The activities of the University of Geneva very often benefit from the support of third parties, under private or public law, in the form of donations, bequests or subsidies. 

The common denominator of these various contributions is the absence of any consideration in favour of the third party: the latter can neither demand a right of control over the conduct of the activities it supports, nor require the use for its own benefit of the results of these activities. Therefore, service mandates are excluded of this directive; the are subject to the directive on the conclusion of collaborative research agreements and service mandates. 

Formally, any granting of a donation, a bequest or a subsidy must be subject to an acceptance procedure by the University. This step makes it possible above all to verify that the contributions offered to the University of Geneva respect the values of the institution and, in particular, that they do not undermine its independance. 

The purpose of this directive is to determine the conditions for the acceptance of gifts, bequests and subsidies, and to designate the competent authorities and subdivisions to accept the contributions granted. 

Article 1 : Definitions

a) Contribution:
For the purposes of this Directive, the term "contribution" shall refer to gifts, bequests or subsidies without distinction.

b) Transferor:
Any natural or legal person, whether under private or public law, Swiss or foreign, granting the University a gift, a bequest or a subsidy. 

c) Recipient/recipient:
The beneficiary of the donation, bequest or subsidy is the University. The recipients are, in principle employees of the University designated in this capacity by the transferor. 

If the latter designates the University or one of its subdivisions as such, without mentioning a specific collaborator, the rector or the head of subdivision concerned shall be considered a recipient within the meaning of this directive. 

Article 2 : General conditions of acceptance

1. The review of the terms of acceptance takes place at the time the third party informs the University of its decision tu support it. 
2. Contributions of any amount are acceptable when the following conditions are met: 
   • The identity of the transferor is known, directly or through an intermediary recognized by the Univeristy. 
   • The status of a gift, bequest or subsidy is attested in a document, which may take the form of a letter of confirmation, a notarial deed or a decision, for example. 
   • The contribution is intended to finance activities that fall within the scope of the University's missions. 
   • The contribution does not come from a natural or legal person whose reputation or activities could damage the image of the University. 
   • The contribution shall not be subject to the conditions or charges which are not permissible within the meaning of Article 3 of this directive.
3. The contribution must not be derived from an illegal activity, nor must it be a manoeuvre aimed at influencing or deceiving the Swiss or foreign tax, customs or judicial authorities. If there is any doubt on any of these points, the contribution must be refused. ​​​​​​ 

Article 3 : Admissibility of conditions and/or charges

1. The transferor may make the granting of a contribution subject to compliance with the conditions and/or obligations, such as the submission of an activity report, the mention of its name or logo in the case of publications, or the reimbursement of the part of a subsidy not used by the recipients. 

2. Conditions and encumbrances are not permissible where: 

   • They are likely to undermine the independence of the University or to cast doubt on that independence in the eyes of the public; 

   • in the case of a gift or a bequest, they generate costs for the University that exceed the value of a contribution granted by the transferor. 

Article 4 : Principles

1. All contributions granted to the University shall be subject to the acceptance procedure provided for in Articles 6 et seq., provided that they do not come from a public body mentioned in paragraph 2 below. 

2. Competitive public research funds shall be subjet to a special procedure described in paragraph 3. These include funds from the following donors:

   • The Federal Administration and its scientific research funding programmes

   • Swiss National Research Foundation (SNSF)

   • Swissuniversities and its programmes

   • The Swiss Network of International Studies

   • The European Commission, the European Parliament and their various scientific research funding programmes. 

   • The European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) and the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC)

   • The European Science Foundation (ESF)

   • The EUREKA intergovernmental network

   • The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP)

   • The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) partnership

   • The National Institute of Health (USA) and its partners

   • The National Science Foundation (USA)

   • All foreign national research agencies. 

3. Recipients of competitive public research funds shall inform the Research and Grant Office without delay and shall forward to it any documents required by the funder for evaluation. The Research and Grants Office inform the recipients of the next step in the acceptance process and the specific tasks that fall to them. He/She submits any document required by the funder and the UNIGE (such as the declaration of ethical risks attesting to compliance with the ethical rules in force at the University) to the Vice-Rector in charge of research, or to the Rector for acceptance and signature. 

Article 5 : Activities beyond retirement age

University employees may not request or accept a contribution for any activity whose duration exceeds their retirement age, without prior authorization from the Rectorate. This procedure is governed by the directive on the Post-Retirement Activities of Faculty Members.

Article 6 : Acceptance power

1. When the conditions of acceptance provided for in Articles 2 and 3 are met, the contributions shall be accepted, according to their value:

2. The contribution, which does not consist of a payment of a sum of money, is estimated as close as possible to its market value. It is submitted to the Rectorate for acceptance or to the Vice-Rector in charge of research, when the contribution is intended to finance a scientific research activity. 
3. The contribution, the value of which cannot be estimated, is submitted to the Rectorate for approval or to the Vice-Rector in charge of research, when the contribution is intended to finance a scientific research activity. 
4. If the contribution is paid in several instalments, the cumulation of these is relevant for the determination of the acceptance competence. 

Article 5. When the contribution is intended for the subsequent payment of scholarships or prizes by the University, the Rector's Office is responsible for acceptance, regardless the amount. 

Article 7 : Announcement ​​​

1. As soon as the recipients become aware of the granting of a contribution to them, regardless of its value, they shall immediately and concomitantly inform:
   • the dean, or the director of the interfaculty center/institute concerned, according to the subdivision in which the activity supported is to be carried out or, when the contribution is not aimed at a specific activity, according to the subdivision to which the recipient is attached; 
   • the accounting department.

2. ​The announcements are accompanied by:

   • A copy of a document by which the trasferor confirms the granting of the contribution and the nature of the contribution,

   • A summary of the funded project, 

   • Any other document allowing the verification of compliance with the conditions of articles 2 and 3 and more particularly the declaration of ethical risks attesting to compliance with the ethical rules in force at the University and the rules relating to animal experimentation;

   • ​​​For researchers who are not a faculty member or senior lecturer and researcher (MER), a letter of support for the management of the project as the project leader. The application must be signed by the professor responsible for the recipient. The Dean of the Faculty or the Director of the Interfacults Center countersigns the application. A model letter of support is made available to the recipients concerned by the research support service.

3.  When the responsibility for acceptance rests whith the Rectorate or the Vice-Rector in charge of Research, the Dean or the Director of the interfaculty center/institute transmits the information and documents received from the recipient to the Cellule de développement (Cellule-developpement(at)unige.ch). He/She also communicates the form for opening an institutional fund or announcing the payment of funds and a letter requesting authorisation to accept the contribution. 
4. Once the contribution has been duly accepted, the opening form is completed by the DIFIN with a view to opening the fund. 

Article 8 : Declaration of acceptance

1.  A letter of thanks, addressed to the transferor, constitutes confirmation of acceptance. This letter shall be signed by the competent authority within the meaning of Article 6 (1). 

2. The competent authority within the meaning of Article 6 shall also be responsible for signing any document required by the transferor concerning the granting of the contribution. 

Article 9 : VAT and overheads levy by the University

1. The contributions referred to in this directive shall not be subject to the levying of VAT since no consideration shall be provided to the transferor. 
2. Gifts and bequests are not subject to the levy of an overhead. The conditions for the levying of overhead from subsidies are set out in the directive on levying overheads.

Article 10 : Information to the Rectorate 

1. At the end of each calendar year, the deans and directors of interfaculty centers or institutes shall submit to the Rectorate a list of the contributions accepted for their subdivision in the amount of less than CHF 100'000. 
2. The list shall indicate:
   • the value of the contribution,
   • the identity of the ceding party or its representative;
   • the name of the recipient and the structure to which he/she belongs; 
   • the title of the funded project and its duration;
   • the existence or absence of documents signed jointly by the transferor and the University.
3. The Rectorate shall keep a list of all contributions accepted in accordance with this Directive.
4. This list shall be made public and updated annually. It contains the following information in the rule: the name of the beneficiary, the structure to which it belongs, the name of the donor, the title of the project, its duration, the total amount awarded and the annual payment. 

Article 11 : Disciplinary sanctions

Any employee who contravenes this directive is subject to disciplinary sanctions. 

Article 12 : Enry into force

This Directive comes into force on July 15, 2020