TAM ANNUAL MEETING CALL FOR PAPERS The Texas Association of Museums is issuing a call for papers for a special topic session to be presented at its Annual Meeting to be held in Midland, Texas, April 9-12, 1997. Preliminary proposals are being solicited and are due by September 1, 1996. They should be approximately 250 words and discuss how they would address the following issue: "A tenuous balance has long existed between nonprofit organizations and federal, state, and local governmental bodies. The rationale for the creation and continued existence of nonprofits is that they deal with public needs and promote the public good in the stead of tax-supported governmental agencies. To achieve these ends, nonprofits have traditionally been tax-exempt, have been able to solicit and accept charitable donations for which donors have been able to take a tax deduction, and have even enjoyed some measure of public funding. Some trends in recent years affect this traditional arrangement: * The roles of for-profit and non-profit organizations are blurring. Museums, which have preservation and public service expectations, are competing with for-profits and tourist attractions that operate free of such service expectations. * The legitimacy of the tax-exempt status of nonprofits is being challenged nationally and in some states as legislators search for additional tax revenues. * The charitable deduction has periodically come under fire and would be eliminated altogether in some flat tax proposals. * Funding from governmental agencies to museums is in decline while funding cuts to social service agencies have intensified the competition for private funds." Two proposals representing contrasting viewpoints will be selected by October 1, and the participants will be notified immediately thereafter. Final presentations should be approximately 30 minutes in length. Send proposals by snail mail to: Texas Association of Museums, 3939 Bee Caves Rd., Bldg A, Ste 1-B, Austin, Texas 78746. Questions may be addressed to: Gary N. Smith, [log in to unmask]