Gifts and Donations Policy

Mission:

The Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) encourages giving from private individuals, corporations, and foundations in order to supplement, rather than supplant, library funds, and PPLD uses such gifts to enhance the services provided to its patrons. Since PPLD and its patrons receive many added benefits from such generous donors, gifts are welcome at any time, but, on occasion, PPLD will generate specific fundraising campaigns to better accomplish its mission and to extend services, structures, and the library’s future. By establishing guidelines for immediate, short-term and longer-term gifts, PPLD hopes to encourage donors to make significant gifts which will assist the library in fully meeting its goals, while meeting the donors individual and family goals as well.

PPLD allows a variety of gift types and provides opportunities for patrons and donors to consider, and those are more completely described in the following policy. When PPLD considers gifts that may range from memorial books to significant cash, stocks, and properties, it will employ standard ethics and criteria in handling these gifts. Providing a variety of giving opportunities such as gifts of securities, real estate, tangible personal property, gifts-in-kind, life estate contracts, charitable annuities, or other planned giving techniques, encourages donors to consider making a contribution.

Fund raising from private sources will be directed to securing gifts from individuals, families, corporations, and foundations. It is both desirable and prudent to encourage many forms of giving that provide benefits to donors, tangible and intangible, while also meeting the goals of any particular library project.

PPLD will manage projects that provide for long-term program enhancements and capital projects to encourage deferred planned giving. However, the majority of gifts will be amount and time-certain, related to a particular project. Since major projects span or develop over a given length of time, it is the policy of PPLD to encourage donors to make specific gifts that are payable over a three to five year period that are amount certain.

Therefore, it is the policy of the Pikes Peak Library District to encourage gifts of cash, securities, tangible property, and a variety of deferred and planned gifts, which, under the following circumstances, will normally be accepted. By the completion and signature of donation agreements, donors recognize that it will be the policy and responsibility of the Board of Trustees to decide whether to accept or reject gifts, except when limited according to the following policies and the appropriate allocation of gifts that are accepted, after receiving the recommendation of the Director.

Donors may contribute to the library directly. Generally, the library’s policy is to convert non-cash gifts to cash as soon as possible.

All gifts will receive an acknowledgment letter or an appropriate receipt. Staff will prepare and issue appropriate acknowledgments within 48 hours, however, current IRS regulations require that the receipt of gifts valued at $250 or more be accompanied by a written statement from the library confirming the donation and describing the benefits, or lack thereof, received by the donor.

Notice and acknowledgement may be delayed when the decision to accept the gift has been referred to the Board of Trustees pursuant to these guidelines.

All unrestricted gifts will be spent within the guidelines of established needs. The library will use such gifts to fund items that fit within the overall mission and strategic plan of the library. The library may, by a majority vote of the Board of Trustees, designate unrestricted gifts or portions of gifts for specific purposes.

Donors wishing to place restrictions on gifts to the library may do so under certain conditions, namely:

• The restriction must be one considered compatible with the overall mission of the library.
• The restriction shall not impede the ability of the library to acquire gifts from other sources.
• The restriction shall not place undue burden upon the library’s resources.
• The restriction shall not subject the library to adverse publicity.
• The Board of Trustees must approve the restrictions.

The donor must provide a written description of both the proposed gift and the proposed restrictions to the library district. Then for gifts of $500 or higher, the library director will recommend an action to the Board of Trustees. The gift shall not be accepted until any restrictions on the gift are approved by the Board of Trustees.

The Board of Trustees must, by majority vote, approve any gift that encumbers the library district, financially or administratively. Examples of these types of gifts include:

• Mortgaged property,
• Tangible personal property that cannot be used or sold for the benefit of PPLD,
• Property that is illiquid that would be difficult to sell,
• Gift annuities, and
• Charitable Remainder or Lead trusts.

1. Cash, Securities, and Real Estate

Outright gifts of cash and marketable assets will receive the highest priority. Any volunteer or staff person working on behalf of the library may accept gifts of cash or checks, and shall deliver such gifts to the Development Office for processing. The Development Office shall inform the Director of any gifts of cash or checks, who shall, in turn, report the receipt of the gifts to the Board of Trustees as its next regular meeting.

Gifts of the following types are to be counted at their full fair market value:

• The Director or authorized agent is authorized to accept gifts of publicly traded securities. The Director shall be informed of the receipt of such gifts and a report shall be made to the Board of Trustees.
• The gift is considered received when the securities are transferred to the library. Unless special circumstances exist, the securities will be converted to cash as soon as economically possible.
• The value of publicly traded securities will be determined in accordance with current Internal Revenue Service rules and regulations.

• These types of gifts may include closely held stock, limited partnership interests, joint venture interests and other forms of investments that may not fall into the marketable securities category.
• The Board of Trustees shall determine the advisability of accepting gifts of assets that are not readily marketable and the procedure to ensure proper transfer of ownership.
• Valuation of these gifts will be determined on a case-by-case basis depending on the type and nature of the transaction. The donor is expected to provide a current appraisal of the value of any such gift prior to its acceptance by the Board of Trustees.

• Every proposed gift of real estate must be examined on its individual merits, including, but not limited to, the title to the property and its insurability, the results of environmental investigations, and marketability.
• A current appraisal completed by a qualified appraiser must be provided by the donor.
• The Board of Trustees shall, by majority vote, decide whether or not to accept a gift of real estate.

Typical examples of tangible personal property include, but are not limited to old and rare books, artwork, artifacts, literary collections, photographs, antiques, jewelry, automobiles, etc.

Typical examples of gifts-in-kind include, but are not limited to computer software and hardware, office furniture, construction materials, etc.

Proposals for gifts of tangible personal property or gifts-in-kind shall be forwarded to the Development Officer for review and a recommendation will be made to the Director as to whether or not the proposed gift should be accepted. The library reserves the right to decide whether gifts should be added to a collection and to which collection the material will be added. The criteria for materials selection also applies to the acceptance of books and other materials. Gift materials not added to a collection may be sold by the Friends of the Library at their bookstore or book sales.

The Director has the authority to accept such gifts and will report their receipt to the Board of Trustees.

Once a gift is accepted by the library, it becomes the property of the library, to be used or disposed of in accordance with the policies established by the Board of Trustees. Gifts of personal property or gifts-in-kind may be accepted based upon their marketability and/or their potential use for the library’s stated purposes.

The valuation of gifts of tangible personal property and gifts-in-kind for the donor's tax purposes shall be the responsibility of the donor and not of PPLD or any volunteer representing PPLD.

Gifts of personal property and gifts-in-kind that directly fulfill the purposes of a particular campaign will be counted toward that campaign goal. The Board of Trustees will determine the advisability of counting gifts of personal property and gifts-in-kind toward a particular campaign.

In seeking planned giving arrangements, PPLD and its representatives shall, to the best of their ability, work with the donor and the donor’s advisors to achieve a result that is in the donor’s interest.

The Director, the Finance Officer, and the Board President are the only PPLD representatives authorized to negotiate planned giving agreements on behalf of the library, provided, however, that final approval of any such agreements, and authorization for the Board President and Director to sign the same, shall require the approval of a majority of the Board of Trustees.

Prospective donors shall be encouraged in correspondence, printed brochures, and conversations to seek their own legal or tax counsel. The donor shall also be informed that all legal interpretations, advice, and tax deductions shall be based on information obtained from the donor's own counsel. Neither the staff nor any representative of PPLD shall provide legal or tax advice to a prospective donor, unless specifically authorized to do so by the Board of Trustees.

Notification of naming Pikes Peak Library District as a beneficiary in a will or in a trust shall be directed to the Development Officer, who shall then report to the Director and the Board of Trustees.

Gifts from wills or trusts may be accepted, based upon the gifts’ marketability and/or their potential use for the library’s stated purposes. The same policies for cash, securities, real estate, and tangible personal property as described in the previous categories will be applied.

In the case of a non-cash gift from an estate or trust, whenever possible, the personal representative of the estate or the trustee of the trust will be asked to sell the property and remit the proceeds instead of distributing the non-cash gift to the library. However, when it is economically advantageous for the library to accept a non-cash gift from an estate or trust, the library reserves the right to accept such gifts.

Distributions from estates and trusts will be counted toward particular campaign totals when the distribution is actually received by the library.

Irrevocable gifts through the following vehicles shall be counted toward fundraising goals at their value as computed from appropriate U.S. Treasury Department and actuarial tables. Such gifts represent alternative ways of giving which are ideally suited to many donors and, in many cases, enables donors to consider a larger contribution.

Donor irrevocably transfers assets to PPLD under a charitable gift annuity or remainder trust arrangement, formalized by a contract, in exchange for payments (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) for life. The payments are a set or variable amount and may begin in the year of the gift or may be deferred to later years, in accordance with the current regulations and rules of the IRS.

Individuals may choose to give their homes to the library, while retaining a lifetime interest in living in the home. The donor receives a charitable deduction which may increase the donor’s ability to make an additional cash pledge to the library. The donor remains responsible for all taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs for the home.

Gifts of paid-up life insurance policies may be made by assigning ownership of the policy to the library.

When a policy that is not paid up is donated, the cash surrender value of the policy will be considered the value of the gift. Subsequent payments of appropriate premiums by the donor will be added to the value assigned to this gift. In the event that the donor discontinues premium payments, the value of the policy as of that date will be credited to the donor.

Gifts whereby the library will receive income from a trust arrangement for a term of years will be valued commensurate with the present value of the income, discounted in accordance with appropriate U.S. Treasury Department tables.

Other planned giving arrangements shall be examined, where appropriate, using the same criteria utilized in determining whether they shall count in fundraising totals. Normally, revocable planned gifts shall not count in fundraising totals except to the extent that the library immediately benefits.

PPLD encourages matching gifts from organizations. The library will comply with the process required by the organization’s matching gift program for the library’s application, reporting, and management of such gifts. Individuals whose personal gifts are matched by an employer will be encouraged to make as large a gift as is possible, which would result in an even larger matching gift.

PPLD will credit the full amount of the matched gift from the employer to the individual making the original gift in terms of recognition and acknowledgment. There will also be a separate listing of all "matching gift companies."

However, an employer’s matching gift will not be counted as a payment toward a separate organizational commitment from the employer made to PPLD.

Recording outright gifts of cash, marketable securities, and real property is relatively simple, but pledges sometimes present a challenge. The system of recording gifts is an important tool for the Board of Trustees to monitor the results of the fundraising efforts. The PPLD will record and recognize pledges when an official pledge form is completed, signed by the donor, and received by the library.

Because of the construction time frame for capital projects, contributors will be encouraged to make gifts payable over a specific time period dictated by the specific capital project.

All donors to any PPLD campaign will be recognized in an appropriate manner. Recognition and benefits may include, but not be limited to, recognition in PPLD publications, special plaques, assignment of named gift opportunities, and donor recognition events. When a donor makes a pledge commitment to a particular campaign, PPLD will work with the donor to finalize the specific recognition for the gift.

The Pikes Peak Library District adheres to the following rights listed in the "Donor Bill of Rights" developed by the American Association of Fund Raising Council (AAFRC), Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), and the National Society of Fund Raising Executives (NSFRE):