I think this is an intriguing idea.  I suppose trying it out on a few
occasions wouldn't hurt, and if it proves to be unpopular, drop it.  If it
works occasionally, great.  Wording for this type of request would have to
be done carefully and with diplomacy.  If anyone does this, I would like to
hear how it is succeeding (or not succeeding).  Thanks

Arlyn Danielson

----------
From:   Christine Wolf Harper[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Thursday, November 20, 1997 10:10 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: Donations for Care of Collections

>Do any of you ever approach the donors of a collection to give money
>toward the care (storage space, staff time to process, archival supplies
>needed to store the objects or artwork) of the particular collection
>they have given?  Do any of you have to turn down important donations
>because of the lack of resources to care for the objects/artwork?
>
>Kathy Enright
>Southern Oregon Historical Society

We have considered this in the past but have never attempted it.  We are a
University museum and within that umbrella, we report to the hospital
administration first (we're a medical museum within a university hospital).
For this reason, we've been hesitant to ask permission to do this because
in the past the University Foundation has not expressed interest in
assisting the Medical Museum with fundraising and we're fairly certain that
any such financial donations would have to go through them.  That said, I
think it would be a reasonable approach, donors can always decline the
financial donation; although you might lose a few donations of objects
because people feel uncomfortable or feel that they basically *have* to
give money as well as the artifact.  How you phrase the request would be
very important.

We have had to turn away a few donations due not only to financial
constraints on our ability to care for them, but also because of space
constraints in our storage facility.  I'd be very interested to hear other
people's experiences with this approach to fundraising for collections
care.

Cris Wolf Harper

Collections Manager                     [log in to unmask]
UIHC Medical Museum                     (319) 356-8475 voice
University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics
8014 RCP  200 Hawkins Dr.
Iowa City, IA  52242
http://www.vh.org/Welcome/UIHC/MedMuseum.html