Gifts designated for specific purposes by donors are classified as externally restricted and are generally held in Fund 600 cost centres (CCs). Donor requests are documented in gift agreements and must accompany the cost centre request.
CCs are established to provide an accounting control entity for managing and reporting donations, distributions and expenses over multiple periods. Fund 600 CCs are divided into two types: Endowments and Trusts. They are categorized by the gift agreement as either awards or faculty. In some cases, awards that are initiated at the discretion of the Dean may also be classified in Fund 600 if the funds have originated from donors. Each CC should be set up with a single purpose designation, such as, for a named undergraduate or graduate award.
To understand the administration process of Fund 600 cost centre's refer to Guidelines - Financial Administration of Fund 600 Awards Cost Centres Awards- Endowments and Trusts SOP (PDF).
Fund 600 Cost Centres Set up
Establishing the Award
- The Donor communicates with the Division of Advancement (Division or Faculty Development Officers) and commits to making a gift for a designated purpose.
- Gift Agreements for Undergraduate Awards are prepared by Advancement in collaboration with Scholarships and Bursaries and University Counsel.
- Gift Agreements for Graduate Awards are prepared by Advancement in collaboration with Graduate Studies, Scholarships and Bursaries and University Counsel.
- Award terms are documented in an Award Proposal Form that is completed by the Faculty or by Scholarships and Bursaries.
- Award Proposal Forms are submitted for awards approvals to Student Financial Services (SFS) per the delegated authority of the Senate Awards Committee. Once the Award is approved, the CC is set up.
Setting up the Cost Centre
- Initiating with the Fund 600 Cost Centre Set Up Form – Endowments & Trusts
- Gift Processing, Advancement initiates CC set up for Awards that are endowments including the node/tree specifications.
- Scholarships & Bursaries initiates CC set up for Awards that are trusts.
- Set up is coordinated with Graduate Studies for graduate awards.
- The initiating unit completes the Fund 600 Cost Centres Set Up Form, which identifies the Responsible Manager and the Primary Signing Authority. For Awards endowments and trusts, both these roles are automatically assigned to the Associate Registrar.
- The completed form is forwarded to Treasury via email to Avriti Panday at avritip@yorku.ca copying Susan Sidiropoulos ssidirop@yorku.ca on the email.
- Treasury reviews, approves and authorizes the Fund 600 Cost Centre Set Up form, assigning CC numbers, applying naming conventions, coding and establishing node and CC access.
- Treasury delivers the approved set up instructions to Financial Reporting for establishing the new CC identity in PeopleSoft.
- Financial Reporting arranges for eReports access to be set up and sends a confirmation email to all persons with access when the CC has been created.
Once the CC is established on PeopleSoft, donations received by Advancement are transferred to the CC.