Written by Erin Delehanty.
How do I know how much can be awarded from an endowment in the upcoming academic year? When determining how much can be awarded from a specific endowment, it is important to consider a few important facts and know how to use some important tools.
Facts to Consider
- Every year in December, a spending budget is calculated and communicated to campus users for each individual endowment for the upcoming academic fiscal year.
- That budget is transferred to the endowment spending account the following July for the fiscal year.
- Any funds not spent as of June 30 for the prior fiscal year carry over and can be spent in the next fiscal year.
- The combination of these two amounts is your total funds available for spending.
- This balance is the maximum amount of award that can be made in any fiscal year. You are not allowed to spend an endowment spending project into deficit.
- In special circumstances, if a current use gift is made to the endowment income project, that gift (net of any gift assessment fees) will also be available for spending.
How do I know what my carryover/beginning balance is?
Beginning or carryover balances are posted in Financials towards the end of July. By drilling down on a P1 Financials Report, Total Revenue (accounts 40000-4999), you will see an amount credited to account code 40985. This is the unspent balance from the prior year carried into the current year. Ignore the account code description; this is beyond our control.
How do I see my current year spending budget in Financials?
Current year spending budgets are also posted in Financials in late July. By drilling down on a P1 Financials Report, Total Revenue (accounts 40000-4999), you will see an amount credited to account code 40844. This is the current year spending budget for the endowment. Ignore the account code description; this is beyond our control.
The combination of these two amounts is what can be spent during the current year. When planning award amounts, it is important to consider that, while the spending budget will be added to your account each year and will most likely increase year over year, the carryover is controlled by you and will be available until spent.
Any questions related to this topic should be addressed to Michelle Phillips at (919) 513-3552 or mpphilli@ncsu.edu.