I’m working at the Harvard University
Art Museums on their reaccreditation and have had many of the same questions
for the staff there. They have resolved the issues through policies and
through written agreements with the University. You might consider giving the
legal counsel of the school at call to see how they resolved it. What does the
AAM say? Also you might call Harvard Law as it has a panel of student advisors
to the arts. It’s been enormously helpful and active all around. I’d
be happy to talk and give you some language off-line if you’d like. It isn’t
easy, but there are precedents.
Alexandra W. Rollins
Nonprofit and Arts Management
617-524-6007; fax 6037
www.rollinsupton.com
From:
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2006
9:59 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] interpretation
of 501(c)(3)
Dear friends,
I asked a similar
question to this one last week and I thank those who responded. This
week, I need to frame the question more tightly since I am still conflicted
with the list-serv's responses and what I am facing from the college's legal
council.
I am the Director
of a museum that has been opened for 6 ½ years. It is a Natural
History museum with 10,000 square feet of space with African and North
American mammal collections, plus collections of insects, bird eggs (over 500
clutches), bird, geology, shell, herpetology and Native American
collections. We are a part of a college, not a corporation on our
own. The museum opened two years before I became Assistant
Director/Education Coordinator (I was a public school teacher for 30 years
prior to that).
At that time,
the college's understanding of a museum was simple. 'We will open the
doors and people will come'. They knew nothing about the museum
industry especially its legal and ethical standards. I became director 1
½ years ago and began attending conferences and workshops. Through these
experiences I became aware that I had many problems and issues to get
resolved. The major one was, how was I going to get the
administration to understand what it will take for us to begin to get on track
and begin to do the things we should have been doing from the beginning.
I chose to start
by trying to get them to understand the legal and ethical issues of
"holding our collections in the public's trust". The
college is a 501(c)(3) entity. All of the collections were given to the
college. I asked the college's legal council if it was his understanding
that the college is responsible to hold the collections in the public's trust
and for the stewardship of the collections. His response was, "I'm
assuming that's true, although those are the words of a professional
organization and not the law. As a part of the college, the museum is
obligated to do what nonprofit charities registered under IRC 501(c)(3)
do. In other words, any property belonging to the college (such as the
museum collections) are to be used in furtherance of our charitable, religious,
or educational purposes." I interpret his answer to say
that "holding our collections in the public's trust" are the words of
the American Association of Museum and not what the law says.
Is this
correct? The museum has significant environmental issues that are
affecting the collections. Is it the college's legal or ethical
obligation to correct the temperature and RH problems in the museum?
I have requested, as a capital budget expense for 2007-08, a separate
HVAC system for the museum to get our environment under control.
I need to know if legally, we need to do this or ethically need to do
this.
Any insights,
especially to the legal versus ethical issue of this situation, will be greatly
appreciated.
Kenneth D. Mark
Director of the
Telephone:
717-691-6082
FAX: 717-691-6046
Email: [log in to unmask]
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