Dear Colleagues, I have been asked to draft a policy for review by our board and I would very much value the input of staff at other insitutions that have been faced with a similar situation. To make a very long story short, we are deaccessioning the entire contents of one of our historic houses . The house will be returning to private hands and because of restrictions in the deed of gift the buyer will be offered the option to purchase the collection intact--if that option is declined we will retain a few items for ourselves and other cultural institutions, but the majority of the collection will likely be sold at auction. Either way, we're looking at a significant influx of cash and are now trying to figure out how to handle it. Of course we already have in place a policy that restricts any income from the sale of collections objects to the acquisition or direct care of the collection (per AASLH policy) but we're looking for guidance on how other institutions have handled LARGE (6 figure) amounts if income from the sale of collections. The general plan is to establish a portion of the endowment limited to collections acquisition and conservation, with the interest from the fund to be made available for use each year. I'm concerned about limiting the fund too much, though, and want to leave some leeway open to spend some of the principle (perhaps with provision that it be replaced within a specified time) when extraordinary needs present themselves (say, the acquisition of an object of particular significance or the immediate conservation needs of an individual piece that exceed the yearly interest earnings). If anyone has a sample policy that they would be willing to share, or just input from experience it would be most welcome. Policy documents can be e-mailed to me directly at [log in to unmask] Thanks! Catherine E. Dean Curator of Collections APVA Preservation Virginia 204 West Franklin St. Richmond, VA 23228 804-648-1889 x313 FAX: 804-775-0802 ========================================================= 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).