Restricted Gift Designation and Acknowledgment Form

Use it when a donor gives money, securities, or non-cash assets with conditions on how or when the organization may use them. It is especially useful before funds are deposited into a program or endowment account so accounting can classify the gift correctly. If the gift is unrestricted, a simpler acknowledgment form is usually enough. If the donor’s terms are unclear, this form helps capture the missing details before acceptance.

Development or advancement staff usually capture the donor details and gift terms, while finance or accounting reviews the restriction language and fund setup. An authorizing officer should approve the acceptance when the gift includes unusual conditions, time limits, or policy exceptions. For larger or complex gifts, legal counsel or a gift acceptance committee may also need to review the terms. The key is that the person approving the gift can confirm the organization can actually fulfill the restriction.

It is typically completed once per restricted gift, pledge, or donor agreement. If the donor makes multiple gifts under the same restriction, each new commitment or material change should be documented separately or linked to the original record. For recurring pledges, the form can be reused when the restriction terms, reporting cadence, or fund assignment change. It should not be treated as a one-time blanket approval for all future gifts.

The form captures the facts needed to determine whether a gift is with donor restrictions and how it should be tracked in the general ledger. It also records the fund name, fund code, spending policy, and release conditions so finance can classify and monitor the balance correctly. That reduces the risk of mixing restricted and unrestricted funds. It also creates a clear audit trail for later reporting and release of restrictions.

Common mistakes include leaving the restriction description too vague, marking every field required, or failing to attach the gift instrument that defines the donor’s intent. Another issue is accepting a gift before confirming whether indirect costs are allowed or capped. Teams also sometimes forget to document what happens to unspent funds at the end of the restriction period. Those gaps make fund setup and reporting harder later.

Yes. The restriction fields can be adapted to match endowment payout rules, scholarship eligibility, capital project milestones, or time-based release conditions. You can also add conditional logic so only relevant fields appear for cash, non-cash, pledge, or endowment gifts. If your organization uses different approval paths by gift size or purpose, those can be added without changing the core structure. The important part is preserving the donor’s exact terms.

Attach the signed gift instrument, letter of intent, pledge agreement, deed of gift, or any written donor correspondence that sets the restriction. If the gift is non-cash, include valuation support or a description of the asset. If there were verbal commitments, note them clearly and identify who heard them and when. The form should point reviewers to the source document that controls the restriction.

The form can feed a fund accounting workflow by capturing the fund name, fund code, program area, and investment pool in a structured way. Those fields can be mapped into your ERP, CRM, or document management system so finance and development are working from the same record. It also supports an audit trail by showing who submitted, reviewed, and authorized the gift. If your process uses conditional logic, you can route endowment or policy-exception gifts to the right approver.