Gift Acceptance Policy | Balance Fund

ADOPTED by the Board of Directors on October 7, 2026. Published through /transparency. Bracketed operational items (brokerage, custodian) are completed before the related gift type is accepted. Counsel review of tax-law statements is recommended before the Fund relies on them for any transaction.

Adopted by the Board on: October 7, 2026 Next review: October 2027

1. Purpose

This policy sets out which gifts Balance Fund, Inc. (“the Fund”) accepts, who decides, and how gifts are handled, valued, acknowledged, and recorded. It exists so that every gift advances the Fund’s charitable mission, so that donors are treated consistently, and so that no gift exposes the Fund to undue legal, financial, or reputational risk.

2. Authority

The Board of Directors adopts this policy and may amend it.
The Executive Director (“the Gift Officer”) may accept gifts that this policy marks as routine.
Any gift this policy marks as “Board review” is accepted only by Board vote, recorded in the minutes.
The Gift Officer may decline any gift. The Fund is not obliged to give a reason.

3. Principles

A gift must support the Fund’s charitable purposes.
The Fund will not accept a gift that obliges it to act contrary to its mission, its tax-exempt status, or the law.
The Fund does not give tax, legal, or financial advice. Donors are directed to their own advisers.
The Fund does not set or certify the value of a donated non-cash asset. Valuation is the donor’s responsibility.
Designations are donor preferences the Board may take into account. They are not restrictions, unless the Board expressly accepts a restricted gift under Section 11.

4. Gifts accepted as routine (Gift Officer)

Cash and card gifts made through the Fund’s website or by check.
Grants from donor-advised funds and from other public charities and foundations, where no condition is attached.
Qualified charitable distributions from an IRA, paid directly by the custodian, within the limits the tax law sets.
Publicly traded securities that are freely tradable and unrestricted.

5. Gifts requiring Board review

Closely held stock, partnership or LLC interests, private-company securities, restricted or encumbered securities.
Real estate, and any asset carrying debt or environmental, title, or operating liability.
Renewable energy assets, including project transfers and bargain sales. These follow the Fund’s project-acceptance and decommissioning-reserve policies in addition to this one. [Cross-reference when those policies are approved.]
Equipment with a value above $25,000, or of any value that the Fund cannot responsibly deploy or store.
Digital assets other than Bitcoin and Ethereum. (A custodian or processor must be selected before any digital asset is accepted.)
Any single gift above $100,000, any gift with conditions, and any gift from a person or entity with a material relationship to a director, officer, or affiliated organization (see Section 12).

6. Handling by gift type

6.1 Publicly traded securities

Transferred to an account the Fund holds at [brokerage — to be named before any securities are accepted]. Written transfer instructions are sent only after contact with the donor and confirmed by telephone. They are never published on the website.
The Fund’s practice is to sell shares promptly after receipt, unless the Board directs otherwise.
The gift date is the date the shares reach the Fund’s account, or as the tax rules otherwise provide. Counsel to confirm.

6.2 Donor-advised fund grants

The sponsor is the legal donor. The Fund acknowledges the grant to the sponsor (with a copy to the advisor if the sponsor permits). The grant is not separately deductible by the advisor, and the Fund must not describe it as such.
The Fund provides no goods, services, or benefits to the advisor in connection with a grant recommendation. Donor-advised funds may not be used to buy event tickets or benefits for the advisor, nor to satisfy the advisor’s personal pledge except as the law narrowly allows. Counsel to confirm.

6.3 IRA qualified charitable distributions

Accepted only when sent directly from the custodian to the Fund.
The Fund does not verify the donor’s eligibility. Eligibility, age, and annual limits (which are indexed for inflation — see IRS Publication 590-B for the current year) are the donor’s matter and their adviser’s.
Acknowledged using Template E in 02-non-cash-acknowledgment-templates.md, which states that no goods or services were provided.

6.4 Digital assets

Accepted only through [custodian or processor — to be selected before any digital assets are accepted], to a destination confirmed with the donor directly by telephone. No wallet address is published.
The donor sends a small test transfer first. The Fund confirms receipt before the full amount.
Sold promptly after receipt, unless the Board directs otherwise.
Acknowledged at the quantity received. Valuation is the donor’s, supported by a qualified appraisal where the tax rules require one.

6.5 Equipment

Before acceptance the Gift Officer confirms in writing:

type, quantity, manufacturer, and condition;
certifications, warranty status, and absence of known defects or hazards;
the Fund can use the equipment for its charitable purposes, or sell it, at a cost that does not exceed its benefit;
storage, transport, and insurance arrangements, and who pays;
the donor has clear title.

The Fund does not accept equipment that is damaged, hazardous, uncertified where certification is expected, or that would cost more to store and dispose of than it is worth.

6.6 Renewable energy assets and bargain sales

Project transfers and bargain sales require Board review under Section 5 and follow the Fund’s project-acceptance and decommissioning-reserve policies once adopted.
Before acceptance the Board confirms in writing: condition and operating history of the asset; title and rights; environmental, decommissioning, and contractual liabilities; a credible route to community benefit; and the terms of any bargain-sale consideration.
For a bargain sale (part gift, part sale), the acknowledgment describes the property and states the consideration paid by the Fund, without stating a value for the gift portion. See Template F in 02-non-cash-acknowledgment-templates.md. Counsel to confirm the characterization of any debt relief as part of the sale.

7. Gifts the Fund will decline

Gifts that would jeopardize the Fund’s tax-exempt status or violate any law or regulation.
Gifts that carry conditions inconsistent with the Fund’s mission or that give the donor control over the Fund’s decisions.
Gifts with undisclosed or unquantified liability.
Gifts from sources the Fund cannot reasonably verify, or that raise concerns about fraud, money laundering, or sanctions.
Gifts the Fund cannot responsibly hold, deploy, or dispose of.

8. Valuation

The Fund does not appraise or value donated property for tax purposes. The donor is responsible for the valuation and for any qualified appraisal the law requires. A qualified appraisal, where required, must generally be obtained no earlier than 60 days before the gift and no later than the due date of the donor’s return (with extensions). The Fund will record property at the description the donor provides and will not state a value on an acknowledgment, unless it is cash. Counsel to confirm.

9. Acknowledgment and donor substantiation

Every gift receives a written acknowledgment, regardless of size. For a single contribution of $250 or more, the donor needs a contemporaneous written acknowledgment to claim a deduction. It must contain: the Fund’s name; the amount of cash (or a description, without value, of non-cash property); and a statement that no goods or services were provided in exchange (or, if any were, a description and good-faith estimate of their value). “Contemporaneous” means received by the donor on or before the earlier of the date the return is filed or the return’s due date (with extensions). The Fund’s practice is to send acknowledgments within days. Counsel to confirm.
Quid pro quo disclosure: if a donor pays more than $75 and receives goods or services in return (for example, event tickets or a meal), the Fund must give a written disclosure stating the good-faith estimate of the fair market value of the benefit and that the deduction is limited to the excess paid. The penalty for failure falls on the Fund. Counsel to confirm before any fundraising event is held.
Acknowledgment templates are in 02-non-cash-acknowledgment-templates.md. Cash receipts sent by the website must contain the same required elements (see the cash-receipt spec there).

10. Tax forms

Form 8283: Where a donor asks, the Executive Director signs the donee acknowledgment, after the gift is accepted and only after confirming the description is accurate. Signing confirms the Fund is a qualified organization and received the property; it does not certify value. The donor completes Section A for total non-cash deductions over $500 for the year, and Section B (with a qualified appraisal) for a single item or group of similar items over $5,000, subject to the exceptions for publicly traded securities and the higher threshold for closely held stock. Counsel to confirm.
Form 8282: If the Fund sells, exchanges, or otherwise disposes of donated property within three years of receipt, it files Form 8282 within 125 days after the disposition and sends the donor a copy. Exceptions apply for property valued at $500 or less and property distributed for charitable purposes. This is especially relevant to the Fund: donated renewable energy assets that the Fund later sells, transfers, or retires within three years are likely in scope. The Gift Officer keeps a register of non-cash gifts with the date received and the date of any disposition.
Counsel to confirm which gifts and which circumstances trigger these obligations.

11. Restricted and designated gifts

The website and receipts present designations as preferences. The Fund accepts a restricted gift only when the Board approves it in writing and the Fund can track it as restricted. The Board confirms this stance; changing it would create fund-accounting and reporting obligations.

12. Conflicts of interest

A gift from, or involving, a director, officer, employee, or affiliated organization — including an asset transfer from an affiliate (Balance Solar; exact legal name to be confirmed) — requires review under the Fund’s conflict-of-interest policy (03-conflict-of-interest-policy.md). The interested person does not vote. Counsel and independent directors review the transaction before the Fund accepts it.

13. Fraud prevention

Transfer instructions for securities and digital assets are never published and are always confirmed by telephone using a number the Fund already holds or has independently verified.
Any change to payment or transfer details received by email is treated as suspect until confirmed by telephone.

14. Recordkeeping

Records of each gift and acknowledgment are kept for seven years. Donor information is kept to the minimum needed, consistent with the Fund’s privacy notice (06-donor-privacy-policy.md).
The Gift Officer maintains the non-cash gift register required by Section 10.

15. Review

The Board reviews this policy at least annually and after any change in law that affects it.