Follow the Money, A Study of Gift Acceptance Policies and Practices, webinar, MPNL program

Tanya Rumble, Bill Mintram and Ellen Doty, graduate students in the Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership (MPNL) program, at Carleton University, recently released a study that examines if and how gift acceptance policies and practices account for: ethics; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI); and reconciliation, decolonization and Indigenization. This video is a webinar that presented some of their findings (Feb. 2023).
This is an important study. Universities welcome gifts from individuals, corporations and foundations to help achieve their academic missions and to enhance programs and services for students, and university fundraisers consider a number of policies and protocols when accepting or soliciting, most significantly the written gift acceptance policy, but they face challenges. For example, many universities have strategic commitments and/or plans related to reconciliation, though most interviewees in the study indicated there was no or limited specificity regarding the role of advancement-related tactics to support those strategies.