In my experience, the only time you need to restrict a donation is when you ask for a specific item or for a specific fund. For example, if you are raising funds for a new LCD projector those funds need to go for that expenditure and some directly related costs (e.g. replacement bulbs, etc.), or if you are raising funds for the restoration of the ship's figurehead you need to sequester those funds. As is stated in you post you say that a donation to the "operating fund" will result in "educational programs," if that is what your literature says, you are actually asking money for the operating funds, with the donation having a projected effect on educational programming. Your treasurer is needlessly worried. Cheers, -Nick -----Original Message----- From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Issaquah Historical Society Info Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 3:41 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: restricted donations and direct mail I'm preparing our annual appeal letter and using our children's programs as a hook. I've been careful to say that a contribution to our operating fund will support educational programming. My volunteer treasurer is antsy and insists that this means we need to restrict the resulting funds to only our educational programs. What guidelines or rules govern restricted transactions? I find that in order to raise $$ for the general fund.... one must become very specific. :) Thanks, Erica Erica S. Maniez Museum Director, Issaquah Historical Society 425/392-3500 [log in to unmask] www.issaquahhistory.org ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).