Fundraising Policy (Policy 101)

Purpose

All fundraising must be consistent with the organization's purpose, university policy, and state and federal laws. The Institutional Advancement Office must first approve all fundraising events. Student Clubs and Organizations must also receive approval from the Center for Student Engagement & Intercultural Programs.

1. Fundraising Event - A fundraising event is defined as an event that is raising money designated for a future use or purpose. 
   1. Funds raised by campus departments, clubs, or organizations for students, faculty, staff, or otherwise shall be for the non-profit service of the sponsoring organization or donated to a registered charitable organization via the GSU Foundation (aka Foundation). 
   2. No officer or member can ever receive monetary gain from the group's fundraising. 
   3. Income received from fundraising cannot be given or loaned out under any circumstances to any person.
2. Registered Charitable Organization - An entity that is organized and operated for purposes that are beneficial to the public interest. In general, Governors State University and its entities (including student organizations) are not registered charitable organizations.
   1. 501(c)(3) – An entity that the IRS classifies as tax-exempt, nonprofit that is organized and operated for religious, charitable, scientific, public safety, literary, or educational purposes, to foster amateur sports competition, to promote the arts, or to prevent cruelty to children or animals. Donations to a 501(c)(3) organization or association are tax deductible. The GSU Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. 
   2. The GSU Foundation, however, is a registered charitable organization, and donations may be given to the Foundation. 
   3. Student organizations with a Foundation account may operate as a registered charitable organization provided the raised funds are deposited into the Foundation account. 
   4. Some nationally affiliated organizations may not qualify to have a Foundation account or may be able to operate under their national foundation. Many local and national community agencies are considered registered charitable organizations.

Roles and Responsibilities 

By student organization financial policy, all funds raised must be deposited in the sponsoring organization’s Foundation account. The GSU Foundation is the only 501(c)(3) associated with Governors State University.

1. Process and Procedures
   1. Account Creation and Existence
      1. Once an area determines it would like to participate in fundraising and has notified their appropriate Unit Head, the area should contact the Foundation via email (engage@govst.edu), phone call (708.235.7510), or schedule a meeting.
      2. Departments, clubs, or organizations should confirm the existence of a GSU Foundation-related account. If the department, club, or organization does not have a GSU Foundation account, a request for an account can be made by emailing engage@govst.edu.
      3. Once a GSU Foundation account has been approved and created, the department, club or organization will work with the Foundation team to begin collecting donations.
      4. Donation collections may include but is not limited to the following:
         1. Increasing website presence to accept donations,
         2. Creating event forms to accept donations at an event or program,
         3. Improving or beginning solicitation efforts to increase donations to a department, club, or organization from outside companies.
   2. Requistioning
      1. The process for requesting funds from a Foundation account follows the same procedures for requesting money from a non-Foundation account. 
      2. If a payment to an outside registered charitable organization is requested, a check request (via the GSU Foundation) to the charitable organization should be made within 14 business days post event end. If a donation is going to an outside, non-GSU registered charitable organization, a letter stating the registered charitable organization status for said organization should be made available at the time of organizing the event. 
      3. Groups promoting fundraisers that benefit one or more organizations must clearly communicate the recipients and distribution of the proceeds (for example, 50% of proceeds go to the registered student organization foundation account, and 50% goes to the registered charitable organization).
   3. Record Keeping
      1. Departments, clubs, or organizations must keep accurate records of funds raised and spent, available upon request for inspection or audit. Cash handling processes should be outlined at the time of requesting a fundraising event. 
      2. All prize winners should be recorded and maintained in the organizational financial records and submitted to the GSU Foundation.
      3. Organizations are encouraged to submit a service activity report when donating funds to a registered charitable organization. This can be an internal document created by the department/organization that helps recognize and track service hours supporting the organization.
      4. Accurate reporting also helps maintain the University’s national recognition for service.
2. Specific Fundraising Practices
   1. Tickets and Auctions
      1. When consistent with financial and event policies, a registered student organization may sell tickets for an organization-sponsored event. 
      2. Groups may utilize an auction to raise money by auctioning items such as art, tickets to an event, dinner at a particular restaurant, or prizes and services provided by a qualified and insured vendor. 
      3. No individual or group may be auctioned for any reason such as “services” or a “date.”
   2. Sale of Food/Bake Sales
      1. The sale of food on campus by any university-affiliated group other than the official campus hospitality service is limited to store-bought donated bake/confectionery sales. 
      2. A bake/confectionery sale is defined as the sale of items that will not spoil in the absence of refrigeration. Bake/confectionery sale items include cookies, brownies, popcorn balls, cake with nonperishable icing, muffins, bread, rolls, pretzels, donuts, caramel or candy-covered apples, and fudge. 
      3. All items for bake/confectionery sales must be wrapped in individual portions before being brought to campus. Food must be wrapped in any substance that will permit the food to be seen by the buyer and keep the food free from contamination. 
      4. A list of all ingredients used to prepare the bake sale item must be put on the outside wrapping of the food item. 
      5. Persons wrapping items should take care that their hands are extremely clean before handling food. Gloves should be worn to limit contamination and spread of germs.
      6. No food license is required to sell confectionery items on campus by registered student organizations.
   3. Charitable Games Events
      1. “Charitable games event” means the type of fundraising event authorized by the Illinois Charitable Games Act, 230 ILCS 30Games of chance is defined as gambling, poker, or any recreational game in which a player gives anything of value in the hope of gaining, the outcome of which is mainly determined by chance. 
      2. No fundraising event that qualifies as a “charitable games event” may be held on university property or by a university-affiliated group unless it has been properly licensed under the Illinois Charitable Games Act, 230 ILCS 30. If a group does not qualify for a license under the Charitable Games Act or cannot obtain one for any other reason, the fundraising event is prohibited by this policy as well as state law. 
      3. Under Illinois law, when a person pays to play a game of chance or skill in hopes of winning a prize, the game qualifies as illegal gambling. If a group wants to offer games of chance or skill at a fundraising event but cannot obtain or does not want to obtain a charitable games event license, the fundraising event must meet at least one of the following conditions: 
         1. Participants do not pay anything or give anything of value to attend the event or to participate in a game of chance or skill. 
         2. No prizes are awarded to any participant(s) in the game(s) of chance or skill. When participants pay to participate in a tournament, and no prizes are provided, all proceeds must benefit a charity and the student organization. 
         3. No fundraising event that qualifies as a “charitable games event” may be held on university property or by a university-affiliated group unless it has been properly licensed under the Illinois Charitable Games Act, 230 ILCS 30. If a group does not qualify for a license under the Charitable Games Act or cannot obtain one for any  
   4. Raffles for Prizes (No Cash Payout) 
      1. Raffles for prizes can be used to solicit funds from students, faculty, and community members. A “raffle” is any procedure whereby one or more prizes are distributed by chance among persons who have paid (or promised to pay) for a chance to win such prizes, in which: 
         1. Each chance to win is represented and differentiated by a number or some other medium, 
         2. One or more of the chances will be designated the/a winning chance, and 
         3. Each winning chance is to be determined through a drawing or by some other method based on an element of chance by an act or acts of persons conducting the raffle. Raffles are sometimes also referred to as lotteries, drawings, gifts, sales, and other names, but the name of the procedure does not change the application of this policy or state or local law.
      2. No fundraising event that qualifies as a “raffle” may be held on university property or by a university-affiliated group unless it is conducted in accordance with the Illinois Raffles and Poker Runs Act, 230 ILCS 15, and local ordinances (including any applicable licensing and bonding requirements) and meets the following guidelines:
         1. The prizes that may be redeemed with drawing tickets and/or play money shall not be extremely valuable (less than $500); this is to ensure that a premium is not placed on winning. 
         2. The raffle prize(s) must be secured before tickets are sold and cannot be purchased by the money raised by the raffle itself. 
         3. No permission will be granted to any department, club, or organization on campus to hold a drawing that is contrary to University Policy (for example: offering alcohol as a prize). 
         4. Drawings with cash payouts or dollar amount gift cards are not permissible.
   5. Donations of Physical Items
      1. Donation collections of physical items such as toys or clothing must receive express permission from the Foundation before collecting these items.