What is an Unrestricted Contribution?

An unrestricted contribution is funds or other assets given to a nonprofit entity with no restriction on their use. The nonprofit can then employ the contribution in any way it chooses. These types of contributions are usually directed at the funding of operational expenses, since restricted contributions are usually targeted at other areas of a nonprofit.

Unrestricted Contributions Best Practices

Nonprofit entities prefer to have all contributions be classified as unrestricted, so that the funds can be used to support any aspect of the business. To this end, nonprofits should never include a restriction option on their printed requests for contributions. Also, when significant donors want to apply a restriction to their contributions, a best practice is to push the donors to shorten the restriction period, or to split off a portion of the contribution and classify it as unrestricted.