It's mainly an ethical issue, since a museum's collections are considered to be held in trust for the benefit of society. For example, Section 2.17 of the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums: http://icom.museum/ethics.html states that: "Museum collections are held in public trust and may not be treated as a realisable asset. Money or compensation received from the deaccessioning and disposal of objects and specimens from a museum collection should be used solely for the benefit of the collection and usually for acquisitions to that same collection." This Wikipedia article also has has a good discussion of the issue, together with links to a variety of references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collection_(museum) -----Original Message----- From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Julie Blood Sent: Wednesday, 04 November, 2009 4:39 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Use of funds from deaccessioning Hi everyone, I'm looking for some information regarding the use of funds from the deaccessioning of objects in the permanent collection. I remember attending a workshop last year that mentioned that the funds are restricted to acquisition of items for the collection and that funds not being used in that way could have repercussions towards the non-profit from the IRS. Can anybody clarify this for me and direct me to a site that specifically has that information. I was asked by one of our board members to research this information. There seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding this topic, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Julie ========================================================= 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).