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As the holiday season approaches, you may have some questions related to the acceptance and reporting of gifts. This serves as a gentle reminder regarding the university’s and your employee responsibilities.

Before accepting a gift from a service provider, vendor or other third party, it is important to assess if it is appropriate to do so. Accepting gifts connected to your workplace performance and responsibilities may create a perceived or actual conflict of interest to the broader university community. For this reason, you should not accept gifts that fall outside of the policy guidelines.

As a reminder, it is acceptable to receive gifts that are consistent with sections 15.2 and 16, under the as outlined below:

• Gifts that are nominal in value.
• Gifts that are received as a normal exchange of gifts between friends.
• Tokens that are exchanged as part of protocol of an official ceremony or function.
• Gift exchanges that are culturally significant to the parties involved.
• The normal presentation of gifts to persons participating in public functions, awards, speeches, lectures, presentations or seminars.

Note: We encourage you to let suppliers know about these guidelines before they send gifts.

If you accept a gift that falls outside of the stipulated guidelines, you must report it immediately in accordance with the . 

We understand that declining gifts from partners or service providers may be uncomfortable for some staff members. Below is a sample email that respectfully declines a gift:

Dear [Recipient’s Name],

Thank you for your thoughtful gift that was delivered to me. Unfortunately, I have to return [insert gift] to you. The university has a strict prohibiting me from accepting gifts exceeding a nominal value.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Sincerely,

[Sender’s Name]