• Contacting the President’s Office directly 
• Requesting attendance at an event or meeting less than 4 weeks in advance 
• Not having a staff member to manage the logistics required of presidential attendance 
• Asking for the president to come to a repeat event with the same alumni/donor audience

• The attendance of the President at an event or interaction requires a high level of coordination and preparation. Please ensure there is a contact person in the unit who can be the main liaison for DPAE and the Office of the President. 
• Once approved, a Presidential briefing and bio are required if the President is attending an event.

Contact your area’s project manager for guidance on managing sponsorships. 

View Project Manager List

What if there is no existing fund? 
If no fund exists, you may establish a new one with a $1,000 transfer from your discretionary fund in the foundation. 

What about term sponsorships? 
A term sponsorship is when someone gives a set amount of money for a set number of years and in exchange receives naming recognition for that term on a select item/place/location. A term sponsorship will count as voluntary service credit and not a tax-deductible gift. 

• Reach out to your area’s DPAE project manager. 
  • Share with Office of Corporate Engagement if not done already. 
• Identify which foundation fund you will raise money into.
• Propose sponsorship levels that cover your costs and include leaving a minimum of 5% of total raised in the foundation fund.
• Organize the list of goods and services received for each sponsorship level.
• DPAE will provide tax deductibility amounts and confirm your sponsorship levels.
• Your project manager wil

• Putting on an event or program that you can’t pay for from a university index if you don’t raise enough sponsorships. 
• Asking an individual to “make a gift” that involves a term sponsorship naming. This will not be a gift.  
• Setting sponsor levels too low, complicating covering your costs plus 5% fundraising. 

• Sponsorship funds must be deposited into an existing foundation fund that supports programmatic or discretionary items.  
  • If proceeds are intended to go to a scholarship, they can be moved over to a scholarship fund at completion of the event/sponsorship timeline. 
• 5% of all total event sponsorship proceeds must remain in the designated fund.
  • Keep this in mind when developing your sponsorship levels.
  • This money remains in your area’s foundation fund for use, it is NOT a fee from the Foundation.
• Kent State Universi

For questions or assistance, please contact:
Diana Bocciarelli at (330) 672-0402 or dboccia2@kent.edu or Donor and Volunteer Engagement at donorservices@kent.edu.

For Donor-Initiated Funds

• Review fund creation guidelines above.
• Once the $5,000 minimum is secured, follow the Donor Agreement Workflow.
• The Workflow routes to a staff member in the Donor and Volunteer Engagement (DVE) office, who drafts the donor agreeme