Shelly, those may be the requirements of the IRS; however, I have experienced several occasions when a donor has either changed his/her mind, or the family has changed it for him/her—sometimes several times months later.  Until we have a signed Deed of Gift, we do not accession any collections. 

 

Once a woman took 2 months to sign the deed, and then 3 days after I received it, she called to say she had changed her mind and wanted me to tear up the deed.  I had to explain to her that it was a legal document; therefore, I could not do that.  The State Attorney General’s Office had to confirm that indeed in North Carolina, a Deed of Gift issued by our office was a legal document.

MBJ

 

 

Julie,

 

My understanding is that the Deed of Gift is not legally required to transfer ownership.  It is great at re-affirming the donor’s intent, but is not required to actually transfer ownership.

 

According to the IRS three criteria have to be meet for transfer of ownership: 1. Possession, the institution must have physical possession of the item(s) being donated. 2. Intent, the donor must have made clear that they intended to donate/gift/give, etc. the item(s).  And 3. Acceptance, your institution must formally accept the item(s) into your Collections. 

 

You’ve met all three criteria.  Therefore it is not critical you have a signed DoG.  You’ve made due diligence, and if you document everything, then you should be fine.  The only wrinkle would be copyright/reproduction rights.  IF having the copy/reproduction rights are the reason behind accepting the photograph, then you may need to seriously consider returning the picture.  If not, then I’d go ahead and treat it as it is a part of your Collections.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Shelly Berger

Registrar

The Museum of the Confederacy

1201 East Clay Street

Richmond, VA 23219

(804) 649-1861 ext. 12

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Hi Everyone,

 

I’ve run into an issue involving a donor who gave us photograph several months ago (early December), but has yet to return the signed Deed of Gift to the Museum.  I’ve never come across this issue and need some advice on how to handle this. 

 

To give you a little background, when the Museum receives something we have the potential donor sign a temporary receipt and we explain the donation process to them - that donations are presented to our Collections Committee and then the final decision is made by the Board.  Once the Board gives their approval, I will prepare and send a letter and two Deed of Gift forms to the donor thanking them for their donation and ask that they sign and return one copy of the Deed of Gift to the Museum in the provided self-addressed stamped envelope.  Normally, our donors are very good about this and they return the signed D. of G. within a few days.

 

The donor I am dealing with, I have sent a letter and D. of G. three times, the third time I sent it certified mail and received the signed green postcard back showing they received it.  In my letters, I let them know (politely) that by signing the D.of G. it transfers ownership of the photograph to the Museum and that if they have any questions or concerns about the donation to contact me.  I have also made several phone calls, but have not made contact with the donor, who I believe is elderly.  I believe I’ve left messages with her son, but I’m not sure.

 

So my question is, what next? How should this be handled?  Should we send the photograph back to the donor and explain that since we don’t officially have the rights to the photograph we cannot accept it?  Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Julie

 

Julie Blood

Collections and Exhibit Manager

San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum

P.O. Box 30, Lodi, CA 95241

(209) 331-2055  

(209) 953-3460

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www.sanjoaquinhistory.org

 

 

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