A private museum would still have obligations to the IRS, if it is a 501(c)(3).

Further, it could have legal obligations to the State, if it is legally chartered as a public charity, or is the beneficiary of any trust agreement.

And, of course it has political, if not legal, obligations to any governmental unit from which it receives funding.

gaw

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--- On Fri, 9/16/11, Deb Fuller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Deb Fuller <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Public museums v. private museums
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Friday, September 16, 2011, 1:20 PM
> On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 1:00 PM,

> Claudia Nicholson <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> 
> > I have a board member who has told me that "we are a
> private organization, and we can do whatever we want".
>  This is in the context of the discussion of our first-ever
> collections management policy.
> 
> I think the difference is that a "public" museum is
> ultimately
> responsible to the taxpayers and to the community in which
> it is
> located. A private museum is ultimately responsible to its
> board and
> donors. For example, a major city museum can't just one day
> decide to
> interpret pre-Celtic Chinese art unless there is a good
> reason, such
> as one of the city's founding fathers was of pre-Celtic
> Chinese decent
> or bequeathed his collection of pre-Celtic Chinese art to
> the city.
> Some government museums are even pressured by their local
> governments
> to do things that are technically outside their mission in
> order to
> keep funding or stay within the good graces of their
> districts. Or
> conversely, they are restricted from doing something
> because of the
> culture of their area.
> 
> A private museum should stick to its over-arching mission
> and vision
> statement but has more freedom to work within that
> statement or even
> change it if there is a major decision by the board. Again,
> this
> decision should not be made lightly nor done very often.
> 
> So I think what your board member is trying to say is that
> you have
> the freedom to create your own collections management
> policy and are
> not constrained by state or local government. You still
> should keep
> referring back to your organizational mission statement and
> make sure
> that your policies are aligned with it.
> 
> Deb Fuller
> 
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