[mhecke]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post and I'm wondering if you can help me with a question. We have some restricted donations that were given to fund a Physicians Medical Library. The library has been built and we have approximately $185,000 in restricted monies left over. Is it Ok to release these gifts to unrestricted because they will never be released for this project since it is now completed?

Your comments are definitely appreciated. If you have information on this treatment from FASB or any other Accounting source, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark Heckenberg

[nisaac]

Even if we answered this question for you, I'm not sure you should listen to us.

You should check with your accountants/auditors and most likely the donor on this, I would think. Just my two cents!

[Melissa Siobhan]

Ditto - there is also a listserv called www.fundsvcs.org which has not just database professionals but all gift processing and development/advancement services staff. They know a lot about these things.

I suspect they will say that you will need to refund the money to the donors (or at least offer to and see if the donors will let you unrestrict it). Maybe offer them to put it into the operations for the library or an endowment for the library. This is likely a Donor Bil of Rights issue more than FASB but I am not the person to ask.