L&S Exercise: Planning Allocation Memo for UW Foundation Accounts

233 WFAA Gift Fund Budgeting

Units will draft a memo that explains commitments in their Foundation resources that cannot be captured by Foundation reporting.

Each unit with WFAA Foundation funds will receive an Excel spreadsheet containing each foundation fund for the unit. The spreadsheet will include annual income, endowment balance and spendable cash, and allowable use category. Units should evaluate these available funds and articulate any spend plans in the memo.

Due Date: March 15, 2026
Email the memo to your AAD, Jennifer Klippel, and Jana Valeo by March 15th, 2026. If you made notes on the spreadsheet, include that in the email. If you would like to set up a time to discuss the report with your Gift Team, please contact Jana Valeo.

Memo Instructions

If the amount in expendable cash is more than 3x higher than the amount of the estimated annual income, this indicates funds have not been spent or disbursed to a 233 worktag in multiple years.

We are looking to understand if those funds have already been committed or if there is another reason why funds have not been used.

The memo should contain:

• How/if the department has already committed funds.
• Identify why funds have not been used.
• Identify if the expendable cash value will decrease once disbursements to 233 worktags are processed.

Some common examples/scenarios:

• A professorship fund may have an accumulation of expendable cash, but the department  plans to use it for a project assistant or other expenses.
• A graduate fellowship fund may have a MOA too narrow to make frequent awards so the fund accumulates expendable cash between fellows.
• The reason for the funding no longer exists or no longer has the same level of need as it once did.

Issues specific to certain use types that should be addressed in the memo:

• Chairs and Professorships:
  • If a professorship is empty or being used for something other than the professorship holder’s salary offset or research funds.
  • If the professorship is awarded and there is an expendable cash balance, is there a plan to spend those funds?
  • Note: Bascom professorships are managed in collaboration with the Provost Office so there should not be a spend plan.
• Undergraduate Financial Support
  • Are scholarships being awarded? If not, why?
  • If so, why is the expendable cash so large?
• Graduate Financial Support
  • Are the funds being used? If not, why?
  • If so, why is the expendable cash so large?

How to Read the Report

The UWF Spreadsheet provides a list of all funds at the UW Foundation broken out by department and by use category. The amounts in these columns are a snapshot in time. Quarter 2 ended 12/31/25 so end of the quarter processing and any end of year giving could impact some of these numbers. Additionally, any disbursements requesting funds be moved from WFAA to a UW 233 worktag, will impact the amount available in expendable cash.

Each fund will list the estimated annual income, the amount of expendable cash, and the total endowment market value.

Estimated Annual Income (EAI)

This number is the estimate of the interest expected to be accrued on the endowment in the next 12 months, based on the previous quarter’s interest payments made. The EAI is only an estimate and cannot be guaranteed by WFAA.

Expendable Cash

Cash available for immediate spending according to the donor's wishes as outlined in the fund description. Expendable cash can be a combination of gifts given by donors to be available for immediate spending (spendable cash) or distributions from endowed funds which are generated on a quarterly basis (spendable endowment income). Expendable cash is not invested in the endowment investment portfolio and does not earn interest.

Total Endowment Market Value

This number is the total amount in the fund’s endowment and the number used to generate the estimated annual income. If the amount in the endowment is $0 and the fund number begins with 112, the fund is not endowed and is fully expendable. That amount will only be listed in expendable cash