By Perry T. Fulkerson, Vice President, Central Development FSU Foundation, at the 2016 Leadership Conference

1. Seminole Club Scholarships
and the FSU Gift Agreement Process
Perry T. Fulkerson
Vice President, Central Development
Florida State University Foundation

2. Seminole Club gift agreements
What gift agreements do
• Mostly, gift agreements are used to
manage charitable contributions in
dedicated endowment funds.
• They are important because
endowments are in perpetuity but
people come and go
• Whoever manages and/or distributes
funds needs direction

3. Seminole Club gift agreements
What’s in a gift agreement?
• The parties are identified
– The Donors (a Seminole Club, for example)
– The Donee (FSU Foundation which manages
the university’s academic endowment)
– The beneficiary unit (Alumni Association)
– The University
• The purpose of the Fund is described
– “Much needed scholarship support for individual
students from Orange, Osceola …”

4. Seminole Club gift agreements
What’s in a gift agreement?
• Contribution schedule
– How the money will be contributed (gift
agreement), or …
– How the money was contributed (fund
agreement)
• Clubs and others have a right at any
time to add to an endowment fund by
outright gift or bequest

5. Seminole Club gift agreements
What’s in a gift agreement?
• Recipient selection criteria defined
– Such as …
• Geographic area
• Acceptance to FSU as a full-time undergraduate
• Volunteer work
• An essay about why FSU and how a scholarship helps
• Letter of recommendation (not from a relative)
• High school transcripts
– But not such things as “make and model of car”
– Either just financial need or a balanced approach

6. Seminole Club gift agreements
What’s in a gift agreement?
• Recipient selection process defined
– Ideally every club should have a scholarship
committee of no fewer than 5 members
– Applicants should apply to the club whose
scholarship committee reviews applications,
notifies Alumni Association of recipients
– The process must be fair and unbiased
• If a committee member recognizes a relative
among applicants, he or she should recuse
himself or herself from the process

7. Seminole Club gift agreements
What’s in a gift agreement?
• Signatures
– Donor (Seminole Club President)
– Person administering fund (Alumni Association
President)
– If under $100,000
• Donee (Executive Vice President of the Foundation)
– If over $100,000
• University President
• VP for Advancement
• University General Counsel

8. Seminole Club gift agreements
Consistency is important
• Wide variety of inconsistent MOUs and
agreements with Seminole Clubs
– Varying formats and content
– Varying selection criteria and processes
• Some refer to non-existent offices or
committees
– “The South Florida Office” of FSU
– “The University Scholarship Committee”

9. Seminole Club gift agreements
Samples from 1990 to the present

10. Seminole Club gift agreements
Standardizing
• In recent years, the Foundation has standardized
the gift agreement process and developed
templates for most gift situations
• We will work with the Alumni Association to develop
a standard Seminole Club gift agreement template
• We will work closely with each club to develop their
unique scholarship agreements based on the new
template

11. Questions and comments