The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (“university”) seeks and receives private sector contributions for the purpose of establishing endowments to fulfill its mission and goals.
True endowments are those funds for which donors have stipulated, under the terms of the creating gift agreement that the principal of the fund is not currently expendable. It is to remain in perpetuity and invested for the purpose of producing present and future income. Quasi-endowments, established with institutional funds or unrestricted gifts, function as endowments as a result of a determination by the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System (“Board of Regents”) that these funds are to be retained and invested. They differ from true endowments in that the Board of Regents, or designee, can, at its exclusive discretion, return these funds to current funds. Endowments are designated for endowed faculty positions (chairs and professorships), scholarships, fellowships, and other education activities. Term endowments are funds for which the donor has stipulated that the principal may be expended after a stated period or on the occurrence of a certain event.
The university strives to uphold the highest level of accountability to a contributor by reporting annually to contributors on the use of income distributions from their endowments.
Noncompliance with endowment policies, procedures and guidelines may result in suspension of a holder’s access to endowed funds or, in extreme cases, loss of the employee’s position as holder of the endowment.
When establishing an endowment, the Office of Institutional Advancement (“OIA”) works with the contributor to define its purpose and terms and prepares a gift agreement to document those terms. OIA requests acceptance in accordance with UT System Policy 138 Gift Acceptance Procedures. The endowment cannot be announced publicly until accepted in accordance with the procedures in UT System Policy 138.
Funding of endowments may occur outright with cash or an equivalent or by pledge. The endowment can be initiated with 20 percent of the ultimate pledge, but payment of the remaining pledge will not be extended beyond five years, except in rare circumstances. Endowment monies received by OIA will be transferred to UT System to be invested. OIA provides the holder of an endowed academic position (“holder”) or the principal investigator (“PI”) with a copy of an applicable gift agreement.
Income distributions on endowments are deposited into local endowment accounts on a quarterly basis.
As with all charitable contributions, upon receipt of a gift meant to augment an established endowment, the gift and related correspondence must be forwarded to OIA. Refer to HOOP Policy 10.10 Gifts: Solicitation, Acceptance, Processing, Acknowledgement and Stewardship and the instructions for gift deposits.
The PI, in conjunction with his/her financial administrator, is responsible for the management and expenditure of the endowment distributions for each of the endowments entrusted to him/her.
PIs and financial administrators are responsible for using endowment distributions for the purpose(s) intended by the contributor(s), according to the document(s) associated with the establishment of the endowment(s) and in accordance with applicable UT System and university policies and procedures.
Each employee involved in managing or expending endowed funds must complete certain required training every two years. If such training is not completed in a timely fashion, access to endowed funds may be suspended until the training is completed.
All newly-appointed holders, as well as their financial administrators, will meet with the Endowment Compliance Officer for initial training. Access to endowed funds will not be given until this initial training is completed. It is the responsibility of the holder to notify the Endowment Compliance Officer when he/she has a new financial administrator managing endowed funds.
A holder must provide an annual explanation of the use of funds (including an explanation of excessive accumulations), to update the contributor on the progress made during the year and explain the impact of the gift on the holder’s work. If an endowed academic position is vacant, the dean or his/her designee should submit a summary of recruitment efforts and plans for filling the vacancy, which will be shared with the contributor. For endowed scholarships, lecture series, etc., the PI must provide details of how the money was spent, e.g., the name of the scholarship recipient and brief biographical information.
These reports are due by December 1 each year. Each fall, the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs will request the narratives and other endowment information and will forward the completed reports to the Endowment Compliance Officer.
The Endowment Compliance Officer coordinates the completion of annual reports to endowment contributors which include a letter from the Vice President for Institutional Advancement, an endowment financial report, and the narrative on the use of the endowed funds.
For questions regarding this policy, contact the Office of Institutional Advancement.
Updated 2/01, 08/07, 05/09