Page last reviewed on 8/30/2023. Pages are reviewed annually.
Impact reporting should be shared with donors who give $5,000 or more to an endowed fund (and any other designated stewardees, such as next of kin or those added by special request).
Endowed funds are stewarded for as long as there are living stewardees to reach out to.
| ACTIVITY | OWNER | TIMING & DETAILS |
| Gift Receipt | Gift Services |
All donors to the University receive a receipt verifying the tax-deductibility of their gift. Gift receipts include:
Notable exceptions: if a gift is made from a Donor Advised Fund (DAF), the gift receipt is issued to the DAF as the legal donor, not the donor who may have directed the gift. In addition, receipts for planned or estate gifts are sent by the Planned Giving team rather than Gift Services. |
| Gift Acknowledgments | CAS Advancement Services & Administering Unit |
Issued when the pledge is made and/or gifts and payments are received. Acknowledgments are sent weekly on behalf of the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. Departments and centers should also send their own acknowledgments on a regular basis (at least quarterly; preferably monthly.) |
| Quarterly Stewardship Email | CAS Advancement Services |
Each quarter, donors to the College of Arts & Sciences receive an electronic newsletter with stories from the College and opportunities to engage further through events. This audience includes donors from the last 18 months as well as members of the Henry Suzzallo Society. |
| Department Newsletters | Administering Unit | Sent by most departments at least annually, and up to quarterly with assistance from the Digital Communications Team. This is a perfect vehicle for communicating broad-based stewardship and stories of impact to a wide audience of donors, alumni and others, as well as for alerting constituents to upcoming events and opportunities to engage. |
| Investment Celebration Email | Central EDS |
Sent the month after a new endowment is invested. CAS Advancement Services works with Major Gift Officers to make sure all appropriate stewardees are sent this notification, which includes:
(Only applies when new endowments are created.) |
| Endowment Welcome Packet | CAS Advancement Services |
Sent to Major Gift Officers to share with the donor and any additional stewardees after the new endowment investment celebration letter is sent out, this welcome packet confirms the investment date, reminds donor when the fund will begin to distribute to the unit, lets them know what stewardship they can expect (and when) moving forward, and reaffirms their best contact should any questions arise. If additional stewardship is planned, it is a good idea to include note of that in this communication so it feels complete to the donor. (Only applies when new endowments are created.) |
| Distribution Celebration | Major Gift Officer or Administering Unit | In the quarter that a new endowment begins to distribute funds to the benefitting unit, the CAS Advancement Services team will reach out to the appropriate Major Gift Officer so that they can celebrate this milestone with the donor. This is an ideal time to let the donor know when the unit plans to begin putting the distributions to use, and when the donor can expect more information about the impact the fund is making. (Only applies when new endowments are created.) |
| Consolidated Endowment Fund (CEF) Report | University Advancement | Published each year in November, the annual CEF Report provides information on the University's endowments including investment performance and distributions in the previous fiscal year. (For example, the report received in November 2023 will cover financial reporting for endowments in FY22. Depending on when it invested, a new endowment may not yet have financial information to report in the CEF report.) |
| Annual Report to Contributors | University Advancement | Published each year in November, the annual Report to Contributors contains a snapshot of the impact philanthropy has on the University of Washington and those we serve. |
| Annual Stewardship Communication | Administering Unit |
Departments and centers should send annual stewardship with an update on the overall impact of the fund. This could take the form of a meeting, a letter from a chair, or an electronic communication. This should not take the form of a detailed financial accounting of how a specific gift was used, but instead be an overall update on the difference the gift fund has made. |
| Annual Tax Receipts | University Advancement | Each January/February the University reminds donors that they can easily download an annual tax receipt by logging in to My UW Giving. |
| Special Acknowledgments | Annual Philanthropy & CAS Advancement Services |
Special recognition for first-time donors, holiday messages and fiscal-year-end thank yous are often sent to donors by the central Annual Philanthropy team. CAS Advancement Services sends special acknowledgments to Arts & Sciences donors in the summer after making their first gift to the College, or if a donor is a recurring/sustaining donor through a mechanism such as a payroll pledge, Combined Fund Drive, Benevity, etc. |
| Endowment Step-Up Celebration | Major Gift Officer or Administering Unit | In the event that an existing endowed fund reaches a level of support that triggers it to step up to a new type of fund, the CAS Advancement Services team will alert the major gift officer. This is a great moment to reach out to the stewardees of that fund to celebrate! |