Gift agreements that set every fund up to be awarded
GATO takes every gift agreement from intake to signature: drafting, compliance screening, internal approvals and donor review, with the signed record kept with the fund.
Go on, swipe a card. Each one is something GATO catches before a draft ever reaches your donor.
Drag a card, or use the buttons.
Donor intent starts in the gift agreement.
Every scholarship you award, every fund you audit and every report you send traces back to the language in an agreement. When that language is too narrow, vague or out of date, the problems show up years later: funds nobody qualifies for, restrictions nobody can administer, money that sits unawarded. GATO catches them before the donor signs.
One process, intake to signature.
- 1
You fill an intake form
Conditional questions, not a blank page or a hunt for the current template.
- 2
It gets drafted for you
An on-template draft, screened against your rules as it's written.
- 3
Internal review
Saved routes, in parallel or in sequence. Reminders go to whoever holds the draft.
- 4
Donor reviews before signing
The donor approves the language first, so nobody is asked to sign a surprise.
- 5
Signed and on record
Signed copy checked against the approved draft, then filed with the fund.
Every draft, screened three ways.
Hover or tap the highlighted language to see what GATO flagged.
The Fund shall provide an annual award to an undergraduate studentwho is African American11 · Legality · RedRace-restricted award criterion. Approval is blocked until it's revised or counsel overrides it with a logged reason.Legal contextTitle VI, Civil Rights Act of 1964: bars race discrimination in federally funded programs, including financial aid.SFFA v. Harvard (2023): struck down race-conscious admissions; counsel widely apply its reasoning to scholarships.Suggested: “…with demonstrated financial need.”majoring inclassical archaeology who has completed fieldwork in Crete22 · Feasibility · YellowVery restrictive. An estimated 1 current student qualifies, so the fund risks going unawarded.Estimated qualifying studentsRestriction level: Very high Sample data, and who, in the judgment of the Department, isa well-rounded and deserving individual33 · Documentation · YellowVague and hard to administer. Suggested language from your style guide..
Your rules and thresholds, set with your general counsel. When policy changes, re-screen the whole portfolio instead of rereading hundreds of agreements by hand.
Make signing feel like a milestone.
What a donor gets today:
- Agreement_v6_FINAL_rev2.docx
- A thread with four staff members copied
- Redlines they're not sure are allowed
- Weeks of quiet, then a chase
- A signature request that could be from any vendor
“Thank you for believing in our students.” — a word from your president
Demo only. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Donors read and respond by email. Replies land on the agreement as comments.
When donor's counsel can see what's fixed and why, they redline only what's open.
Language approved before a signature is ever requested.
Your brand, a word from leadership, and what happens next for the gift.
4.5 to 6.5 staff hours back on every agreement.
About 5.5 hours on average, before counting the attorney and OGC time that standard gifts no longer consume. Awarded estimate, as of October 2026.
The donor's terms follow the fund.
GATO is built by the same team as Awarded's scholarship awarding, fund audit and donor reporting tools, so the intent a donor agrees to stays visible for the life of the fund.
The donor signs reviewed, administrable terms.
Eligible students are matched to those terms.
03Fund AuditsEvery award is checked against what the donor signed.
04Donor ReportingThe donor sees what their gift made possible.
What is gift agreement software?
Gift agreement software manages the full life of a gift agreement: intake, drafting from approved templates, compliance review, internal approvals, donor review and signature, and storing the signed record with the fund. GATO is Awarded's gift agreement software for higher education.
How is GATO different from DocuSign or Adobe Sign?
DocuSign and Adobe Sign collect signatures. GATO covers everything before the signature too: intake, drafting from your templates, compliance screening, internal approvals and donor review. Donors can sign on GATO's branded signing page, or you can route the agreement through your existing DocuSign or Adobe Sign account.
Do donors need to create an account or log in?
No. Donors get a link (or an attachment) to review the agreement and can simply reply to the email. Their reply is added to the agreement as a comment for your team.
Who is GATO for?
Donor relations, gift administration and advancement services teams who own gift agreements, and the gift officers, approvers and counsel who work on them, at universities, colleges, community and technical colleges and institutionally related foundations.
How is GATO priced?
GATO is licensed per organization, based on the number of funds you manage. There are no per-seat fees, and donors are never charged to sign. Book a demo for a proposal.