In the last year an Alaska foundation began requiring, after a few years of suggesting, 100% contribution from Alaskan non-profit boards, other than membership dues, in order for their organization to receive grants from that foundation. The foundation staff has pointed out that in order for the board of an organization to solicit funds from others, they should show that they themselves feel the organization is worth a monetary contribution; and that the organization should not depend solely on governments and foundations for their fund raising. The foundation requires that the contribution be "significant and personally meaningful" $20 may be significant to a low-income member and $50,000 to an affluent member.
In our January meeting, the Board added the following paragraph to Board Responsibilities in the By-laws:
Each member of the Board shall make an annual monetary
contribution to the organization. Board
members will be expected to give to the best of their means, at a level they
would consider significant and personally meaningful.
.
We have no minimum. When do a little research to find the right wording for our By-laws amendment, I found other web sites on Board giving and found no mention of a minimum. They all suggested the same requirement as the Alaska foundation, sometimes with different words.
Jerrie
Jerrie Clarke
Director
Sheldon Museum
PO Box 269
Haines, AK 99827
(907) 766-2366
fax: (907) 766-2368
www.sheldonmuseum.org
--- On Tue, 3/23/10, Wesley S. Creel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Wesley S. Creel <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Board of Trustee required donation levels
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 9:03 AM
Good Morning Museum-List people,
1.) Recently, I
was asked by a museum colleague, “Is it customary for members of a museum’s
Board of Trustees to be required – as a requirement of being a member of
the Board of Trustees – to make an annual minimum monetary donation to
the museum?”
I am aware of one
art museum in another state (back in the early 1980s), which required its Board
members to annually: a.) be a “personal” member of the museum’s
membership program at a $2,000+ level; b.) have her/his business at a “corporate”
membership level of $1,000+; and c.) use her/his influence to secure an
annually prescribed amount of funds for Board of Trustees’ identified
projects/activities in the form of various gifts, sponsorships, etc….
It was my understanding that each Board member knew this before becoming a
member of that museum’s Board of Trustees, and each Board member knew
that if she/he did not annually respond to this financial requirement of
serving on the Board, the President of the Board would “ask” that
person to resign from the Board.
2.) It is my
intent to respond to my museum colleague’s question. But before I do, I
thought it would be prudent, on my part, to give my museum colleague a more “up-to-date”
response.
3.) So, I am
asking my Museum-List-Serve colleagues the same question…..“Is it customary
for members of a museum’s Board of Trustees to be required – as a
requirement of being a member of the Board of Trustees – to make an
annual minimum donation to the museum?” Please note, that for
confidentiality reasons, you do not need to name the museum. However, if
you know of such a museum, I would like a sense of a monetary commitment the
Board member would have to make. I will use your response to this
question to answer the question posed by my museum colleague.
By the way, I will post my response on this List-Serve.
Thank you,
Wesley
Wesley S. Creel
Administrator of Programs
Pink
Palace Family of Museums
Memphis,
TN
Office 901.320.6370
www.memphismuseums.org
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