1.
Current use gift funds - Receive gift contributions from
outside donors in the form of cash, stock or other tangible
assets. All amounts in the funds are expended in accordance
with the wishes of the donor(s). For additional
information, follow this link to Gift section.
2. Endowment funds - Receive gift contributions, like
current use gift funds, but the contribution amounts themselves
are not spent. Instead, they are invested in perpetuity, and
a portion of the investment earnings is distributed to the
fund annually to be expended in accordance with the wishes
of the donor(s). For additional information,
follow this link to Endowment section.
3. Sponsored funds - Receive amounts from outside sponsors
(e.g., the federal government, state/local government departments
and agencies, foundations and other entities) and in return,
the School agrees to conduct specified research activities.
Like current use gift funds, all the amounts received are
expended in accordance with the sponsor's terms and conditions.
Unlike gift funds, sponsored terms and conditions tend to
be more detailed and often involve financial reporting back
to the sponsor against a line item budget. Distinguishing
sponsored funds from current use gift funds can be complicated.
The Gift section of this website provides
some basic criteria to distinguish the two, but departments
with questions should contact their SPA
representative for assistance. For additional information
on sponsored funds, please refer to the HMS
Sponsored Programs Administration web site.
4. Unrestricted designated funds - Receive amounts
that are not current use gifts, endowments or sponsored in
nature; such funds can be spent for any legitimate business
purpose of the School. "Designated" means the fund
has been earmarked for a particular purpose. Unspent amounts
remaining in unrestricted designated funds at year-end carry
forward this balance into the new year. For
additional information, follow this link to Unrestricted Designated
section.
5. Unrestricted undesignated funds - Same as unrestrcited
desginated funds (see full description above) except that
unspent amounts remaining at year-end do not carry forward
to a separate balance in the following year. Instead, they
are pooled with all other such amounts and closed out each
year during the year-end closing process. Departments typically
refer to these funds as their "budget" funds or
their "000001" (the fund number for unrestricted
undesignated) funds.
6. All other funds - this descriptions refers to a
variety of other types of funds such as loan, construction,
plant and equipment equity, etc. These funds are used primarily
by the School and University central departments. Typically,
local departments do not use such funds in their normal course
of business.
