Corporate & Foundation Relations

Seeking External Funding

The offices of Corporate & Foundation Relations and Grant Programming & Development, within the Office of University Advancement, provide campus-wide leadership and support to the president, administrators and faculty in developing competitive proposals to private individuals, corporations and private or corporate foundations to secure financial support for the university’s strategic priorities.

Since our daily responsibilities involve raising capital and building partnerships with these potential funders, we believe we can be an asset to faculty and staff in developing impactful and ultimately successful proposals for your program or initiative.

The words gift, grant and contracts are often confused and used interchangeably amongst donors, grantors and faculty and staff. The definitions below seek to clarify the differences between “gifts” and “grants”.

A gift is the voluntary, non-reciprocal transfer of money or property from a donor to an institution. The donor may be an individual, a corporation or a non-profit organization making a charitable contribution. The donor does not expect anything of value in return other than recognition and does not have control over expenditures. A gift may meet the interests of the donor and can be restricted or unrestricted. A restricted gift is a contribution designated for a specific purpose, program or project. If the donor does not specify any restrictions, the gift is unrestricted and the institution allocates the funds at its own discretion. Only the Office of Advancement may accept gifts on behalf of the University and the University of North Alabama Foundation.

A grant (sponsored program funding, contract award) is the transfer of money or property from a sponsor to an institution that restricts activities agreed upon between the external sponsor and the University. It may require performance of specific duties such as research, budget or progress reports, compliance, faculty/staff leadership or other deliverables and return of unused funds. Sponsors are most often federal, state or local governments or agencies. These functions are currently administered by the Office of Academic Services.

These definitions provide the general context by which all external funds will be evaluated, processed and managed. Situations may arise that do not clearly meet the above criteria or that may contain elements of both a charitable gift and a grant award. In those cases, the Office of University Advancement and the Office of Academic Services will work together to assess the intent and obligation of the award and determine the correct processing actions. In some cases, awards may be considered both a gift and a sponsored award and will be processed accordingly. In those cases, institutional records will reflect the dual nature of the award and this will be reflected in institutional reports and financial statements.