OSU FIS 507: Relationship Between OSU and OSU Foundation

507 OSU and OSU Foundation Relationship

The Oregon State University Foundation (OSUF) is a private, non-profit corporation affiliated with the University under IRS tax code 501(c)3.  The Foundation receives gifts of cash, securities, real and personal property, deferred gifts (such as bequests), life insurance, and life income agreements to support the University’s programs.  It is a comprehensive organization that handles all aspects of fundraising for OSU.
                             
All fundraising and investment activities of the Foundation are limited to benefiting Oregon State University.  The Foundation assets and earnings are distributed to colleges, departments and programs of the University per donor directions or, if funds are unrestricted, per the direction of the Foundation's volunteer Board of Governors in response to priority requests from the President of the University.

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507-01 Payments to Vendors or Contractors, Employee Awards and Gifts

Generally, all costs associated with fulfillment and administration of OSU’s mission (instruction, research, and public service) should be paid at OSU through FIS Banner, not directly by the Foundation.

The cost for these payments should be recorded on:

• OSUF pass-through funds (FSxxxx),
• Endowment earnings (438xxx or FExxxx), or
• Plant construction funds (8xxxxx).

See 507-03 for further detail on indexes associated with these funds.

Payments will be made to vendors and contractors who provide goods and services directly to the University in conformity with the accounting policies of the University.

OSU payments should include (but are not limited to):

• personnel recruitment costs (including hosting)
• personnel moving expenses
• professional meetings & conferences
• professional association membership dues
• university-sponsored conferences
• departmental/unit retreat expenses
• hosting official guests (see FIS 410-05)
• personal service invoices/contracts (including speaker honorariums)
• supplies, books, and other instructional/research expenses
• printing costs for instruction, research, public service
• minor or capital equipment purchases (office equipment & furniture, lab & scientific equipment)
• building remodel or construction costs
• building & grounds maintenance expenses
• custodial & utility costs
• travel expenses
• employee awards (all cash or non-cash >$400) [Gift certificates are considered the same as cash and must go through OSU.]
• student recruitment and marketing costs
• student scholarships
• all international payments or wire transfers [OSUF cannot process these]

Payments to vendors and reimbursements to OSU employees should be made directly by OSU Foundation check when the expense is for:

• alumni and donor relation expenses (including newsletters, glossy publications)
• fundraising expenses (displays, balloons, etc.)
• hosting for fundraising and alumni/donor activities
• promotional activities (theater tickets, rodeo tickets, green fees)
• give-away promotional items (t-shirts, hats, mugs, pens)
• employee recognition receptions

Payments which must NOT be made through OSU (FIS Banner) include:

• hosting over OSU $ limits
• gratuities over OSU’s authorized 15%
• alcoholic beverages (except conferences where this cost is included in registration fee)
• flowers (except those used for instructional purposes)
• greeting cards, for any purpose
• donations of any kind
• extra activities which may be in conjunction with a departmental retreat or other event (i.e. float/boat trip, trail ride, golf green fees, theater or museum tickets, sporting events, etc.)
• professional licenses (except those allowed by OUS)

Non-cash employee awards less than $400 can be processed through either OSU or the Foundation. As a reminder, gift certificates are considered the same as cash and must go through OSU FIS Banner.

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507-02 Scholarships or Fellowships to Students

All distributions (scholarships, fellowships or awards) to enrolled students shall be made through the OSU Business Office and coordinated with the OSU Financial Aid Office to ensure that a student’s eligibility for other financial aid or awards is not jeopardized.

For scholarships, the Scholarship-Fellowship-Award Payment Authorization form is completed by the department identifying the foundation account that will fund the awards and the individual student recipients.  The Payment Authorization Form is forwarded to the OSU Foundation which verifies that there are funds to make the requested payments.  After OSUF’s funding verification, the form is forwarded to OSU Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships for verification of the student’s enrollment and eligibility.  Once verified by OSU Financial Aid, the scholarship payment is posted to the student’s OSU account.

These payments will be recorded on FSxxxx indexes when funding is from the OSU Foundation. All scholarships must be on FSxxxx indexes with program code of 82001 Scholarships & Fellowships. Only expenses applicable to account codes 51xxx and 52xxx should be debited to these FS indexes.

At a minimum, scholarship funds should be reconciled with the Financial Aid Office and OSUF on a quarterly basis.  The Scholarships-Fellowship-Awards Payment Authorization form is located at the OSUF website.

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507-03 Reimbursements

OSU funds which can receive Foundation reimbursements are:

• FSxxxx OSUF funds
• 438xxx Endowment earnings funds
• FExxxx Endowment earnings funds
• 8095xx Construction funds
• 9xxxxx Agency funds (includes student groups)

Use the specific OSU index for payment which best records the activity/function being supported.

• Administration (index generally ends in “D”) – all costs connected with the administrative operations of a department, unit or Dean’s office. Program code 01800, 30600, or 61000.
• Instruction/Departmental Research (index generally ends in “N”) – all costs connected with instructional or research activities of the department; including faculty travel to conferences. Program code 01100 or 01200.
• Development (index ends in “V”) – costs connected with fundraising or promotional advertising which are not paid directly by the Foundation (including charges from internal OSU units: OSU Catering for graduation/alumni events or OSU Printing for holiday greetings) or donor hosting costs included in an employee travel reimbursement. Program code 30600.
• Scholarships (index generally ends in “0” (zero) or “H”). All scholarships must be on FSxxxx indexes with program code of 82001 Scholarships & Fellowships. Only expenses applicable to account codes 51xxx and 52xxx should be debited to these FS indexes.  All other non-scholarship expenses should be charged to another index.

OSUF direct payment is preferred for donor fundraising and alumni relations costs rather than processing that expense at OSU through the “V” indexes.

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507-04 OSU Foundation Procedures for an OSU Reimbursement Request

Non-Scholarship Expense
A completed OSU Index Reimbursement Request  is required for the OSU Foundation (OSUF) to process payment to OSU. This form is available through the online OSUF Reimbursement System.

The online OSUF Reimbursement System is designed for departments to create reimbursement requests, route the requests to authorized signers for approval, and then forward the request to the OSU Foundation for reimbursement.

All departments are required to use the online system to process non-scholarship expense reimbursement requests.

OSUF also requires that supporting expenditure documentation be retained and made available for audit purposes.  Such documentation includes the vendor’s invoice and any receipts to verify that OSU has approved the payment of the expense to be reimbursed.

Scholarship Expense
Completion of the Scholarship-Fellowship-Award Payment Authorization form is required for a scholarship to be reimbursed through OSUF.

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