The lines can seem blurred among bills that should be paid for through the University funds, those that can be covered with funds held at the Foundation and those that cannot be paid by either.
Fund descriptions found on the Foundation’s Campus Access application provide an initial guide to what individual Foundation-based funds can be used for. More detailed descriptions of allowable expenditures can be found in legal documentation, including memoranda of agreement and new fund letters. For more information, contact your Donor Relations Representative.
Payments made with funds held at the Foundation need to be used for the benefit of the UW-Madison and must follow all Internal Revenue Service guidelines. That is why the Foundation cannot provide funds for:
- Gift cards
- Employee gifts, including retirement gifts
- Contributions to other nonprofit organizations
- Parking tickets
Departments also can set up community funds to cover expenses that cannot be paid for from other discretionary funds.
The Chancellor’s memo (PDF) outlines allowable expenditures from appropriately designated funds held at the Foundation. (These are examples only and individual cases would be assessed by the University and the Foundation.)
- Travel reimbursements exceeding state maxima, to the extent these cannot be processed through the University with appropriate explanations.
- Cost of hosting faculty and graduate student candidates, to the extent these are not allowable by state travel regulations.
- Cost of legitimate moving expenses for new employees, to the extent these are not allowable under state rules.
- The most frequent example relates to paying costs of moving the spouse and children.
- Remember that PRIOR approval must be requested to reimburse any moving expenses.
- Costs related to school or college board of visitors meetings.
- Cost of alcohol served at events at which the other costs of the events are allowable.
- Remember that if an event is being held in a University facility an Alcohol Use Permit must be obtained.
The Chancellor’s memo also outlines inappropriate expenditures to submit the Foundation:
- Paying for goods and services to avoid the State bid processes.
- Reimbursing travel expenses of employees to avoid documenting expenditures and processing University Travel Expense Reimbursement forms.
- Paying for the cost of departmental meetings, parties and picnics to the extent such activities are merely social unless the Foundation account or donor documentation is explicit that the donor intended the funds to be used for such purposes.
- If there is a business purpose, the payments can generally be made through the University.
- Paying for retirement dinners or flowers for funerals of former department employees, unless the Foundation account or donor documentation is explicit that the donor intended the funds to be used for such purposes.
- Paying for retirement gifts.
- Paying for parking tickets of visitors and employees.
- Making donations or memorial gifts to non-profit organizations.
- Paying for upgrades to first class travel where such upgrades are not allowable under University travel regulations.