Within Coppin University’s fundraising structure, the acquisition of major gifts is a process that results in gift income at the level $1,000 and above. We strive to attract gifts of this level to provide revenue to support programs, projects, scholarships and other institutional specific needs.
Donors are invited to identify a specific need to support their gift and can be assured that this donation will be designated according to their wishes. There is continuous stewardship oversight provided by the Division of Institutional Advancement (IA) to direct restricted gift income according to the wishes of the donors.
All major gift income designated for a specific need is received by the Restricted Fund Account in the Coppin State University Development Foundation, Inc. (CSUDF), which is the gift repository for the University. While many donors chose to designate their major gift, other donors prefer to have their donation directed as discretionary revenue to the unrestricted pool of income in CSUDF Annual Fund.
Coppin alumni as well as friends of the University often donate at the major gifts level. Gifts at this level serve to contribute to many of the institution’s objectives being realized.
Major gifts can be contributed annually should a donor wish to provide continuous support for a certain program, scholarship fund, or project. Gift income of this nature helps to grow the institution and donors are encouraged to aspire to elevate their gift-giving to the major donor level.
Gifts of this kind are a mechanism for a donor to give an extremely generous major gift without an immediate impact on their cash or investments.
Such gifts require planning on the part of the donor. Usually these gifts are not actually realized by the institution until after the donor's lifetime or a term of many years after the gift is made. The University will most often benefit from a planned gift some time in the future.
The most common forms of planned giving are through these vehicles:
There are more complex gift planning instruments that require sophisticated document preparation and are used to expand the donor's horizons and provide benefits that often enable the donor to make a much larger gift than originally anticipated:
Donors who wish to use gift planning to provide the University with income should contact the Division of Institutional Advancement (IA) for counseling and direction with respect to their intentions.
Gifts of endowment require at least a $10,000 donation to establish the fund. Donors use endowed funds to memorialize a deceased loved one, to honor someone still living, or simply to have in their name.
The endowment donor, in conjunction with an Institutional Advancement (IA) staffer, develops a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This document sets forth the terms for awarding the funds according to the wishes of the donor. The MOU is the governing instrument that gives guidance to the stewardship process to ensure that the funds are used as determined by the donor.
Endowments are perpetual in that the fund exists forever. Once the initial donation is made, the fund's corpus is set and will never be disturbed. After a one year investment of the corpus, interest income is earned. Only a calculated portion of the earned interest terms as "spendable" income is used annually to provide the award to execute the wishes of the donor.
As the corpus of the fund is never invaded and some of the earned interest is added annually to the fund's principle, the fund will continue to be stable and may experience minimal growth. However, endowments donors are encouraged to continue to donate to their endowed funds to guarantee the continuous growth of the fund.
The majority of Coppin's endowed accounts are in the Coppin State University Development Foundation, Inc. Endowment Portfolio, but there are a few that exist in the University System of Maryland Common Trust. However, the administration of the funds occurs though Coppin's direction.
Investment management of Coppin's endowed account dollars is through the University System of Maryland Investment Committee and the University System of Maryland Foundation Board.