a third-party supplier to host, manage, and maintain the security of your alumni email addresses? If so, please describe which supplier you use and your overall satisfaction in terms of implementation experience and ongoing support.  Would you recommend this supplier?  

 

·        If a third-party is not used, does your university self-host alumni email addresses? Please describe your email address setup and management (Microsoft 365 vs on-prem deployment, provisioning methods or products, etc.) as well as any security measures implemented to protect alumni accounts. 

 

·        If you procured consulting to implement alumni email addresses from either a third-party or self-hosted, which consulting supplier did you use? Would you recommend this consulting supplier? 

 

·        What is the process for assigning alumni email addresses (immediately upon graduation, by request, or another trigger)? 

 

·        What benefits have you experienced with alumni email addresses? 

 

·        What challenges have you experienced with alumni email addresses? 

 

Thanks,

Missy

 

Missy Lind Egelhoff

Senior Director, Advancement Information Services

T: 414.288.6774 | M: 414.699.8131 | E: melissa.egelhoff@marquette.edu

Thanks, Isaac! This makes perfect sense. We count our DAF intentions fully. I appreciate the reply.

We have developed a separate Statement of Intention to Give form for DAFs based on some language from other institutions and from Schwab and Fidelity. It is not a legally binding pledge. We will record the pledge in our database (Raiser's Edge) and note via gift subtype that it is a DAF. Our Finance Department will not book these pledges. These would count as new commitments in the year the document is signed. Note that if the pledge is current use, we will only show the pledge amount expected in the current fiscal year. We will book future year unrestricted pledges, not as installments, but as future year pledges so that our expected revenue for the current year is not impacted.

Our document was developed modeled after one from George Washington University. To give credit where credit is due, this was shared by Gail Ferris, AVP for Advancement Administration and Compliance at GWU who previously worked at Georgetown, American University, and at Yale. He is past president of both the Association of Advancement Services Professionals (AASP) and CASE Summer Institute for Advancement Services. Our document was also reviewed and accepted by our legal department.

Source: https://www.fidelitycharitable.org/articles/can-i-make-a-pledge-with-a-donor-advised-fund.html 

See page 13 of this Schwab document: Q: Can I recommend a grant to satisfy a pledge I've made? A: Per the IRS, donor-advised funds can't be used to satisfy a legally binding pledge or agreement between an individual and a charity...You may, however, recommend a grant to satisfy a nonbinding pledge. 

Source: https://www.schwabcharitable.org/public/file/P-8327431 

The first page of this Schwab document explains why the DAF cannot be used to pay a pledge (in case you want more info).

The IRS has not "relaxed" the rule.  They have, in that notice, offered a way to record DAF gifts as payment on pledges - but only when three strict criteria are met.  However, even with that notice (which has not become a regulation), if the DAF states you cannot use their gifts in such a manner, you cannot use their gifts in such a manner!  Regardless of whether those three conditions are met.

I will cover this topic in detail on March 10 when I conduct the aasp Annual IRS Update webinar.

John

Thanks, Serena. This makes sense to me.