UT Foundation Policies

Objective

Gifts to the University of Tennessee Foundation are an unconditional transfer. Refunds will be made only in the event of (1) a mistake by the Foundation, or (2) a cancellation of an event by either the University or the Foundation, and only to the extent the cost for admission to such event included a charitable deduction for which a gift receipt was issued. Individuals who receive refunds of gifts for which a gift receipt was issued have the responsibility of correcting any income tax filings.

For questions regarding this policy, call (865) 974-4153 or email [email protected].

To provide business standards for determining whether a sponsorship qualifies as a charitable contribution that can be recorded in ACE and count in fundraising totals. The University of Tennessee Foundation guidelines follow the policies concerning sponsorships established by the Internal Revenue Code (“irc”) §513(i) and regulations thereunder.

Sponsorship Request Form

An approved sponsorship request form is required for each sponsorship opportunity or event prior to submitting any transactions. For faster processing, transactions related to sponsorships will be designated to a campus-specific RGSF designation until the appropriate documentation is received and reviewed, and the charitable and non-charitable portion of each transaction/level is determined by advancement services.

The Sponsorship request form is required to be completed by the department hosting the event being sponsored (development officers may facilitate this for their departments). All necessary promotional materials including levels and benefits are required to be attached to the sponsorship form and submitted to assist with our review process.

The department is required to submit a sponsorship request form in advance to notify the UT Foundation that the sponsorship and benefits are involved to assist the Foundation in providing appropriate and correct receipts.  Prior to receiving their first sponsorship check or requesting to set up a sponsorship-giving site, a request form is required to be submitted to receive prior approval.

Once the department completes their portion of the sponsorship request form and clicks submit, the form is automatically forwarded to our reviewer and notification is sent to the Central Services office letting them know a sponsorship request form has been submitted. Once reviewed and submitted, both the original submitter and the Central Services office will receive notification of approval or denial. 

General Provisions

Sponsorships fall into two categories: qualified sponsorships and non-qualified sponsorships.

A qualified sponsorship payment is any payment made by any person or corporation engaged in a trade or business with respect to which there is no arrangement or expectation that such person or corporation will receive any substantial return benefit other than the use or acknowledgment of the name or logo (or product lines) of such person’s trade or business in connection with the activities of the organization that receives such payment.

For a sponsorship to qualify as a charitable gift contribution in ACE, all of these factors must be present:

• The sponsorship must be made by a person or corporation engaged in a trade or business.
• The sponsor should not expect or receive substantial return benefit (2% of contribution) for payment other than name acknowledgement and/ or promotional value. When value of the donor benefits exceeds 2% of the donation, the contribution is reduced by the value of the goods or services received in return.
• The contribution must be in the form of cash or cash equivalents. Gifts in kind and gifts of services do not qualify.

The promotional information should be limited to any or all of these:

• Sponsor’s location, phone number, web address
• Value-neutral description of sponsor’s products or services
• Sponsor’s brand/trade name or product/services listing
• There is no qualitative or comparative advertising of sponsor’s products or services such as pricing, savings, value, purchase/sale inducement, etc.
• The sponsorship should not be contingent on event attendance, ratings or public exposure.
• An approved sponsorship request form must be obtained.
• Non-qualified sponsorships are arrangements in which the sponsor receives a return benefit that involves more than an acknowledgment and includes anything valued at more than 2 percent of the amount of the sponsorship payment. This type of return benefit involves any item or service provided to a sponsor in exchange for the sponsor’s support. Examples may include, but are not limited to event tickets; food and beverages; promotional items (t-shirts, mugs, pens, notepads, etc.) and access to university services.

The following examples represent non-qualified interactions and disqualify the sponsorship from being recorded as a charitable gift contribution by the University of Tennessee F0000000oundation.

• Sponsor’s payment requires UT or UTFI to use the sponsor’s name or logo in regularly scheduled and published material
• Sponsor is granted exclusive provider status (e.g., the sponsor has an exclusive right to sell its products or services at the event)
• Sponsor is permitted to advertise at the event
• Sponsor is provided with table or other display space to display or sell its products
• Sponsor is provided time to speak with event attendees about the sponsor’s business and/or its products and services
• Sponsor’s payment is contingent on attendance, broadcast ratings or other levels of public exposure
• Sponsor is granted the right to use the University’s or the Foundation’s name, logo or endorsement
• Sponsor is provided with any quid pro quo benefit other than recognition of the sponsor as provided in qualified sponsorships.
• In order to track a sponsor’s total support (both charitable and non-charitable) of UT, sponsorships that do not qualify to be recorded as gifts may be recorded in ACE as “non-charitable” receipts.
• Non-charitable receipts are not counted in campaigns, CAE totals or other fundraising totals.

Documentation required

Before recording a qualified sponsorship as a charitable contribution in ACE, the following documentation is required for accurate posting and receipting:

• Approved sponsorship request form
• Copies of printed recognition material (e.g., event program, flyers advertising the event) and printouts of electronic recognition material (e.g., web pages, promotional emails).
• Written agreement (if the amount of the sponsorship is greater than $25,000) using the standard gift agreement system.

COMPLETE SPONSORSHIP REQUEST FORM>>