Solicitation Letters

The paragraph below incorporates necessary wording which must be included in your letters to friends of the institutions you represent.  You can download a draft containing this paragraph that may be used as a guide in preparing your own more personal letter.  Only you know the special circumstances of your institution, having been intimately associated with it.

Please send us copies of the drafts of your solicitation letters so that we may be certain that donors will be correctly informed about BSUF.

Donor checks may be mailed to you or directly to BSUF.  In either case, checks must be made payable to BSUF.  Some representatives prefer to have the checks sent to them in order to be immediately aware of the donations.  Any checks you receive should be forwarded to BSUF at least monthly.

Donor Transmittal Form

Download a Donor Transmittal Form.  Use this transmittal form, or something similar, as part of your mailing to ensure that all necessary information is received with the check.

How to Give Securities to the British Schools & Universities Foundation, Inc.

Display a document explaining the procedures for making gifts of securities, and whom to contact.

Other Resources

Printed copies of the pamphlet  "British Schools & Universities Foundation — An Overview", which outlines the purpose, mission and activities of the Foundation, will be provided upon request.

Copies of BSUF’s Annual Report will be forwarded for your review.  Please feel free to copy all or portions of the report.

We can supply solicitation envelopes which are sent annually to our members and other donors, enclosed with the Annual Report.  Please let  us know if you would like some.

British Schools & Universities Foundation — An Overview

The Purposes of the Foundation

 The major purposes of the British Schools and Universities Foundation are:

1.   to make grants to educational, scientific or literary institutions in the United Kingdom and in member nations of the British Commonwealth ;

 2.  to foster the education and academic work of American scholars and students at British educational institutions and vice versa.

This statement of purpose in no sense implies that the British Schools and Universities Foundation will become a conduit for gifts from donors in the United States to designated British educational institutions of their choice.  The Foundation will exercise its discretion to determine what British educational programs best serve the purposes of the Foundation.

Grants In Aid

Grants are approved for Institutions in February, June, September and December from the General Fund.

Contributions - Tax Deductibility

This Foundation was approved on April 27, 1964 by the United States Treasury Department as a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization and subsequently as a public charity as defined in Section 509 (a).

Generally speaking, to claim income tax deductibility, contributions must be made to an American charity approved by the United States Treasury.  Donors are not permitted to take tax-deductions on gifts made directly to British educational institutions or, indeed, to any foreign charity.  Neither is it permissible for American foundations to accept any funds earmarked for a beneficiary abroad.

However, there is no objection to an American foundation assisting selected overseas projects, nor to donors expressing a preference for a specific, approved off-shore institution.  Thus, persons wishing to support British educational institutions may do so by contributing to the general funds of the British Schools and Universities Foundation.

Similar tax advantages attach to gifts of appreciated assets, and many advantages attach to legacies and charitable remainder trusts.