How does GATO screen gift agreements for compliance?

Every draft is screened three ways: legality (protected-class criteria and their proxies, and donor involvement in selecting recipients), feasibility (how restrictive the criteria are and whether the program still exists), and documentation (vague or unadministrable language, and alignment with your templates and style guide). Each finding is rated red, yellow, or green and shows the clause, the reason, suggested language, and source material. Red flags must be fixed, or overridden with a logged reason, before the agreement can move forward.

Where do the eligible-student counts come from?

From your student information system, such as Banner, PeopleSoft, Colleague, or Workday, connected through Awarded by API or scheduled file transfer. GATO shows aggregated counts of how many current students would qualify under the proposed criteria. It never shows student names, and the counts are for your team, not for donors.

Does GATO integrate with our CRM?

GATO connects to CRMs, including Salesforce, and to student information systems by API, scheduled file transfer, or flat file, so the final signed agreement can be saved to the donor’s record. Specific connections are scoped during implementation.

GATO vs contract management software for gift agreements

By the Awarded team · Published October 19, 2026 · Updated October 19, 2026

In short

Can we use contract management software for gift agreements?

You can, and it may make sense if your institution wants one system for every contract and the general counsel’s office owns the process. But contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools are built for vendor and procurement deals. They don’t check scholarship criteria against how many students would qualify, flag protected-class restrictions and their proxies, give donors a personal signing experience, or keep the agreement tied to the fund for decades. GATO is built only for gift agreements and the funds they create.

Where CLM tools fit

CLM platforms manage contracts with negotiated commercial terms: vendors, leases, research agreements, procurement. They are strong at clause libraries, obligation tracking, and renewals, and many campuses already own one. If legal wants every signed document in that system and gift agreements are few, extending it can be reasonable.

What gift agreements need that contracts don’t

Donor intent that can actually be carried out. A restriction can be perfectly legal and still impossible to award. GATO checks criteria against aggregated student counts from your student information system and flags majors or programs that no longer exist.
Charitable-law screening. Protected-class criteria, proxies for them, and donor involvement in selecting recipients are gift-specific risks. GATO screens for them using a framework built on industry best practices, customized with your counsel.
A donor, not a counterparty. Donors shouldn’t need an account or receive a procurement-style envelope. In GATO they review by email, and sign on a page that carries your brand and says what their gift will do.
Gift officers in the loop. Fundraisers submit an intake form and see where each agreement stands, without access to every contract on campus.
Records that outlive the people. Endowed funds last for generations. GATO keeps drafts, approvals, overrides, and donor replies attached to the fund, and supports amendments and memos to file when terms change.

Choosing

Choose a CLM tool if your priority is one repository for every institutional contract and gift agreements are a small share of the volume. Choose GATO if gift agreements are a core workflow for advancement, you want compliance and feasibility caught at drafting, and you want donors to have a good experience. GATO can save the final signed agreement to your CRM so the official record stays where it belongs.