The Business Services Department of the USM Foundation is committed to providing the highest level of service possible to our constituents. Unfortunately we do not have an unlimited amount of resources and must manage our responsibilities within that framework. Although we would like to turn your grant proposals around in a day, or set up a new account before the end of the day, or answer a support e-mail within the hour, we just are not able to do this all of the time.
In order for you to plan your workloads and deadlines around our turnaround times we have outlined below our turnaround times and deadlines for various tasks. We are committed to meeting these standards every time and ask that you plan accordingly. All turnaround times assume that all policies and procedures have been followed in preparing your requests and all of the necessary supporting documents and authorization signatures accompany the request.
One business day
Due to the heavy volume of gift activity at the end of the fiscal year and calendar year the timelines below may slip a day or two during the first few weeks of July and January.
There is a fall deadline for these cards to be sent to our office for processing and forwarding to Central Payroll in Annapolis for deductions starting in the next calendar year. This deadline is communicated via our website, newsletter, and email in early fall. All cards received in our office are forwarded to Central Payroll within three business days. Any cards received after the deadline are not guaranteed to be processed by Central Payroll for the first payroll of the new year.
Three business days for deposit, closing, and posting.
Five days – these often require legal review and/or signatures from authorized foundation management
They are posted to your endowment accounts for each month by the end of the following month.
Spendable income rates for the next fiscal year are set at our February Spendable Income Committee meeting and calculations by account are sent to administrators by March 15th.
By August 10th of each year
Underwater spending requests can be made at any time but must be approved by our Executive Committee, which usually meets in February, May, and October. Requests received by the end of the month prior to the meeting will be reviewed at the next meeting – ie. requests received by January 31st will be reviewed in February.
Disbursement requests received by our office by 1pm on Thursday are processed in the next check run.
Disbursement requests for grant accounts require extra review and should be received by our office by 1pm on Wednesday for processing in the next check run.
Check runs are every Monday and checks are mailed no later than Tuesday, though deadlines may be changed slightly based on holidays. Any changes will be communicated in advance via our newsletter and website.
They are mailed out by January 31st
Paperwork for a new hire should be received by our office by the last Friday of a two-week pay period for that hire to be included in the following Friday’s payday.
Timecards must be entered and approved by end of business on the Monday of a pay week, though may be adjusted accordingly to a holiday schedule. Any changes will be communicated in advance via email to employees and supervisors.
Payroll change forms must be received by end of business on the Monday of a pay week, though may be adjusted accordingly to a holiday schedule. Any changes will be communicated in advance via email to employees and supervisors.
They will be made available online or mailed by January 31st.
Spendable account activity reports are distributed by the 15th work day of the following month.
Non-spendable account activity reports are distributed by the last calendar day of the following month (ie. June report will be distributed by July 31st)
September 15th
For most issues, our goal is to respond within one day to your request. If an issue requires additional research and/or discussion, or involves staff currently unavailable, the final response may take longer. If this is the case, you will receive a status email explaining as much within one business day.