CLAS Development and You

How we can help:

• Who to contact at the Foundation
• Gaining familiarity with the Foundation/Fundraising
• Alumni and donor lists for:
  • Solicitations
  • Event invitations
  • Newsletters
  • Public acknowledgement
  • Other
• Annual appeals
• Appeal Codes (for your mailings and solicitations)
• Gifts (what to do when one comes in) and the PSUF administrative fee
• Creating a new department fund/account
• Fund balances and restrictions
• Using Foundation funds
• Giving pages
• Acknowledgement letters
• Grant proposal clearance
• Crowdfunding
• Donor/alumni change of address
• Other development-related questions

Please note: If you have trouble with any form links provided here, please contact the CLAS Development Coordinator. She will be able to provide you with any Foundation forms you need.

FAQ

-Who’s a good general person to contact about Foundation questions?

Start with contacting your CLAS Development Coordinator, Stephanie Gustafson, at s.gustafson@pdx.edu or 5-2309. If she doesn’t know the answer, she can probably find it for you or direct you to someone who can.

-How do I request an alumni or donor contact list for a mailing or other purpose?

If you need a list of alumni, donors, or both (and you have not previously shared all finalized details with the Development Coordinator in the Department Communications Survey), please fill out the Alumni List and/or Donor List request forms on the CLAS Intranet. The CLAS Development Coordinator, should be notified that you've made a request. If you don't hear from her within 2–3 days of submitting the form, or if you have any questions, please call or e-mail. Please note that lists will now take up to 15 business days after being processed by the Development Coordinator. As such, any requests should be made as far in advance as possible (as soon as you are able to finalize all the needed details).

If this list is for sending out a solicitation in the winter, spring, or summer terms, there will be an additional approval process. You should reach out to your Development Coordinator about your intention to do a solicitation as early as possible and make sure to indicate your intention to send an appeal in any surveys. For fall term solicitations, see "We do our own annual appeal in the fall. How do we get our mailing list for that?"

-Why should I request a new mailing list every time I send something out?

The Foundation requests that you get a new list if you’ve had an old list for more than 2–3 weeks or if it's related to something different or serves a different purpose (e.g. you sent out your spring newsletter and then want to send out an invitation for an event two weeks later.) This is because donors and alumni move around and change their addresses or, in some cases, ask that they not be contacted. Donors might also be fine receiving a newsletter, but they may have asked, for example, not to receive event invitations or solicitations. As such, we don’t want the lists to get too out of date and fail to acknowledge those changes or preferences.

-I want to acknowledge some donors publicly (at an event, on a poster, etc.). Can I get a list for that?

Yes! Please use the Donor List Request form and specify that it is for public acknowledgement. Please also make sure to fill out this form at least 15 business days before you need the list.

-How long will it take me to get my list (that is not for a fall annual appeal)?

Getting this sort of list can take up to 15 business days (especially if a special or more complex list needs to be created). Please plan ahead! Solicitations need further approvals and can take longer.

-We do our own annual appeal in the fall. How do we get our mailing list for that?

An annual departmental appeal is typically done during the fall semester, and it is sent out using a pre-determined list provided by your Development Coordinator and designed by the Foundation. To get your list for a fall appeal, please request it several weeks in advance and let us know your intention to send one as soon as possible. For help with your mailing (design, content, etc.), contact the PSUF Annual Giving & Marketing Departments.

-What is an appeal code, and do I need to request one?

Appeal codes were codes assigned to communications to keep track of who received what. They also helped track gifts that came in—and which communication or resource might have successfully prompted those gifts.

Due to the Foundation's change to a new database, you will no longer need to request an appeal code for your mailings! A new type of code, called a finder code, will be attached to the lists we provide automatically.

When it comes to sending out a solicitation (like an annual appeal in the fall), the finder code will still need to be embedded in your direct mail solicitation letter.

-A donor just gave me a check (hooray)! What do I do with it?

You have a couple of options. You can either fill out the Foundation gift transmittal form and deliver both the form and the check to the Foundation, or, if you have any questions or are more comfortable doing so, you can just deliver the check to the Development Coordinator in Cramer Hall 387. The Development Coordinator will want to know which fund the gift should go into and any information you have on where it came from.

Please note: There is a 5% fee on every gift to a Foundation fund. This fee amount is in line with the administrative fee at the University of Oregon and Oregon State University and ensures that the Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, continues to be able to manage these funds.

-A donor just gave me an in-kind gift (a piece of equipment for my lab, an item to sell in an auction, etc.). What do we need to do to accept it?

Please see our page on accepting in-kind donations. The page is long, but it's more straightforward than it looks!

-How do I set up a new account?

To establish a new current use account, it takes a minimum deposit of $500. Once you have that (or know where it will come from), work with the Development Coordinator to fill out an account agreement that should then be routed for signatures according to Dean’s Office routing procedures (which can be initiated by the Development Coordinator). The $500 then needs to be provided through either a donation, using a gift transmittal form, or a funds transfer request from another account.

For more information on types of accounts, visit our Foundation 101 page.

How do I check a fund balance?

Fund financial information is confidential, and staff members must sign a Foundation Confidentiality Policy form to receive this information. After signing the Confidentiality Policy form, they may get this information by requesting it from the Development Coordinator, or they can request their own financial report access. Please do this by emailing the Development Coordinator at s.gustafson@pdx.edu.

Although you can fill out a form and submit a request yourself, there are further approvals needed from the Dean's Office to grant financial report access, which the Development Coordinator can only gather if she knows about your request! So, please contact her first.

-How do I use a Foundation fund to cover student pay and teaching costs?

First, when creating an offer letter, include information on the distribution of pay, noting what percentage of pay will be coming out of which fund. For example: 50% of the pay comes out of XXXG01 (paid by PSU) and 50% comes out of XXXF99 (our foundation index).

Whatever comes out of the F99 index also needs to be broken down into the percentage that will be paid by particular Foundation funds. If it's only one fund, just list that fund number below the index. If you are using multiple Foundation funds to cover the cost, you need to break that down into percentages as well.

Ultimately, the whole thing might look something like this: 50% XXXG01 50% XXXF99 20% Foundation Fund ####### 30% Foundation Fund ####### As the second part of this process, send a copy of the distribution percentages to Foundation accounting. If it's a salaried with the same pay every month, then that should be it! If it is hourly work or anything that will fluctuate from month to month, you need to (1) print out the completed time sheet, (2) write the labor distribution percentage table on it, and (3) have both the worker and the approver sign it and send to the Foundation every pay period. (This is so they can accurately reimburse the F99 index.) You can change the distribution from the first step by filling out an EPAF and then letting the Foundation know of the change.

-How do I create a giving page for my account so that donors can give online?

For donors to give to your department's account(s) online, you'll need to set up a Foundation giving page. You can start this process as you are setting up your account or do it afterwards.

If your fund is not yet set up, work with the CLAS Development Coordinator, who can walk you through the process of both setting up the account and the page.

If you already have a fund and want a giving page, request one by following the instructions on the PSUF intranet.

You may also email your request to the Development Coordinator, who can help you with the process.

Note: Every fund doesn't necessarily need its own page! Funds can be added to the main department page, as well, by emailing your Development Coordinator at s.gustafson@pdx.edu with your request.

-How do I make changes to my fund's Foundation giving page?

Want to change the funds listed, the optional text displayed, or the image on your giving page? Send an email to your Development Coordinator at s.gustafson@pdx.edu.

-We want to start sending out acknowledgement letters to donors to our department. Do they already receive anything?

Donors will always receive a receipt for tax purposes that includes a thank you from the Foundation. For separate acknowledgements, though, it depends on how much they give. Donors who give a cumulative $1000 or more to CLAS during the fiscal year will receive a letter from the Dean (for their first gift of $1000 or when they reach $1000 in cumulative giving—this letter will only be sent once per donor within a fiscal year). Donors of $1000 or more to any PSU fund will also receive a letter from the Foundation, and donors who give $10,000 or more will receive a letter from the PSU President.

Donors who give less than that, such as much-valued alumni who give to their department a little bit every month (as long as their donations add up to less than $1000 in the fiscal year), are only acknowledged by CLAS if the departments choose to do so.

-Where do we get the information we need in order to send acknowledgement letters to our donors?

Every month around the 7th–12th, you should receive a Donations Raised report from the CLAS Development Coordinator. This will tell you the names of your donors, how much they gave, the fund they gave to, and the type of gift. However, you can only receive this information if you have filled out a PSUF Confidentiality Policy Agreement form, and this information is for internal use only. Addresses are not included because it should not be used to send acknowledgements.

If you want to receive an Acknowledgement Report that can be used to send acknowledgement letters, you just need to request it from your Development Coordinator. She will work with you to set it up, and it will come every month with your Donations Raised report. There are some things to be aware of, though.

Note: Though gift amounts are included, this is for your department's reference only and should not be included in the acknowledgement letter. For tax purposes, donors receive a receipt from the Foundation.

-Why do I need clearance on my grant proposal?

We review proposals because your department may not be the only group on campus interested in reaching out for funding, and many funding sources have strict guidelines for how many grants they will fund, etc.

For example, if a private Foundation only accepts one grant proposal from an organization per year and someone in another department has already submitted, you may be denied clearance.

-How do I get clearance to submit my grant proposal?

When pursuing a source of Funding, the PI/DRA should send information about the proposal and the desired funding source to the Development Coordinator, who will check with the appropriate Foundation resources to determine whether you have clearance to submit.

If you receive clearance, the Development Coordinator will then direct the PI/DRA to work with Corporate and Foundation Relations to review the Private Funding Clearance & Determination tool to discover whether the grant will be managed by the PSU Foundation or SPA.

For more detailed information about this process, please see the Research Development and Administration Proposal Development page.

-Can we do a crowdfunding campaign, and if so, how?

Yes, absolutely! Just let us know, and we’ll put you in touch with the Annual Giving and Marketing team at the Foundation, who can help you with the process.

-I found out that a donor has had a change in their personal information (e.g. they moved, got married, etc.). Should I inform the Foundation?

Please do! Your updates help ensure that the mailing lists we send to you contain accurate donor information. Please email information about changes to donor and alumni information to the CLAS Development Coordinator. Similarly, if you notice that an address or other piece of information we send you is out of date, please let us know so we can correct it in our database.

Don’t see the information you need here? Check out our Foundation 101 page, which has more information on accounts, gifts, and the PSU Foundation, or contact the CLAS Development Coordinator at s.gustafson@pdx.edu or 5-2309.

You can also check out the PSU Foundation Accounting Policies and Procedures for PSU manual now available on the PSUF Intranet.