Establishment Procedures

Establishment Procedures

* All proposed planned giving agreements shall be reviewed and approved by the Director of Legacy Estate Programs and University Counsel prior to implementation. The Legacy Estate Programs Director is charged to secure approval of initial guidelines for each proposed planned giving document via the Vice President for Business Affairs (or designated member of the Investment Committee) and to keep the President and the Vice President for Development and Public Relations informed at all times of these matters. In particular, should any unusual or new document, planned gift vehicle or investment strategy be employed, this notification is imperative. Prospective donors shall be clearly advised of the necessity of this prior approval procedure.

Items for review and approval shall include initial fair market valuation of asset's marketability, payout percentages, payment dates, fiscal year, investment policies and any other financial and legal consideration that might affect the agreement.

Prospective donors shall be advised that the University, should it serve as fiduciary, is legally responsible to both income and remainder beneficiaries and must be allowed discretion in investment of funds.

Trust agreements shall be executed by the President of Ashland University and by prospective donors in the presence of two witnesses and shall be notarized. The University's Vice President for Business Affairs may sign the agreement on behalf of the University in the absence of the President and upon his approval.

In all cases where the University serves as trustee or co-trustee of a charitable trust, its legal council shall approve the document in writing prior to signing by University representatives. Ashland University may serve as trustee pursuant to a revocable instrument with the following considerations:
* A fee may be charged for trustee services.
* Ashland University is a remainderman of at least 1% more than the next largest beneficiary of the revocable instrument.
* No gift of a partnership interest or of stock representing ownership of all or substantially all of a closely held corporation shall be accepted until Ashland University has received satisfactory evidence indicating the net value of the assets and amount of liabilities, both fixed and contingent.

In the case of hard to value assets donated to a charitable trust for which the University is trustee or co-trustee, or should the assets that are donated be such so the University believes its resources are insufficient to supervise operation of or disposal of these assets, or if the trust instrument so dictates, Ashland University may employ an Independent Special Trustee to serve as adviser/supervisor of the necessary activities involved with the assets of the trust.

Upon receipt of a gift of publicly traded securities, Ashland University shall, as soon as practicable, place the securities with the University's money managers for evaluation and/or sale. In the event that donated securities have a limited market, the certificates will be placed in a safe repository and on a quarterly basis the value and marketability of these securities will be investigated to determine whether the securities shall be sold. Exceptions may be granted with the approval of the Investment Committee of the Board.

No gift of real property shall be accepted without an attorney's title opinion or a title search by a reputable title insurance company. Real property or substantial tangible personal property shall not be accepted without evaluation by an independent appraiser chosen by mutual agreement of the donor and Ashland University. Second appraisals are standard in most cases where valuations must be precisely established. Expenses of appraisals shall be at the cost of the donor unless previously agreed to otherwise. The University shall investigate all real property for compliance with environmental laws prior to accepting title and shall request professional environmental audits if deemed advisable by the Vice President for Business Affairs. Costs of such an audit would be the responsibility of the donor unless otherwise individually determined. Should there be any question as to the acceptability of specific property, the Vice President for Business Affairs is instructed to obtain permission for acceptance from the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Ashland University reserves the right to decline gifts that are not in keeping with its mission statement and/or which may be restricted in such a manner or of a nature the University deems inadvisable to accept.

All written instruments establishing non-cash funded Gift Annuities, Deferred Gift Annuities, Charitable Remainder Trusts, Pooled Income Funds, or other gift arrangements shall include reference to the donor's cost basis in the property constituting the corpus of the fund, to enable the fiduciary to account for capital gains (distributed or reinvested) implications in reporting to both appropriate governmental agencies and donor as well as type of income generated upon liquidation of such property.

In all cases of gift valuation, it is the policy of the University that it is done honestly and accurately. All tax reporting procedures concerning these gifts will be followed as required by law.

No employee of Ashland University shall serve or agree to serve in an individual personal capacity as a fiduciary for a donor pursuant to a will, trust agreement, or other planned giving instrument unless he/she is already serving in a similar capacity for the donor/donors prior to such agreement or he/she is a relative or close personal friend of said donor/donors.

In determining age for use in gift annuities or life-income contracts, the age indicated by IRS Regulations will be used.

Investment of funds received in return for life or term of years (specified or not) income agreements in which Ashland University is the administrator and/or has the fiduciary responsibility shall be overseen by the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Investment of funds in which Ashland University is party to or trustee or co-trustee of a negotiated contract that does not involve it as administrator or fiduciary must be reviewed and approved by the Vice President for Business Affairs and the Board's Investment Committee.

Funds received for gift annuities and Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts may be commingled only after close examination of the goals of the gift instruments to see that they are consistent with similar goals and objectives of funds in which they are to be combined. However, in all cases the gift agreements shall be monitored as specified in the following investment guidelines. When the commingled funds of annuities exceed ten percent (10%) of the entire endowment funds of the University, such obligations over that amount shall be reinsured through a sound qualified insurance company.

Payments on gift annuities and life-income contracts shall be made monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually according to the donor's choice at the execution of the agreement.

It shall be, however, the policy of this program to use the least frequent interval of payment that is practical within the framework of the donor's desires.

The Office of Legacy Estate Programs shall assume responsibility for maintenance of prospect mailing lists, files, reports, contact records, donors' personal and financial information, gift plan negotiations, systems for handling receipting, acknowledgments, account designations, and record expectancies. Until the Business Office should obtain specific software to respond to annuity, trust and other life agreements, the Office of Legacy Estate Programs will make available its information processing software regarding tax records and information needed by the donor for confirmation and assistance purposes to appropriate Business Office personnel upon request.

The Business Office will be responsible for accounting, payment schedules, reporting for tax purposes, business records, trust administration, outside trust administration monitoring, managing investments, and disposition of funds.