UW Research

Gift Policy

  • Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide Office of Research (OR) staff and campus guidance on the subject of appropriate gifts or other expressions of appreciation from other UW offices or staff with whom the Office of Research interacts on a professional basis.  Although gifts are frequently given during the holiday season, UW individuals and departments sometimes choose to say “thank you” to staff at other times of the year as well.

  • Revision History

No revisions to date.

  • Persons Affected
  • All employees of the Office of Research including Central, HSD, OSP, ORIS.
  • All managers and directors of the Office of Research
  • Policy

Office of Research (OR) staff, in the course of daily work assignments, make decisions and take actions that may be perceived by campus units as having a major impact upon the success of research and grant funding efforts.  The Office of Research must ensure that no conflict of interest, or the appearance of one, is created by acceptance of gifts by staff or the office in general.

OR staff are required to comply with all applicable Washington laws and UW rules and policies with respect to gifts and conflicts of interest.  These include the Washington State Ethics in Public Service Act (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=42.52 ) and various UW policies, including the UW Employee Conflict of Interest Policy (http://www.washington.edu/faculty/facsenate/handbook/04-05-02.html).  Both of these place limits on the receipt of gifts and other items of economic value from organizations and individuals, including other UW employees, particularly with respect to those with whom we do business or we regulate.

While OR is appreciative of the recognition, any gifts that are accepted by individuals must be of modest value, including items such as cards, letters, emails, flowers or home-made cookies but should not be cash or the equivalent of cash (such as gift cards).  Larger gifts may be shared by the entire unit, at the management team’s discretion.

  • Responsibilities
  • It is the responsibility of all OR staff to adhere to this policy as well as the State Ethics Act and the UW Employee Conflict of Interest Policy.
  • It is the responsibility of managers to uphold this policy and possibly make determinations about the appropriateness of gifts being accepted.
  • Procedures
  • OR staff must not encourage or in any way solicit gifts or other items since doing so could be construed as asking for rewards for doing favors or as additional compensation for doing one’s job. (It should be noted that in addition to the gift restrictions, the Ethics Act also prohibits a UW employee from receiving anything of value from anyone other than the UW as compensation for doing one’s UW job.)
  • The value of gifts accepted by individuals must be modest in amount.
  • Items should preferably be of a personal nature, such as greeting cards, food or flowers, and must not be cash or the equivalent of cash (such as gift cards).
  • If gifts of food (ie, gift baskets or boxes of candy) are sent to an individual or the entire unit, and can be shared with the entire unit, it is at the discretion of the management team to decide whether the gift is appropriate and can be shared. Large gifts must not be kept by individuals.  Managers should consider factors such as timing, frequency of gifts, and the nature and intent of the gifts in deciding whether acceptance is appropriate or not.  When managers decide such gifts are appropriate to accept, they may at their discretion decide to not disclose the giver’s identity to the staff.
  • If items are received that fall outside of these guidelines, they will be donated to charities whenever possible or distributed with similar intent rather than kept personally.
  • Content Creator

Associate Vice Provost for Research

  • Effective Date

October 1, 2009