F O R Y O U R I N F O R M A T I O N
DONATIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES
Los Angeles County Fiscal Manual Government Code Section 25355 permits the County to accept donations or other gifts for any public purpose.Donations are either cash or in kind and may be restricted or unrestricted. A donation is considered a gift or contribution made to support services provided by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). All donations to the Department are subject to County budgetary guidelines and policies.
It is DCFS policy that funds or other gifts donated to the Department are used to directly benefit the children and families DCFS serves. Allowable donation expenditures will include financial assistance for clothing, educational enrichment, fees for participation in sports, music, dance programs and limited medical needs. Funds donated to DCFS cannot be used to benefit the Department’s employees (i.e; to purchase clothing, food or entertainment).
Finance Division will provide all donation account Program Managers or Regional Administrators with balances of their sub-accounts on a monthly basis. It is the responsibility of the Program Managers or Regional Administrators to monitor their accounts and ensure that these balances are correct and that large balances are not accumulated.
For each of these General Donation sub-accounts, the Program Manager or Regional Administrator must submit a Spending Plan of their individual accounts to their respective Bureau Directors at the start of each fiscal year. A copy is also to be given to the Internal Controls Section. The Spending Plan should include information on the reason the account was established, source of the donations and a plan for spending the balance with a target date. The Spending Plan developed must meet the fiscal accountability standards established by the Auditor-Controller.
In lieu of a Spending Plan, donated funds can be transferred to the Family and Children’s Services Trust Fund, which is administered by committee members appointed by the Regional Administrators.
All cash donations (i.e., checks, cashier’s checks and money orders) on behalf of the Department should be made payable to the “Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services” or “DCFS”, and should immediately be forwarded to DCFS Finance, Attention: Administrative Claiming/Deposit Unit, 425 Shatto Pl., Los Angeles, CA 90020.
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