Gifts to the University

Gifts are monies or other tangible assets given with few or no conditions specified. Gifts may be provided to establish an endowment or to provide direct support for existing programs. Frequently, gifts are used to support developing programs for which other funding is not available.

The Chancellor has been delegated the authority to solicit and accept gifts up to and including a value of $5 million. Authority to solicit and accept gifts up to $1 million has been redelegated to the Vice Chancellor, University Development and Alumni Relations and her designates.

Donor and Gift Services in University Development and Alumni Relations serves as the official office for acceptance, recording, and acknowledgement of all private gifts to UC Berkeley and the UC Berkeley Foundation (UCBF). Donor and Gift Services is responsible for:

  • Ensuring that gifts are accepted according to IRS, University, and other guidelines;
  • Recording all gifts and maintaining the data integrity of all donor records on the Campuswide Alumni/Development System (CADS);
  • Notifying campus and UCBF accounting offices of appropriate designation of gift funds to campus departments; and
  • Training staff in campus units on how to process gifts to the UC Regents or the UC Berkeley Foundation.

Fundraising responsibilities can be found in another section of this Guide.

UC Berkeley research policies requires that individuals receiving research gifts must comply with all protocol regulations for human subjects, animal subjects, and radioactive materials, biohazards, and other hazardous materials. The Compliance Information Form for Research Gifts must be filled out and forwarded to the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) along with their Statement of Economic Interests Form 700u. SPO will forward this information to the appropriate oversight committee(s).