David & others....

Actually, I should have clarified - I am in the small boat - that is,
most of our donations are under $500 in value. We are a tiny museum at a
community college. The college requires me to give a value to the
donation so that the business office can send an acknowledgement to the
donor. (The college receives a lot of cash donations, as well and so at
the end of the year they also send out a thank you from the President).

If I stop giving a valuation then my donations may dry up. We rely
solely on donations for collections acquisition. Typically, 1 in 8
donors wants some information for their tax records on what they've
given. We (and usually they) are not in a position to find and pay for
an
appraisal on the items.  However, we don't give any value until we've
accepted the item and gotten a our donation form signed. In the thank
you letter we say "the museum has placed a value of $200 on your
donation" - then that is what the business office (which fills out all
the
pesky paperwork for the IRS forms) puts down. I am thinking of a
disclaimer that says something about the fact that we aren't appraisers,
etc etc.

We NEVER offer any sort of monetary value on something when someone just
"wants to know what it's worth" and do the song & dance about museum
ethics & not appraising.

Jill Dixon, Director
SMC Museum

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