Donor Privacy Policy

Goddard College maintains the highest level of respect for the privacy of its alumni and donors. The following privacy policy articulates Goddard College’s practices for the collection, use and protection of information about our alumni and donors. The policy is intended to guide the actions of Goddard College staff members, volunteers and authorized representatives.

Goddard College collects and uses various personal information from alumni and donors that includes:

1. Personal information obtained from alumni, donors, prospective donors, and volunteers through pledge cards, letters, surveys, applications, and other forms, in writing, in person, by telephone, or electronically (including name, address, employer, birth date, credit card number, bank information, family members, interests, etc.).
2. Individual information may also be collected about alumni, donors and potential friends of Goddard regarding their history of philanthropic giving, volunteer activities, committee service work, information from public documents and reports, and interactions an individual may have had with Goddard College.

Goddard College will not sell, trade, rent or publish names (unless permission is given to publish for gift recognition) mail addresses, email addresses or telephone numbers of our alumni and donors.

Goddard College will use contact information (email, telephone number and mailing address) of alumni and donors for these purposes:

• Distribute receipts for donations
• Thank donors for their donation
• Alumni information or mailings including Clockworks
• Alumni networking activities
• Inform/invite alumni and donors (to join in fund raising and other activities at Goddard)
• Internal analysis and record keeping
• Reporting to relevant Federal and State agencies (not for public inspection)
• Contact donors about changes to this policy
• General, anonymous information about Goddard fundraising may be used for promotional and fundraising purposes. Donors have the option to have their name publicly associated with their donation unless the donor explicitly chooses otherwise on their pledge cards or when donating online.

Comments given in alumni/donor forms and surveys may be used in Goddard publications, and may be used in promotional materials, while comments sent in confidence to us via email, fax or telephone remain confidential.

All access to alumni/donor personal and financial information is limited to development staff members. Goddard uses encryption technology to protect sensitive information online and maintains security practices to protect alumni and donor information off-line. Only staff members who require information to deposit, record, acknowledge and report on financial donations are granted access to personally identifiable financial information. Development staff members will provide volunteers, who require pertinent donor/alumni gift-giving information for outreach and fundraising activities to advance Goddard’s mission, with the requested information on a need-to-know basis.

Volunteers and staff members are kept up-to-date on Goddard’s security and privacy practices. The Development Director will review this policy periodically with all advancement volunteers for the purpose of ensuring clarity on the reasons for confidentiality and accessibility and to maintain integrity within the practices of maintaining confidentiality of donor/alumni and potential donor information.

If you have questions about this Alumni/Donor Privacy Policy please call 1-866-614-ALUM.

Gift Acceptance Policy

The Board of Trustees of Goddard College recognizes the importance of charitable giving to the well-being and future of the College, and encourages its community, alumni, staff, neighbors and other friends to contribute generously to its annual fund, capital campaigns, endowment campaigns, and other purposes such as strategic initiatives and experiments approved within the Goddard planning process. This policy describes the ways Goddard can accept these gifts. In case of any questions not answered by the following policies, Goddard will abide by generally accepted charitable giving accounting standards and those prescribed by The Council for the Advancement and Support for Education, the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and/or the National Planned Giving Council.

1. The Board of Goddard will appoint a standing Gift Acceptance Committee to review any and all gifts that fall within the categories named below. The Gift Acceptance Committee will be a subcommittee of the Development & Institutional Advancement Committee.
2. Goddard welcomes gifts of cash, publicly traded bonds and stock, insurance policies, real and personal property and pledges, as well as deferred gifts such as trusts, annuities, and bequests. All gifts are accepted according to standards below; for donor’s records, gifts are dated at the time they leave the donor’s possession; for Goddard’s records, all gifts are dated when received.
3. Gifts of cash, securities and paid insurance policies are accepted immediately upon receipt. Goddard also welcomes deferred gifts such as bequests, trusts, annuities and life estates; irrevocable gifts are counted at the time of the gift, discounted as necessary for any deferred gifts. For gift accounting, revocable gifts will be acknowledged and may be reported in a separate gift accounting but will not be booked or included in any campaign totals until realized.
4. Gifts of real estate and other property are accepted provided they can be used to advance Goddard’s mission, or sold by Goddard; the customary procedure will be to sell these immediately, but the College retains the right to postpone sale; the donor may not stipulate the timing of a sale. Any appraisal and/or environmental assessments found necessary will be conducted at the expense of the donor prior to Goddard’s acceptance: such gifts will only be accepted after approval by the Goddard College Gift Acceptance Committee.
5. Suggested gifts of art from students, faculty, alumni, trustees, staff and community members will be considered by an internal committee of staff with experience in managing art collections.  Criteria for acceptance include consideration of how the work relates to the College’s mission, and if there is a direct relation to the State of Vermont in some significant way.  Accepted works of art will require an appraisal to establish a value of the gift for the donor’s tax purposes and the College’s insurance carrier and financial records.
6. Gifts for restricted purposes will be accepted when those restrictions are a component of the annual budget, a strategic initiative, or of an active campaign. Gifts for other restricted purposes will be accepted only after the approval of the Gift Acceptance Committee. Gifts restricted for endowment, including endowed scholarships, may only be applied to a new named fund if the initial gift is $100,000 or more. Additions to existing named funds will be accepted in any amount.
7. Gifts that might require special action or any change in procedure at Goddard will be considered by the Gift Acceptance Committee prior to acceptance. In general, Goddard will not accept gifts with conditions that require changes in basic elements of the College values, plans, or programs unless the Board already approved those conditions during a planning process.
8. Goddard may occasionally accept gifts with the provision that an endowment or scholarship fund, building, or other property be named in honor of the donor, a member of the donor’s family, an honored friend of the organization, or another individual. Such naming opportunities will be discussed by the Gift Acceptance Committee and approved by the Board prior to gift acceptance. The Board will set and approve the appropriate gift level for these naming opportunities. Funds or buildings or other spaces may customarily only be named for individuals or families, not for businesses, organizations, themes, or other entities.
9. Goddard will not directly manage gift annuities, and therefore any such gifts must be made with the understanding that a third party (such as a community foundation or another organization with annuity management services) will manage the annuity and make income payments directly to the donor.
10. Gifts cannot be applied to individual expenses such as residence fees, tuition, room, board or related expenses for personal benefit of a specific individual.
11. Gifts may not be restricted for any purposes contrary to the values or mission of the organization, or for any purposes that would discriminate against any person or groups by reason of race, gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disability or other basis prohibited by law.
12. Most gifts offer some tax advantages to donors, and Goddard urges each donor to seek the most appropriate ways to maximize these advantages. While Goddard is anxious to discuss gift planning with each donor in so far as it applies to their gift, the College will not and does not offer financial or estate planning advice on these giving methods, on gift or financial management, or on other aspects of the donor’s charitable gift planning. Each donor is urged to seek financial counsel. As necessary in negotiating the terms of a gift, Goddard College will also retain counsel for gift management advice.
13. Goddard College will steward and recognize donors and their gifts appropriately with thank you’s and reports to donors about their donations. Donor requests for anonymity will always be honored. Practices for stewardship and recognition of donors will be reviewed annually.

Donor Bill of Rights

Philanthropy is based on voluntary action for the common good. It is a tradition of giving and sharing that is primary to the quality of life. To assure that philanthropy merits the respect and trust of the general public, and that donors and prospective donors can have full confidence in the not-for-profit organizations and causes they are asked to support, we declare that all donors have these rights:

I. To be informed of the organization’s mission, of the way the organization intends to use donated resources, and of its capacity to use donations effectively for their intended purposes.

II. To be informed of the identity of those serving on the organization’s governing board, and to expect the board to exercise prudent judgement in its stewardship responsibilities.

III. To have access to the organization’s most recent financial statements.

IV. To be assured their gifts will be used for the purposes for which they were given.

V. To receive appropriate acknowledgement and recognition.

VI. To be assured that information about their donations is handled with respect and with confidentiality to the extent provided by law.

VII. To expect that all relationships with individuals representing organizations of interest to the donor will be professional in nature.

VIII. To be informed whether those seeking donations are volunteers, employees of the organization or hired solicitors.

IX. To have the opportunity for their names to be deleted from mailing lists that an organization may intend to share.

X. To feel free to ask questions when making a donation and to receive prompt, truthful and forthright answers.