In the last year an Alaska foundation began requiring, after a few years of suggesting, 100% contribution from Alaskan non-profit boards, other than membership dues, in order for their organization to receive grants from that foundation.  The foundation staff has pointed out that in order for the board of an organization to solicit funds from others, they should show that they themselves feel the organization is worth a monetary contribution; and that the organization should not depend solely on governments and foundations for their fund raising.  The foundation requires that the contribution be "significant and personally meaningful"  $20 may be significant to a low-income member and $50,000 to an affluent member.

In our January meeting, the Board added the following paragraph to Board Responsibilities in the By-laws:  Each member of the Board shall make an annual monetary contribution to the organization.  Board members will be expected to give to the best of their means, at a level they would consider significant and personally meaningful. . 

We have no minimum.  When do a little research to find the right wording for our By-laws amendment, I found other web sites on Board giving and found no mention of a minimum.  They all suggested the same requirement as the Alaska foundation, sometimes with different words.

Jerrie

Jerrie Clarke
Director
Sheldon Museum
PO Box 269
Haines, AK 99827
(907) 766-2366
fax: (907) 766-2368
www.sheldonmuseum.org

--- On Tue, 3/23/10, Wesley S. Creel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Wesley S. Creel <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Board of Trustee required donation levels
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 9:03 AM

Good Morning Museum-List people,

1.)     Recently, I was asked by a museum colleague, “Is it customary for members of a museum’s Board of Trustees to be required – as a requirement of being a member of the Board of Trustees – to make an annual minimum monetary donation to the museum?”

I am aware of one art museum in another state (back in the early 1980s), which required its Board members to annually:  a.) be a “personal” member of the museum’s membership program at a $2,000+ level; b.) have her/his business at a “corporate” membership level of $1,000+; and c.) use her/his influence to secure an annually prescribed amount of funds for Board of Trustees’ identified projects/activities in the form of various gifts, sponsorships, etc….  It was my understanding that each Board member knew this before becoming a member of that museum’s Board of Trustees, and each Board member knew that if she/he did not annually respond to this financial requirement of serving on the Board, the President of the Board would “ask” that person to resign from the Board.

2.)     It is my intent to respond to my museum colleague’s question. But before I do, I thought it would be prudent, on my part, to give my museum colleague a more “up-to-date” response.

3.)     So, I am asking my Museum-List-Serve colleagues the same question…..“Is it customary for members of a museum’s Board of Trustees to be required – as a requirement of being a member of the Board of Trustees – to make an annual minimum donation to the museum?”  Please note, that for confidentiality reasons, you do not need to name the museum.  However, if you know of such a museum, I would like a sense of a monetary commitment the Board member would have to make.  I will use your response to this question to answer the question posed by my museum colleague.

By the way, I will post my response on this List-Serve.

Thank you,

Wesley

Wesley S. Creel

Administrator of Programs

Pink Palace Family of Museums

Memphis, TN

Office 901.320.6370

www.memphismuseums.org

 

 

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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).

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