Protect ELCA Ministries and Your Donors

Use a Gift Acceptance Policy

A formal gift acceptance policy states whether or not certain assets or gift vehicles should be accepted. The policy protects you from accepting gifts that are not in the best interest of ELCA ministries and allows staff to respond quickly to donor inquiries.

The gift acceptance policy should address which types of assets:

• are automatically acceptable.
• need to first go through the gift acceptance committee to determine if the asset is acceptable.
• are not acceptable at all.

Create a Gift Acceptance Committee

A formal gift acceptance committee should be formed with the responsibility of handling all gifts that fall outside the guidelines of the gift acceptance policy. This committee can be a part of a board development committee, or it can be an internal staff committee.

Creating your gift acceptance policy does not have to be complicated! You can contact your regional gift planner at any time for guidance or consultation in this process.