Purchasing Gift Cards

Role 

Actions

Timeline

Staff

  • Prepares a spreadsheet with student names and emails for gift card delivery 

  • Acquire approval from the department supervisor. Approvals should include:

    • Chartstring(s) for the funding source(s) listed

    • Clear business purpose

    • Expense amount

    • Signature approvals or email approvals from your supervisor or program lead

  • Proceed to request the gift cards in BearBUY

    • Follow the step-by-step guide below for how to purchase gift cards in the Tango Portal in BearBUY.

Varies

BearBUY

  • Sends electronic gift cards to students

3-5 business days

Staff

  • Must confirm with every recipient that they have received their gift card

  • Keep track of all gift cards purchased

2-3 business days

Step-by-Step Guide for Purchasing Gift Cards

General Gift Card Guidelines

  • Departments are responsible for logging and tracking gift cards internally and being mindful of amounts and frequency

  • Business purposes must clearly outline the rationale for awarding gift cards

  • Examples of clear business purposes: 

    • “Non-employee appreciation gift cards for students who participated in ____ workshop about ____”

    • “Employee recognition gift cards for completing ____ survey about ____” 

  • Gift card amounts cannot be under $10 and must be stored-value bank, department store, and other retail cards. Grubhub/grocery cards are fine to use for appreciation business purposes only. We cannot purchase Visa/Mastercard gift cards. 

  • Departments must explicitly inform recipients that the card should not be transferred to another individual. (e.g., “This card is for your personal use only; it cannot be transferred.”)

  • Departments who wish to purchase gift cards for emergency student support (and not as an incentive, recognition, or appreciation) must first receive approval from FASO to do so. Please contact (awardentry@berkeley.edu) with questions about this. 

Gift Card Policy

Gift card policy differs depending on whether or not the recipient is a university employee. Please check with students prior to awarding them gift cards to confirm which category applies to them based on their UC employment status. This will determine the amount they are eligible for.

Non-UC employees

  • Can receive gift cards up to $600 (total) per calendar year. 
  • Students who are not employees fit in this category and may be given a gift card only as an incentive, recognition, or appreciation. 
  • When awarding a student a gift card as an incentive/appreciation for attending an event, please include that in your business purpose.
  • Students may also be given promotional items as gifts with the limit being <$75

Employees

  • Can receive up to three gift cards per calendar year of up to $75. 
  • These gifts should be occasional and infrequent and should only be awarded as special recognition/appreciation for work-related accomplishments

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