Customer Service

• Provide projections of endowment income for spending/beneficiary accounts to school / college / division academic units that will assist with the scholarship awarding and budgeting processes.
  • To assist University school/college/division academic unit scholarship administrators with projecting endowment income specifically related to endowed scholarship spending / beneficiary accounts that receive endowment income, there is a Cognos report that provides projected endowment income for the current academic calendar period, and two future academic calendar periods. To obtain detailed instructions for navigating to the Scholarship Award Management System ("SAMS") Portal, as well as a link to the SAMS Portal, please see the Endowment and Planned Giving's Frequently Asked Questions web page.
• Provide support for and respond to inquiries from University Development and Alumni Affairs' staff and school/college/division academic units regarding the history, nature, and financial transactions of their named endowed funds and related spending/beneficiary accounts, along with any necessary reports
• Educate the University community regarding the use and purpose of the Endowment Management System (EMS) a module within the Banner Financial Management System (FMS) to track transactions and information related to named endowed funds at the University.
• Serve as a central resource in the liquidation of donated marketable securities, i.e., stocks and bonds.
• Provide financial management to administer Planned Giving Vehicles, such as remitting annuity payments and reviewing trust statements.
• Respond to external surveys, such as the NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments (NCSE) and various agencies' information requests.
• Prepare fiscal year end reports
• Prepare tax reporting for the University Foundation, trusts, and charitable gifts.

Long-term Investment Program Administration

• Provide staff support to the WSU Foundation (Foundation) Board of Directors (Board) and the Board's Investment Committee.
• Coordinate the Endowment Fund's investment program materials and information for distribution to, and use by the Foundation Board, the Board Investment Committee and the University Board of Governors' Budget and Finance Committee.
• Liaison with the University Foundation's outsourced chief investment officer investment consulting firm and custody bank.
• Perform cash flow analysis to determine the appropriate amount of fund liquidity necessary to meet the short-term obligations of the Foundation endowment fund.  Short-term obligations of the endowment fund include such things as distributions of spendable endowment income to spending/beneficiary accounts, and fees that are payable for investment consultant, investment management firm, and bank custody services.
• Provide financial information and analysis that summarize investment activity and financial condition of the total endowment fund to Central Administration, the Foundation Board and the Board's Investment Committee.
• Reconcile investment manager and bank custody account statements.
• Support investment manager search activities.

Transaction Processing

• Record financial transactions into the University's Banner FMS and EMS modules, such as:

1. Quarterly distributions of Spendable Endowment Income (also commonly referred to as the 'Endowment / Distribution Policy') to spending/beneficiary accounts;
2. Quarterly distributions of investment activity to named endowed funds;
3. The quarterly 'unitization' processes (discussed in more detail later);
4. Transfers of funds into newly established named endowed funds or newly established 'pending' beneficiary accounts (once fund / account numbers are established);
5. Transfers of funds between named endowed funds and/or spending/beneficiary accounts that have been requested by various schools/colleges/divisions (once approved);
6. The investment activities of the Foundation's outside investment management firms;
7. Liquidate donors' gifts of marketable securities;
8. Remit premiums to insurance carriers for donated insurance policies on behalf of the donor;
9. Remit annuity payments and processing other activities of the University's Planned Giving Vehicles.