Section A: What Are Gifts?
A gift is a voluntary contribution of external support to the University of Washington, without any expectation of economic or other tangible benefit in return beyond what any member of the general public would receive. The primary beneficiary of a gift is the general public and not the donor. Gifts are accepted and processed by Gift Services, University Advancement. Further details may be found on the Corporate and Foundation Relations website. Determining if funding qualifies as a gift is not always straightforward. The University has developed central guidance to aid units in distinguishing between gifts, sponsored awards, and service revenue. Units should seek guidance if the resource is not clearly identifiable.
Section B: How Are Gifts Identified in Workday?
Gifts are identified through the use of a Gift Worktag. The Resource Worktag further identifies the type of gift a unit is receiving. Each Gift Resource is directly related to a single source of funds. While each fund may have multiple resources, each resource will only have one fund. The most common types used by the College of the Environment:
- RS100195 Current Use Restricted Gift Scholarship Resource
- RS100202 Current Use Restricted Gift Resource
- RS100203 Discretionary Gift Resource
- This is what can be used for alcohol purchases
- RS100375 Other Current Use Restricted Gift Resource
- RS100376 Other Discretionary Gift Resource
- This is also used for alcohol resources
- RS100449 Discretionary Custodial Gift Resource
- Very few units will use this resource and is restricted to a few programs
- RS100450 Current Use Restricted Custodial Gift Resource
- Very few units will use this resource and is restricted to a few programs
Section C: How to Identify All Gifts in Your Unit
Each Gift Worktag belongs to a resource. Each resource is part of a resource hierarchy in Workday. To identify gifts, we recommend using R1300.5 report in Workday. Units may run the report by Gift and filter using their cost center or cost center hierarchy:
- Enter the cost center in the Worktags section of the filter if a specific cost center needs review.
- If multiple cost centers need reviewed under a school, department, or unit then we recommend filtering by the cost center hiearchy.
- Use “CCH” (Cost Center Hierarchy) followed by the unit’s acronym or partial name. For example, for the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS), enter “CCH SAFS” based on the College’s naming conventions.
To filter the resource hierarchy for gifts, enter “RSH GIFTS” (Resource Hierarchy: Gift and Endowment Resources) under “Worktags”. This entry allows immediate selection without manually navigating the hierarchy. To avoid misinterpretation of allowable spending, exclude FD300 (Restricted Non-Endowment fund) from the report by adding it under “Exclude Worktag.” Below is a screenshot of a sample filter:

Units may also repeat by “Grant” to see the funding status of all stand alone grants or they may filter by both the gift worktag, the cost center or cost center hierarchy to see the allocations within a specific gift. Below are two example filters.
Example A: All stand alone grants for gifts in a unit

Example B: Stand alone grants related to a specific gift in a cost center

Section D: Gift Funds That Serve Multiple Programs and Faculty
Managing gift funds can be challenging when multiple programs and faculty have signature authority over portions of the fund. Units must adhere strictly to donor intent when they allocate small amounts to specific faculty and programs. In legacy systems, we referred to the overall gift as the “Parent” gift, and the allocations as “Sub-Gifts.” The “Parent” gift is assigned to a single cost center, while allocations may span different cost centers within and outside of a balancing unit.
Workday’s multi-dimensionality allows assigning assignees or programs to a gift. However, overriding the parent gift’s balancing unit and cost center for every transaction can lead to errors and require frequent corrections. Transferring funds between gifts with the same resource Worktag can break the connection to the original gift, making tracking spending against donor intent challenging.
The College of the Environment highly recommends using Stand Alone Grants (SAGs) for managing gift allocations. Despite being labeled “Grants,” SAGs are not tied to sponsored awards and serve as a cost accounting tool for gifts.
Advantages of SAGs:
- SAGs are driver Worktags, automatically assigning the balancing unit, cost center, Gift, Resource, Assignee, and activity, reducing errors and corrections.
- SAGs appear in the PI dashboard for faculty and support staff, allowing easy access for managing allocations.
- SAGs can be deactivated when funds are fully utilized or expired, unlike gift Worktags, which remain active indefinitely.
- SAGs are part of a hierarchy, enabling reporting by different functions (e.g., start-up packages, student support, retention packages).
Disadvantages of SAGs:
- The name can cause confusion with sponsored Grants, leading to miscommunication with central units like Grant and Contract Accounting (GCA), which does not manage gifts.
- Managing SAGs requires a Grant Manager role, which differs from typical gift management roles.
Despite these challenges, the advantages of SAGs in promoting fiscal stewardship and reducing errors outweigh the disadvantages.
Section E: When to Create a Stand Alone Grant for a Gift
General guidelines for creating a SAG include but are not limited to:
- Long-Term Allocations: If gift allocations will occur over several years and allow carryover, use a SAG.
- Multiple Managers/Units: If allocations involve separate tracking by different units or managers, use a SAG.
- Return of Unspent Funds: If unspent funds must be returned to the parent, use a SAG.
- Multiple Transactions: For multiple transactions, use a SAG. For single transactions (e.g., a professional development course, a single travel, or equipment purchase), directly charge the gift using a program, assignee, or activity and gift worktag while paying close attention to the cost center and balancing unit.
The most common use of stand alone grants for Gifts include but are not limited to:
- Professorships
- Start Up Packages
- Internal Seed Funds
- Internal Research Awards
- Discretionary Gift Allocations to labs or faculty
Ultimately, units must assess whether creating and maintaining a SAG improves efficiency based on anticipated transactions and management needs.
Section F: Naming Conventions
We recommend the following naming conventions:
- For Sub-Gift Allocations Managed by Faculty:
[Unit Name] [Unit Acronym] | Gift Short Name – Faculty Last Name, Initials. [Expiration Date]
- example: GR123456 CoEnv | Atmospheric and Climate Science (ATMOS) | Research Accelerator Funds – Einstein, A.
- For Sub-Gifts Managed by Programs:
[Unit Name] [Unit Acronym] | Gift Short Name – Program Name [Expiration Date]
- example: GR123456 CoEnv | Atmospheric and Climate Science (ATMOS) | Research Accelerator Funds – Program on Relativity
- For Internal Research Awards:
[Unit Name] [Unit Acronym] | Seed Fund or Internal Award Name – Faculty Last Name, Initials. [Expiration Date]
- example: GR123456 CoEnv | Atmospheric and Climate Science (ATMOS) | Innovation in Physics Seed Funds – Einstein, A.
Section G: How to Request a Stand-Alone Grant for a Gift
If a parent gift is in the same balancing unit as the College of the Environment, then follow the College’s internal procedures for requesting worktags as the shared environment may use the “Create FDM” request process in workday.
If the parent gift is outside the balancing unit of the College, the unit must still use the College’s process for requesting a worktag but the shared environment will need to create a local worktag request and require assistance of the Enterprise Business Solutions Support team to process.
Section H: Important Notes
The creation of a SAG is intended to promote fiscal stewardship and reduce errors. It does not grant ownership of funds to individuals. All gift funds remain under the University of Washington’s control. Allocations made to faculty are subject to departmental discretion and do not transfer with faculty who leave the University. SAGs are purely a cost accounting tool to ensure donor intent is followed.