I have a question about tax deductions and donations.

First, some background:  We are a state museum and have a foundation through
which donations are given.  Specimens, money, gifts-in-kind, etc. are
donated to the foundation which has proper status for tax deductible
contributions for donors.  Donors receive the acknowledgement letter
necessary for their tax purposes from the foundation.  For specimens, the
foundation then transfers ownership of the specimen to the museum; we then
accession the specimen.   This procedure with the foundation is outlined in
our collections policies, the foundation can only accept specimens that the
museum agrees in advance to accept.   Our Registrar makes sure that we have
all the proper documentation (deed-of-gift, receipts, appraisals, etc.) and
that ownership is clearly transferred to the museum.  I know that we have to
keep objects accessioned for at least two years before we can deaccession
them.  We've never accessioned an object with the intent to deaccession so
have never had a problem with this.  We have also been through the "Legal
Primer..."

My question is this:  Say we have a situation where a donor offers a
specimen (say, for example, a taxidermied head) that we do not wish to
accession into the collections.  The education department would like it for
programs.  We do not accession specimens that are in the education
department because it has already been determined that the specimens are not
desired for the permanent collections and given the nature of hands-on
programs, we do
not expect that these specimens will necessarily last all that long anyway.
What are the legal and/or tax implications for a donation of a specimen that
is not accessioned?  Can a donor potentially receive a tax deduction for a
specimen if it is not accessioned?



Dr. Elizabeth A. Moore, Curator of Collections
Virginia Museum of Natural History
1001 Douglas Avenue
Martinsville, VA  24112
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