San Leandro Municipal Code Ch. 9 Gifts, Donations, and Sponsorships Policy

From time to time, individuals, groups, or corporations may wish to sponsor, donate or bequeath real or personal property to the City. Cash donations are also often made to the City for the purchase of a variety of goods and services, intended for public and administrative use. Sponsorships by individuals, groups and/or corporations are also a major source of support to many City functions be they in the form of cash or in-kind contributions. This policy establishes procedures for solicitation and/or acceptance of donations and sponsorships. A uniform set of procedures shall be followed in acceptance of all donations and proper approval shall be obtained prior to acceptance. All cash and capital goods donated to the City shall be accounted for in accordance with the procedures set forth in this policy.

The City Manager shall recommend to the City Council to accept, reject or recommend the sale of any gift made to or for the City for any public purpose. The City may utilize the gift as prescribed by the donor or, providing use of the gift and/or the income from it is not restricted, the gift may be used for any purpose that furthers City goals and objectives. The City Council shall provide for acknowledgment of the donation per the guidelines of this policy or in any manner deemed appropriate.

Gift.

For purposes of this policy, the terms "gifts," "donations" and "sponsorships" shall be synonymous. A gift may be a monetary contribution and/or a real/personal property item(s) that the City has accepted and for which the donor has not received any good(s) or service in return.

(a) Responsibility. The City Manager or designee shall have the authority to accept donations in which the total value is less than $5,000. All donations whose total value exceeds $5,000 shall be reviewed and accepted by City Council. The City Manager or designee shall be responsible for management of all donated funds and facilitating the disbursement of donated items.

(b) Solicitation of Gifts. The Mayor, and/or City Councilmembers, City Manager, and, if so authorized by the City Manager, City staff, may approach companies or organizations to request donations of goods, services, property or funds to facilitate the achievement of identified City goals.

All solicited gifts shall be subject to applicable Fair Political Practices Commission and Government Code reporting requirements.

(c) Unsolicited Gift. Unsolicited donations will be evaluated to determine whether the donation has a valid unrestricted use to the City.

(1) Donors who wish to give a gift that is not specific to a given department will be referred to the City Manager.

(2) In the event the donated item does not have an obvious use by the department to which it has been presented, notice will be circulated to each department director to determine if it can be used elsewhere. The donor will be notified within two weeks as to whether the City is interested in the given item.

(3) If the item obviously has no use to the City or would be more effectively used elsewhere, the donor will be informed immediately and referred to an appropriate agency by the City Manager.

(4) Proof of Ownership. If there is question as to the legal owner of the donated item, proof of ownership may be requested.

(5) Donors shall be encouraged not to place unrealistic restrictions on donated items that may impede the City's flexibility in determining usefulness.

(d) Conditions for Accepting/Rejecting Donations. Staff shall work with the donor to assure that restrictions are reasonable and do not leave the donor with unrealistic expectations regarding permanency of life of the donation. For example, if a tree is donated it may not be replaced if it dies or becomes diseased or damaged. It is the policy of the City not to accept property that will impose a significant maintenance or operations expense on the City. As applicable, the following are criteria which may be applied in determining if a donation is appropriate for acceptance:

(1) The use of item(s) must be consistent with existing City policy.

(2) Restrictions placed upon the use and/or disposition of the item must be practical to accept.

(3) Required accounting of the item(s) must not be excessively burdensome.

(4) Maintenance must not be excessive and/or maintenance support must be available.

(5) Does use of the item(s) require the purchase of additional item(s) to be useful?

(6) Acceptance of the item must not present a conflict of interest for the City or its employees. Regardless of the value of the donation, if the donor is a person or entity doing business with the City, a contractor or potential contractor, or there is reason to believe there may be a conflict of interest, the City Manager will determine if the gift should be accepted, rejected or submitted to the City Council for approval.

(a) The following procedures shall be followed for all donations.

(1) A Donation Receipt Form will be completed by City staff when donations are received, and a copy of the form will be forwarded to the City Clerk for retention. The donor will be given a copy of the form. The Finance Department will retain a copy if the item is a capital good (valued in excess of $7,500 with at least a one-year life).

(2) The City will not place any value on the gift for the donor.

(3) The Finance Director shall be notified of acceptance of capital items. Finance shall make the necessary entries on the respective accounts and property records to insure that the property is charged to the account of the proper City program. This reporting must take place no later than 30 days after the receipt of the donated item(s).

(4) If the gift is a capital good of the type that is ordinarily maintained by the Public Works Services Department, the department receiving the gift must discuss the item with the Public Works Services Director before accepting it.

(b) Cash Gifts.

(1) Depositing Cash Gifts. All cash gifts shall be deposited immediately with the Finance Department in accordance with the City cash collection policy and procedure and shall be accompanied by a Donation Receipt. Cash donations shall be deposited in the Gifts and Donations account in the General Fund.

(2) Restricted Cash Donations.

(i) Donation Receipt. Restricted cash donations must be supported in department files by the Donation Receipt signed by the donor and identifying the name, address and telephone numbers of the donor, the amount and date of the donation, and the nature of the restriction.

(ii) Deposit of Restricted Cash Donations. Donations shall be deposited in the City's Gifts and Donations account, which is managed by the Finance Department. This account shall be utilized by all departments.

(iii) Council Authorization. A request for authorization must be sent to the City Council in the form of a staff report and approved before a restricted cash donation is spent for its intended use. The Report to Council must state the name of the donor, the amount of the donation, the date the donation was received and the nature of the restriction. A copy of this report must be submitted to the Finance Department to confirm spending authority.

(iv) Procedures for Expending Donated Cash. The donation may be liquidated by the appropriate department when the purchase is made. Any over expenditures must come out of the department's operating budget. Funds shall remain in this account until they are spent on their intended purpose. If a department is unable to spend the cash as intended, the cash must be returned to the donor or the donor must provide written authorization to expend the cash differently from the original purpose. A minimum of 90% of the donated funds must be utilized for the stated purpose. The remaining balance will go into the General Fund once the purpose of the donation has been achieved. This will occur at the end of the fiscal year.

(3) Unrestricted Cash Donations. Unrestricted cash donations shall be deposited in the City's Gifts and Donations account in the General Fund.

(c) Reporting of Donations. Within 30 days of the end of the fiscal year, each department director shall submit a report to the City Manager that summarizes all donations received by each department during the fiscal year, with an estimate of the monetary value of the donations. Volunteer time is excluded from this report.

(d) Donation Acknowledgments. The Department receiving a gift will have the responsibility of acknowledging the donor and/or making arrangements for such in the following manner. Copies of all acknowledgement letters shall be sent to the City Council.

$199 and Under — A thank you letter acknowledging the gift by the City Manager.

$200 and Up — A thank you letter acknowledging the gift signed by the Mayor and a commemorative plaque if appropriate.

(e) Commemorative Plaques. It is the policy of the City Council that donations that are so identified via a commemorative plaque be maintained for the assets' normal life or five years, whichever is shorter. At the end of its useful life, the donated item may be replaced or removed at the discretion of the director of the department maintaining the donated item.

A commemorative plaque may not be replaced or repaired if it is stolen or damaged during that five year time span.

Text on any commemorative plaque may be limited to acknowledging the name of the person to be remembered, dates of the person's life or service to the community, and the name of the person or organization making the donation. Additional text on the plaque, the size of the plaque, the material it is made of and the placement of the plaque on the donated item shall be determined by the department accepting the donation.

(a) Purpose. The purpose of this Section is to ensure that all tickets and passes the City receives from public and private entities and individuals, which the City purchases or which the City owns because of its control of the event or facility, are distributed in furtherance of a public purpose. A ticket or pass provided to a public official by the City and distributed and used in accordance with this policy is not a gift under the Political Reform Act if all of the following criteria are met.

(b) Limitation. This policy shall only apply to the City's distribution of tickets and/or passes to, or at the behest of, a City Official, as defined by Government Code Section 82048.

(c) Ticket Distribution Public Purposes. The City may accomplish one or more public purposes of the City through the distribution of tickets to, or at the behest of, a City Official. The following list is illustrative rather than exhaustive of the public purposes of the City that may be accomplished by City officials attending events using tickets distributed to them by the City:

(1) Support of general employee morale, retention or to reward public service;

(2) Promotion of City activities within the City and the State of California;

(3) Promotion of City recognition, visibility, and/or profile on a local, state, or national scale;

(4) Recognition of a City program or purpose;

(5) Promotion of City issues and interest.

(d) No Transfer of Tickets. The transfer by any City official of any ticket or pass distributed to that official pursuant to this policy to any other person is prohibited except to members of the official's immediate family for their personal use, or to no more than one guest solely for their attendance at the event.

(e) No Disproportionate Use. Disproportionate use of tickets or passes by a member of the City Council, a City appointed official, a department head, or a particular employee shall be prohibited.

(f) City's Sole Discretion. Tickets and passes distributed according to this policy shall not be earmarked by an outside source for use by a specific City official. The City determines, in its sole discretion, who receives the ticket or pass.

(g) Reporting. Within 45 days of distribution of a ticket or pass, the distribution must be reported on a form provided by the Fair Political Practices Commission ("FPPC"), according to California Code of Regulations Section 18944.1(d).

(h) Public Record. Within 30 days after adoption, this policy shall be published in the City's Administrative Code, which is posted on the City's website, and sent to the FPPC by email.

(Resolution No. 2020-005, 01/06/2020 [§1.9.120]; Resolution No. 2005-085, 06/20/2005 [§§1.9.100-1.9.115]; Resolution No. 98-128, 10/05/1998 [§§1.9.100-1.9.115])