Gifted Services for Facilities Policy

Source: Office of the Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs

I. Background Summary
As UW-Whitewater moves from being a state supported to state assisted university, gifts will play an increasing role in the on-going funding and success of the university. In addition to cash and property, gifts can also be labor and services. Gifts of labor and services from individuals, organizations and corporations can provide significant benefit to the university. If not managed properly, however, such gifts can create additional financial obligations, regulatory compliance problems or risk management liabilities for the university. The purpose of this policy is to identify the terms and conditions under which UW-Whitewater will accept gifts of labor and services for the mutual benefit of both the donor and university.

Gifted labor and services generally take two forms: unskilled manual labor and skilled technical services. Unskilled manual labor consists of simple manual labor provided by an individual or group of individuals in support of university operations. Typical gifted unskilled manual labor takes the form of service projects performing simple, but labor intensive, tasks such as litter pickup, graffiti removal, window washing, noxious weed removal, etc.

Skilled technical services can take more varying forms, but generally require more skill and judgement, as well as the use of specialized tools or equipment, in the performance of the tasks. Such projects often involve the altering of university property. Typical gifted skilled technical services take the form of construction labor and services, architectural or engineering design services, computer software development, property maintenance activities requiring technical skill and judgement, etc.  

II. Policy
To assure that both the donor and university receive the maximum benefit of any gift and both are adequately protected against all potential obligations and liabilities, the following terms and conditions must be met for all gifts of labor or services to the university.

Unskilled Labor Gifts: All gifted unskilled labor projects must be adequately supervised by a responsible representative of the donor and must have a University department/unit sponsor. The donor must furnish all needed incidental materials such as trash bags, cleaning supplies (cleaning products must be approved by the university), etc. All by-products resulting from the project (litter bags, soiled rags, etc.) must be properly disposed of by the donor in designated university trash receptacles. Clear stated expectations of the project's performance and consequences must be jointly developed by the donor and benefitting university department or unit in writing prior to the start of the project.

Skilled Technical Service Gifts: Because such gifts often require the altering of university property and the exercising of professional judgement, the expectations and consequences of performance by both the donor and university must be spelled out in writing through a formal contract/agreement and must be accepted by an official of the University.

Reviewed July 2014