Family & Children’s Services, Inc.TM (FCS) solicits and accepts gifts for purposes that will help the organization further and fulfill its mission. FCS conducts fundraising activities in an ethical, fiscally responsible manner by accurately describing the purpose for which solicitations are being made; spending funds for the purposes they were solicited, with the exception of reasonable costs for administration of the fundraising program; maintaining accounting segregation for restricted funds; and respecting donor confidentiality requests and ensuring that such donors’ names are not published in publicly available documents.
FCS urges all prospective donors to seek the assistance of personal legal and financial advisors in matters relating to their gifts, including the resulting tax and estate planning consequences.
Gifts Generally Accepted Without Review
1. Cash – Cash gifts are acceptable in any form, including by check, money order, credit card, or online. Donors wishing to make a gift by credit card must provide the card type (e.g., Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express), card number, expiration date, and name of the cardholder as it appears on the credit card or process it securely on our online donation site.
2. Marketable Securities – Marketable securities may be transferred electronically to an account maintained at one or more brokerage firms or delivered physically with the transferor’s endorsement or signed stock power (with appropriate signature guarantees) attached.
3. Bequests and Beneficiary Designations under Revocable Trusts, Life Insurance Policies, Commercial Annuities and Retirement Plans – Donors are encouraged to make bequests to Family & Children’s Service, Inc. (FCS) under their wills, and to name Family & Children’s Services, Inc. as the beneficiary under trusts, life insurance policies, commercial annuities, and retirement plans.
4. Charitable Remainder Trusts – Family & Children’s Services, Inc. (FCS) will accept designation as a remainder beneficiary of charitable remainder trusts.
5. Charitable Lead Trusts – Family & Children’s Services, Inc. (FCS) will accept designation as an income beneficiary of charitable lead trusts.
Gifts Accepted Subject to Prior Review
Certain forms of gifts or donated properties may be subject to review prior to acceptance. Examples of gifts subject to prior review include, but are not limited to:
1. Tangible Personal Property
2. Life Insurance – Family & Children’s Services, Inc. (FCS) will accept gifts of life insurance where Family & Children’s Services, Inc. is named as both beneficiary and irrevocable owner of the insurance policy. The donor must agree to pay, before due, any future premium payments owing on the policy.
3. Real Estate – All gifts of real estate are subject to review by the FCS Board of Directors Executive Committee, in consultation with the Chief Development Officer and President/CEO of FCS. Prior to acceptance of any gift of real estate other than a personal residence, Family & Children’s Services, Inc. (FCS) shall require an initial environmental review by a qualified environmental firm. In the event that the initial review reveals a potential problem, the organization may retain a qualified environmental firm to conduct an environmental audit. Criteria for acceptance of gifts of real estate include:
a. Is the property useful for the organization’s purposes? Is the property readily marketable?
b. Are there covenants, conditions, restrictions, reservations, easements, encumbrances, or other limitations associated with the property?
c. Are there carrying costs (including insurance, property taxes, mortgages, notes, or the like) or maintenance expenses associated with the property?
d. Does the environmental review or audit reflect that the property is damaged or otherwise requires remediation?
All decisions to solicit and/or accept potentially controversial gifts will be made by the FCS Board of Directors Executive Committee, in consultation with the Chief Development Officer and President/CEO of FCS, in consultation with in-house or external legal counsel. The primary consideration will be the impact of the gift on the organization.
For a detailed list of the gift acceptance policy, please feel free to email the development team at: development@fcsok.org and one will be provided to you.