Community Exchange

Dear Colleagues,

I am seeking guidance on how your institutions account for fundraising conducted by sports teams. Our club and varsity teams regularly raise funds to support equipment purchases, travel, and other expenses. Our Institutional Advancement (IA) office would like to include these Athletics fundraising totals in the annual fund; however, many of these payments-such as trip fees and team dues-are not charitable donations. Determining which funds qualify as donations would require significant additional staffing.

Additionally, some of our fundraising platforms remit funds to the College without providing donor information, making it impossible for IA to issue tax acknowledgments.

If your institution has established policies or practices that define which Athletics fundraising activities fall under IA and which do not, I would greatly appreciate your insight.

Thank you in advance.

Ruth