General Information
The Office of Advancement has established the Gift Acceptance, Processes & Standards (GAPS) Committee for the purpose of ensuring that gifts accepted by CMU are developed and accepted in a manner that conforms to the highest level of standards and best practices. The Committee is tasked with gathering information about proposed gifts, evaluating their appropriateness, and securing the relevant approvals from within the Office of Advancement, as well as other pertinent colleges, departments and divisions that are responsible for overseeing proper adherence to University policies and procedures.
The GAPS Committee has been established to review any new, unusual, uncommon or irregular gift initiated by either a donor or a college, division or department on campus. Additionally, GAPS inquiries may be submitted to resolve questions or concerns regarding the handling of existing gifts and unspent or mismanagement of gift funds held.
The review process can involve a number of steps some of which may be repeated until resolving to a conclusion.
It is imperative that GAPS review requests (gifts and issues) are submitted as early in advance as is reasonably possible.
GAPS issue review requests may be initiated by any faculty or staff member at CMU, through the assistance and support of a development officer or the stewardship department.
Steps toward receiving GAPS Committee approval include:
- Preparation and submission of a GAPS issue review request.
- These will nearly always be submitted with attachments supporting or substantiating the need for review
- Issues may require a certain amount of vetting before going before the committee for discussion.
- This vetting will identify additional information concerning the issue which will benefit the committee in reaching a decision.
- This vetting may require information gathered from multiple and across-campus departments.
- A first review by the committee will determine if an immediate decision can be made or if other information or individuals would be helpful in finalizing a decision.
- If necessary, additional committee reviews/discussion will commence until resolution.
- All documents and the entire “trail” on information pertaining to an issue whether concluding affirmatively of negatively will be retained in a “searchable” database using several key-words.
Eligibility
All current students, faculty, and staff.
Cost
There is currently no charge for this service.
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