Departments occasionally receive gift money from a donor that does not have specific limitations on how that money should be spent. The donor might tender a gift which specifies unrestricted use, such as "for such purposes as the Board of Regents ( President, Dean, etc. ) deems to be in the best interest of the University " or " to be used at the discretion of the Board of Regents ( President, Dean, etc. )" This type of gift money is set aside for "discretionary" purposes. Examples of discretionary spending include but are not limited to some recruiting expenses, first class travel, entertainment, food, and alcohol.
State budgets or "public funds" are limited by state and federal regulations and are not authorized to spend money on these discretionary items. Therefore, discretionary fund revenues must be kept separate from public funds, and the expenditures documented and processed according to policies regulating discretionary spending.
Any department with discretionary funds to spend.
The request is reviewed by the Assistant Vice President, then signed and processed by Grant and Contract Accounting.
A discretionary fund budget (a 64-XXXX budget)is set up and the fund administrator is notified that the account has been established. A copy of this notification also is sent to the Gift Policy and Administration office.
Upon receipt of the budget number, Gift Policy and Administration sets up an allocation in the ADVANCE (Alumni, Donor and Friends) Database. Once this allocation is established:
(Refer to the second page for instructions on filling out the form.) Funds are applied to your discretionary budget.
The ADVANCE database interfaces with the Financial Accounting System, and you
can see financial transactions related to your discretionary budget on your
Budget Activity Report. If your department would like to be able to access
the ADVANCE system, send email requesting an account to
devhelp@u.washington.edu
References/Regulations
