Washington University, itself, is a charitable organization that relies on contributions from donors. As such, it is essential that the university guards its image as careful stewards of all university funds. All contributions made by the university to other organizations are made public on the university’s IRS Form 990.

In the event that a contribution is deemed appropriate, payments should be made directly to the receiving organization from the University via check or procurement card. Such payments should be charged to the External Donations and Contributions spend category (if paid via invoice) or expense item (if paid via procurement card). A receipt or other acknowledgement of the gift should be obtained and sent to TaxDepartment@wustl.edu. Requests for reimbursement of such payments must be made through payroll (as a taxable reimbursement).