UW Foundation
- The official fundraising and gift-receiving organization for the UW-Madison. We exist solely for the benefit of the University.
- A financial and development partner for the University
- A private, non-profit corporation that encourages gifts and grants for the University
- A secure place in which to invest those gifts
- A philanthropic partner to distribute gifts and investment income to the University
- A tribute to the loyalty of UW-Madison alumni and friends
The University of Wisconsin-Madison provides the inspiration for individuals, families, foundations and corporations to make gifts to support teaching, research and outreach.
No on both counts. The Foundation is a private, not-for-profit partner for the University, not an operating arm of it.
State and federal dollars continue to shrink. Philanthropy supports many programs and projects that otherwise would not be possible. They include professorships, fellowships and scholarships in all academic disciplines, research efforts and building projects.
They are the front-line fundraisers for the University. More than 40 development directors, each assigned to a specific college, school, department, program or region are the core of the Foundation team. They are responsible for:
- understanding your programs
- identifying prospects to support them
- giving time and attention to developing relationships with potential donors
- providing information about your successes, programs, initiatives and dreams
- setting up meetings between donors and you, your dean, the chancellor
- helping individuals and families sort out their philanthropic goals
- raising private funds for the University.
Development directors understand that the donor who makes the $2.5 million gift today may have made a first gift of $50 gift 10 years ago. Their job is to develop strategies to encourage gifts.
The donor designates how a gift is used.
The Foundation provides
- administrative and investment flexibility for funds,
- comprehensive stewardship of gifts,
- donor anonymity when requested,
- assurance that 100 percent of a gift will be placed in an account for the designated University unit, and
- centralized development for the University, so donors learn about campus-wide and constituency-based giving opportunities and are not overwhelmed by multiple requests.
Alumni & Donor Database
Some campus units maintain separate databases of their alumni, donors and friends. We encourage everyone to use the central database at the Foundation because it is constantly updated and easily accessible.
The Foundation maintains the most complete and up-to-date alumni, friends and donors database and makes it readily available to your department.
Up-to-date information provides many benefits:
- Your mailing piece will get to the intended recipient.
- Your overall mailing costs will decrease because address information will be clean and formatted.
- You will be better able to target your information.
Departments that abandon their shadow databases to use the central resource always save time, money and effort.
To mail your newsletter to alumni and non-alumni donors, request a mailing list through your development relations coordinator at the Foundation.
To mail your newsletter only to alumni, make your request from WAA at least five business days before you would like to mail. Specify the population you would like and the format in which you’d like to receive the information. The lists will be generated by staff at WAA and delivered within five business days. There is no charge for this service.
You can contact either the Foundation or WAA and we will direct you to the appropriate place.
The Foundation is happy to supply any lists that include a donor element. We eliminate those who have died and link spouses, so families do not receive duplicate mailings.
Send updates via email to recordsupdates[at]supportuw.org or through campus mail to the UW Foundation Records Management Department, 1848 University Avenue. The records management department staff will update the records.
There is no charge for this service.
Send the update information to the UW Foundation’s Records Management Department via email to
recordsupdates[at]supportuw.org or through campus mail to the UW Foundation Records Management Department, 1848 University Avenue. The records management department staff will update the record in the database.
Since you are looking only for alumni, visit WAA to make your request.
Specify the population you would like and the format in which you’d like to receive the information. The lists will be generated by staff at WAA and delivered to you within five business days. There is no charge for this service.
The Foundation’s Strategy application gives you access to current alumni information for free.
To receive a password, talk to the development director assigned to your school or college or contact:
- Sharon Adler, senior director of database services
We want all of your updates:
- Your school, college or unit contacts with alumni via email
- Returned mail of any kind (including not deliverable as addressed, no forwarding address on file, temporarily away, unable to locate)
- Any news on address, job, phone, marital status changes, deaths or other information
- Any other basic biographical information about your alumni
- Click on the “Send Update” button in the Foundation’s Strategy application.
- Email updates to recordsupdates[at]supportuw.org.
- Send any returned mail (newsletters, letters, other publications) through campus mail to:
- Address Updates – UW Foundation
1848 University Avenue
We absorb the cost of managing the data base because we believe in a systematic approach to managing alumni records.
- It ensures that university communications can be delivered.
- It provides a central location to update and receive information.
- It eliminates duplication of time, effort and expense.
- The information is reliable and current for everyone.
- We comply with US Postal Service regulations and guidelines.
The UW Foundation stores information about scholarship and fellowship recipients in its database. The Registrar’s office assigns an identification number (ID number) in ISIS (formerly labeled EMPLID), beginning with “000″ when student records are created. The
Registrar’s office supplies degree and demographic information, coded with that ID number to the Foundation. We create a record based on that number.
The ISIS “student ID” number is different than “campus ID” numbers, which are printed on student identification cards and now usually begin with “90″
You can help streamline the ability to track scholarship and fellowship recipients by sending us award information also coded with the student’s ID number. The information is secure and only used internally. You are not violating student confidentiality because we receive all student ID numbers from the Registrar.
Providing the identification with new information allows us to match records and avoid duplicates. If the student does not have a UW Foundation record, we will store the information until the student graduates, then match all information.
Annual Giving
- Direct mail solicitations and postcards
- E-solicitations and other online communications
- Telefund
- Sometimes face-to-face.
- Once a year for school/college campaigns
- Once a year for Great People scholarship contributions
We hire about 110 students a semester to make annual fund calls for individual schools and colleges from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 2 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Students receive six hours of training before they make a call. They work with a student manager, then a student mentor before they make calls on their own.
Deans from each school and college are invited to visit the student callers each semester to talk about their units. They usually provide fact sheets with current information about funding needs, rankings, general talking points about programs and majors, office contact information, recent news, notable events and prominent alumni. The students share that information with alumni as they make their calls.
University schools, colleges and programs pay an average of 17-cents for every dollar raised.
- Email: less than 1 percent (through links to online giving)
- Direct mail: 2-15 percent
- Telefund: 4-70+ percent
We usually make 6 to 9 calls to reach one person.
- The percentage of donors who continue to give from year to year: donor retention
- The percentage of lapsed donors who return to giving in the current year: donor reactivation
- The percentage of new donors in the overall donor pool: donor acquisition
- The increase in giving due to increased individual or household gifts: donor upgrade
Corporate and Foundation Relations
Distinguishing between
grants that should flow through the Foundation and dollars that should be handled through RSP can be confusing. The
Chancellor’s Memo (PDF) addresses the distinctions. The “
Gifts or Sponsored Projects Indicators” (PDF) developed by the Foundation and RSP provides additional clarification.
If you have a project that needs funding or know of an available grant you would like to apply for, contact the director of development in your school/college, who will put you in touch with the CFR team. We can help you determine if the funding should come through the Foundation or RSP.
We are a full-service grant writing and consulting team.
- Identifying grant sources
- Organizing and/or facilitating faculty visits to corporations and foundations
- Organizing and/or facilitating corporation and foundation visits to campus corporations and foundations to campus
- Writing/reviewing pre-proposals
- Writing/reviewing letter of inquiry
- Writing/reviewing grant applications
- Writing/reviewing stewardship reports (narrative and financial)
The Office of Corporate Relations is not a gift-receiving office. It focuses on providing services to business and industry in six areas:
- Recruiting UW-Madison graduates and interns
- Providing executive education and professional development
- Accessing faculty and staff expertise
- Licensing technology
- Enhancing global competency
- Fostering entrepreneurship
- Your director of development alerts our CFR team.
- We meet with principal investigators to discuss a project.
- We identify potential funding sources, often based on companies that previously have worked with you or your department.
- If a grant requires a pre-proposal, we will review your document (usually no more than three pages) or we will collect information from you to write the pre-proposal.
- You will review the pre-proposal, and we will submit it.
- If the first step is to submit a proposal or the foundation or corporation invites a full proposal, we will work with you to write and submit the grant application or we will review your material.
We can review a proposal or write it or anything in between. We would like to make your life easier, but you, ultimately, control the process. The Foundation staff is ready to help you apply for grants and to share their insights and expertise about the process.
Grant money is deposited in a fund for your use. If you receive a $1 million grant; $1 million is deposited. If you have unexpended dollars in your fund of more than $10,000, they will collect interest, which also will be yours to use.
Development
Development directors are committed to understanding your priorities and programs and making matches with donors who might be interested in those priorities.
Donors designate how gifts will be used. We consult with University partners to make the match work best for everyone. A formal memorandum of agreement between the donor, the Foundation and the University, or the terms of a will or trust, establishes how gifts can be used.
Every UW-Madison school and college has at least one development director. Deans may request additional development directors if there are more prospective givers who need to be reached.
All departments of the University have someone at the Foundation designated to work with them. Contact the Donor Relations Representative assigned to your area to find out who that is.
Endowment Fund
Gifts of cash, securities and property made to each endowment account are valued and, based on that value, they purchase units in the Foundation’s pooled endowment fund. In a structure similar to a mutual fund, each gift earns a pro-rated share of the pool. We track those shares and value individual funds according to the number of units they own in the pool.
Gifts are typically moved quarterly from expendable “12″ accounts into endowment “32″ accounts. If they wish, department may specify other instructions. Discuss options with you donor relations representative.
In late 2008, when the stock market fell to unexpected lows and remained volatile, the Foundation suspended moving endowment gifts out of the expendable “12″ accounts for several quarters to protect them from market volatility.
Monthly expendable “12″ account reports are usually available within four weeks after the end of the month through the Campus Access application.
Preliminary returns for endowment “32″ account will be available 30 days after the end of the quarter. Market values may be delayed an additional 30 to 60 days due to audit. Reports are available on Campus Access.
Investments are diversified among U.S. long term and international equities, hedge funds, fixed income, private equities, real assets including oil and gas, and cash.
About 8 percent a year over the long term, providing revenue for department spending, roughly 3 percent inflation, expenses and growth of the principal.
Events
The best way is to work through the development director assigned to your school or college.
As soon as you begin planning your event.
- Your director of development will help you submit an event request form.
- We will ask for as much information as you have about:
- budget
- guest charges
- number of attendees
- program/speaker information
- type of event
- special facility needs
- You will receive an event checklist with guidelines to implementing a successful event.
We help you procure:
- guest rooms
- meeting and banquet spaces
- parking permits
- food and beverage
- entertainment
- ground transportation
- floral/decorations
- audio visual equipment
We can also help you
- set a budget
- register guests
- provide name tags
Event planning services are free; event costs will be charged to the appropriate funds.
Event checklist:
- What is the purpose of the event?
- What are the goals for the event?
- Do I have a general location in mind?
- Who is the audience?
- Who are the key players who need to be there?
- How many guests are expected?
- Do other campus events conflict with my preferred dates/times?
- How much do I have to spend?
- Has the date been cleared on the appropriate calendars?
While the Foundation will provide free planning services for events that involve donors or potential donors, you will need to pay for other expenses (food, rooms, etc.) through a fund designated to pay for those activities.
If you are planning a conference or meeting, here are some sites to start with:
The two-year out advancement event calendar is
available online and is also distributed via a weekly email. To receive a copy, send your request and email address to:
Gifts
The Foundation requests the donor’s information to provide a receipt for the gift but will also respect a donor’s wish for anonymity. It may be someone in your department has made a gift and would like to remain anonymous.You will receive a report of the gift, but we will not divulge the donor’s name.
One of the advantages of the Foundation’s separation from the University is its ability to ensure donor confidentiality.
Your gifts will be deposited more quickly if donors send them to the Foundation lock box, which is a secure, efficient depository. The Foundation also generates gift receipts for tax purposes for those gifts. If gifts come into your department, you need to send them to the lock box anyway.
Something is wrong. The Foundation posts gifts within a few days of receiving them, and you can find the updated information on Campus Access the day after they’re recorded. If your department received a gift a month ago and it hasn’t been posted, it’s time for detective work. For help, contact:
- Wendy Richards, senior director of gift processing
We receive many, many memorial gifts at the Foundation. Most memorial accounts will receive $1,000 or less in gifts and do not require setting up a new fund. We can handle memorial accounts in two ways:
- Setting up a memorial code in an existing fund to recognize and track memorial gifts.
- Creating a separate memorial fund if
- the person is a prominent faculty member or well known in the community
- you know of another reason that the fund will receive lots of gifts
- family members have indicated they will make a significant gift
Many American companies will match gifts to higher education made by employees, their spouses or company directors. Companies may match gifts monthly, annually or on some other schedule.
- The Foundation completes any needed matching gift forms.
- We record matches as they are received.
Donors can change their minds and change their wills. We’ve seen as many as seven versions of one will: In the first three revisions, half of a bequest was given to School of Education scholarships; in the fourth, economics received a half of the total; in the fifth, economics received 40 percent; by the seventh, only 5 percent of the amount came to the University at all.
No. While the University prefers that gifts be given through the Foundation, the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System also accepts unsolicited gifts and invests them in the UW System Trust Funds. UW System trust fund account balances can be altered by state budget cycles.Checks must be intended for a fund administered by the UW Foundation to be deposited at the Foundation. Checks written to the UW-Madison or the University of Wisconsin will be deposited with the Regents into the trust fund.
Some research grants and/or contracts also must be submitted to the University. If you do not know whether corporate or foundation grants should be processed through the Foundation, check with your donor relations representative or the Foundation’s Corporate and Foundation Relations department.
For a payroll deduction form, contact:
- Wendy Richards, senior director of gift processing
Stewardship
The stewardship team includes donor relations coordinators for each school and college as well as Foundation stewardship director and stewardship specialist. For more information, contact your director of development or:
- Susan Teskey, director of stewardship
The Foundation acknowledges all gifts within two weeks.
Donors who make a gift of:
- $1 to $99 receive a one page receipt with a note from Foundation President Mike Knetter;
- $100 to $4,999 receive a one page receipt plus a letter from the Director of Development;
- $5,000 or more receive a letter from Mike Knetter;
- $10,000 or more receive a letter from the Chancellor;
- $50,000 or more become members in the Bascom Hill Society and receive a print, certificate and letters from Mike Knetter and the Chancellor;
Chartered in 1965, the society honors major donors to the UW-Madison:
- To encourage and foster continued support of the University
- To provide a framework within which lasting gifts and bequests can be made
- To assure proper recognition and support of donors in their efforts to ensure the future of the University
- To establish meaningful dialogue with the University community
Members have given $50,000 in gifts or irrevocable deferred gifts to the University or $100,000 in revocable deferred gifts.
The society honors donors in several ways, including publications and events. The annual fall event gives members a chance to visit with each other, the chancellor, faculty and staff, as well as attend the first home Big Ten football game. Each spring, members are invited to Wisconsin Weekend Away to spend time and hear in-depth lectures from University faculty. The Bascom Hill Society Showcase Series also presents lectures by UW-Madison faculty.
The Foundation sends Personal Endowment Reports to everyone who has established an endowed fund. The reports include a summary of the fund’s value as well as information about its impact, including notes, if appropriate, from those who benefited from the fund. They also include information about the Foundation’s Endowment Fund and an investment report.
Naming buildings and other campus entities for particularly generous and far-sighted donors is a well-established tradition in American higher education. The UW-Madison and the Foundation are pleased to work with donors who wish to make a significant investment in the future of the University and to recognize that generosity with a naming opportunity.
Naming is contingent on University policy set by the UW Board of Regents in Resolution 7166 of March 8, 1996, and is subject to review by UW officials.
Donors have many naming opportunities:
- Buildings and facilities
- Colleges, schools, academic or program units, institutes, center or laboratories
- Deanships, directorships, named department chairs
- Faculty support (distinguished chairs, endowed professorships, faculty scholars)
- Student support (graduate fellowships, undergraduate scholarships)
- Program-specific endowments and named funds
- Flexible endowments
- Limited term or annual gifts
Using Funds
The Foundation issues checks within 7 to 10 days of receiving a properly completed and authorized check request form.
The best way to track a check request that has been delayed is to start with the dean’s or director’s offices to be sure the request has been processed and sent to the Foundation. If the request has been sent to the Foundation, contact:
- Accounts Payable Department
No. Vendors should bill a department, which will submit a check request from a specific fund. Among other things, the Foundation cannot know if services have been completed, received in good order or even requested in the first place.
According to the Chancellor’s Memo (PDF), revised August 4, 2009:
“Only under extraordinary circumstances should the Foundation be requested to pay funds directly to a vendor for a University program or purpose. In such cases, the Foundation will make payment based on a request from the University custodian of the Foundation fund designated to make the payment: generally a principal investigator, or Department Chair. These requests must then be routed through the appropriate Dean’s or Director’s office for a co-signature. If a reimbursement is for the Dean or Director, the request for payment must be approved by the Chancellor’s Office or their designee.
“The University custodian is responsible for maintaining adequate justification of why University funds could not be used to make the expenditure, as well as all documentation supporting the expenditure. Such justification and documentation are considered open University records, subject to public inspection as provided in the Wisconsin Public Records Law. The level of documentation should be similar to that required for payment through regular University channels.”
According to the Chancellor’s Memo (PDF), revised Aug. 4, 2008:
- “If the items being requested for payment can be processed by the University under state procurement and travel rules, they must be processed through the University.
- The party requesting reimbursement must be convinced that the expenditure was necessary in support of ongoing programs such that he/she would be comfortable talking to the donor or the press about the payment.”
No. All payments are made through the University. The Foundation does not make direct payments to UW-Madison employees for services or honoraria, nor does it make payments directly to scholarship or fellowship recipients or prize winners.