Departments or faculty may choose to incentivize study subjects, for example focus group participants, interviewees, or survey respondents, with gift cards as an alternative to cash. Gift cards may be purchased using the University's "cash advance" process, by which the coordinating faculty or staff member receives an up front cash payment in order to purchase the gift cards. After the gift cards are purchased, the faculty or staff member must follow a careful reconciliation and documentation process to ensure that the gift cards were distributed according to University policy.
To initiate a cash advance, please submit a ticket to the Business Office ticketing System with as much detail as possible regarding the circumstances for your request, including the total amount needed, the funding sources, and any relevant research deadlines. We will send you the forms that you need to prepare through DocuSign.
For more information, review the policies below:
Requesting a Cash Advance
- Finance Form 307.1.1f - Application for the Advancement of Funds
- Finance Form 307.1.2f - Cash Advance Agreement
- Finance Form 307.1.3f - Request for Advance for Purchase of Gift Cards
Please note that the Cash Advance Agreement includes a provision to allow the total amount of the advance to be deducted from the employee's pay if the settlement is not completed on the agreed date which is in 60 days.
Reconciling a Cash Advance
Please obtain the following documentations and submit them to your original cash advance request ticket right after you complete your transactions for reconciling the cash advance:
- Paid original receipts (except in the case of an approved UNC Institutional Review Board (IRB) request, in which the confidentiality of the recipients' identities is critical to the study);
- A check to the school if you have any unspent amount;
- Finance Form 307.1.4f - Reconciliation of Cash Advance for Study Subjects.
If you use the entire cash advance and additional personal funds to complete the transactions, please let us know in the ticket, we will make check request to reimbursement you.
Related Policies
- Finance Policy 307 - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Policy on Cash Advance
- Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) Policy 500.14 Procedure 1 - Cash Advance Requests & Reconciliation
Questions? Contact Anitra Jones at ajones@sog.unc.edu
