Hi Kirstin,

I'm not sure if you mean he would donate 25 buttons a year?
I don't think I would let him donate percentages of the interest,
while the entire collection was at the museum.
That would be a conditional donation which we don't accept.

What if they are damaged or lost?  I could see a whole slew of issues
arising
from the situation.  What if, heaven forbid, the donor passes
away in the meantime?  You might have to fight it out with his
heirs to get the legal right to the collection.

Meanwhile, you are providing care for buttons that
aren't actually yours, which could be considered a conflict of public
interest.
What if he changes his mind?  You'll waste time and money caring for objects
that aren't yours. We recently returned a long-term loan that was sitting
in our storage. They were interesting items but we didn't feel it was right
to use taxpayer money to provide care for an individual's property (since it
weren't being used for a public exhibit).  The owner refused to donate
the objects so we finally asked her to take them back.

If he insists on doing it incrementally, I would have him bring in
25 buttons a year.  That way you'll have full rights to each portion of the
donation and hopefully in four years you'll have the entire collection.
I would also probably give them a temporary number and wait to process and
catalog them so that the entire collection can be done together.

Kristine Zickuhr
Registrar
Wisconsin Veterans Museum
30 West Mifflin Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
(608) 261-6802

-----Original Message-----
From: Kirstin Holm [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2003 5:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: fractional or partial donations


Hello all,
    I am looking for anyone who has experience with, or a policy for
dealing with, fractional donations of collection objects. For example, a
donor who wants to donate 25% of an interest in his collection of 100
buttons in one year, so as to spread the tax benefits over as many years as
possible. The whole idea makes me very nervous, and I'd love to find out
what other institutions may have done in those circumstances.

thanks in advance for any help you can give!

Kirstin Holm
Registrar
San Diego Historical Society

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