Heather,

I am a director of a Natural History museum on a college campus.  We are under the Provost office because our mission is educational to the college and the community.   However, we do work closely with the Development office.  We have a policy on receiving gifts from donors that was written by our Oakes Museum Committee and approved by the college's Board of Trustees.  

Basically, the policy stipulates the museum cannot accept any gifts that do not pertain to our existing collections.  The development office knows this policy.  If they are asked by a donor if our museum would take a tiger, they would contact me.  A tiger will not compliment any of the museum's collections.  I would tell the development office that fact and the discussion ends.  

If something comes to the Development office that does pertain to our collections, I take it to the Oakes Museum Committee for discussion and a vote on whether to accept it or not.

They have not lost any donors because of this policy or I am sure I would have heard about it.  The policy has been in effect for 6 years and has been tested approximately five times.

In my opinion, this explanation boils down to the fact that we are under the Provost office not the Development office and a policy is in place which has been approved by the college Board of Trustees.

Ken Mark
Director, Oakes Museum of Natural History


-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan Ruderman
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2013 6:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Disposing of Unaccepted Artifacts

I find it fascinating that the museum is under the development office!  
Seems like an unusual arrangement.  As you have probably already experienced, sometimes the goals of a museum and the goals of a development office don't always mesh.  And it sounds like some of the "donors" are using the museum as a cleaning out service.  Keeping donors 
happy needs to be balanced against the limited storage space you have.   
I wonder what would happen if museum staff offered to review items first (in person if local or by photo/description if at a distance) before accepting delivery of them?

But if for whatever reasons it is not possible to preview the items, the only conditions under which you would need to submit an 8282 would be if the item is valued at $500 or more.  Are all the items you are declining to accession individually worth that much?  If not, no problem.

I'm also wondering whether you might consider the items "conditional gifts"--the condition that must be fulfilled being that the item is accepted into the collection.  Now a conditional gift is not deductible by the donor until the condition is met, so the donors would have to be sure not to try to deduct items that they "donated" to your museum but which were ultimately not accepted into the collection or used for other charitable purposes.

Bottom line:  I would ask your university general counsel for an opinion.

Susan Ruderman
Fundraising Consultant

On 3/7/2013 6:01 PM, Heather Rudy wrote:
> Good Afternoon,
>
> I am having an issue that I need some guidance on.  My museum is under 
> a University, and we answer to a Development department.  Currently we 
> are having a discussion about what to do with items that are offered 
> to the museum that we do not want.  We have a large number of donors 
> who ship us things (unsolicited) and then tell us that they don't want 
> what we don't want back, or tell us if we don't want it to get rid of 
> it.  This is where the trouble comes in.  We have donors sign a 
> Temporary Custody Receipt with items listed that we will not be taking 
> and it says that all items not accepted into the collection will 
> either be returned to donor, sold, or disposed of in anyway the Museum 
> deems appropriate.  Our Development dpt has told us that even if we 
> are getting rid of these items we need to wait until 3 years have 
> passed so we don't have to file an 8282.  If we have the donor's 
> signature that acknowledges that they don't want it and we don't want 
> it do we still need to wait the 3 years or fill out the 8282?  If we 
> have permission from the donor can't we just get rid of the stuff?  By 
> the way none of those materials are ever listed on the Deed of Gift 
> that we have the donors sign for items we are accepting into the 
> collection.  Any advice is appreciated, I have so many shelves of 
> items that I have to hold onto for 3 years, it is taking up valuable 
> space.
>
> Thanks!
> Heather Rudy, Registrar
> Museum of Osteopathic Medicine
> A.T. Still University
> 800 W. Jefferson St
> Kirksville, MO 63501
> phone: 660-626-2176
> fax: 660-626-2984
> [log in to unmask]
> www.atsu.edu/museum
>
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--
Susan C. Ruderman, Ed.M.
[log in to unmask]
Boston, MA area

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