This is what our deeds of gift say:

"I hereby unconditionally give, donate, bestow and set over unto the
GENESEE COUNTRY MUSEUM, the property described below and on attached
pages, if necessary, to be used and/or disposed of by said organization
in their unrestricted discretion; and for myself, my distributees and
personal representatives, I waive all present or future rights in, to or
over said property, its use or disposition. I am also prepared to take
any further action necessary to pass full and clear title to the
described property, including any copyright interests. I also understand
that the museum does not provide monetary appraisals."

We added the line about monetary appraisals just recently due to a few
issues. You could also put in a line that restates the above without
sounding so legalese so that it's crystal clear to the average donor: "I
understand that by signing this deed of gift, I give up all rights to
the property described below, including input on how/if material is
exhibited or displayed..." Just fill in the blanks of the problems faced
with in a clear manner. You might also want to re-iterate that in your
thank you letter. 

Perhaps the best way to help prevent this is to get donors to sign the
deed of gift while there donating the item, so that the staff person can
verbally re-enforce the "rules" of donating in a polite, but clear
manner.

Sabrina Henneman
Genesee Country Museum

-----Original Message-----
From: Pamela Elbe [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 2:30 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Deed of Gift conditions


I am looking to revamp our donation procedures and am considering
writing some sort of addendum to our deed of gift to detail the
terms/conditions of the gift.  The sort of thing that I would like to
include would expand upon the stuff covered by the deed (title, rights,
interest, etc.).  Do any museums out there include anything during the
donation process that explains in plain language that the gift is
irrevocable, that the museum can use the donation as it sees fit
(including deaccessioning/transferring to another institution/etc.),
that materials may be used in exhibits, publications, etc. or provided
to researchers, and so on?

The reason I ask is that in the past few months I have been contacted by
various donor who have wanted to borrow an item they donated or wanted
their materials back for some reason (give to the grandkids, were upset
they hadn't seen the materials exhibited, etc.) or told someone writing
a book that they could publish photographs that had been donated to us
(all had signed a deed stating that they "irrevocably and
unconditionally give, transfer, and assign to the National Museum of
American Jewish Military History, by way of gift, all right, title, and
interests (including all copyright, trademark and related interests*).")
Maybe if we included some sort of informational sheet with the deed
these sort of issues would crop up less often (wishful thinking, I
know).

Any examples/ideas?

Thanks in advance!

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