Who owns (or will own) the collections is the most important question, because the collection is held in trust for the public by whoever owns it, and that entity has all the responsibility for care, how it is used, (public access through exhibit, etc.).  Once that responsibility is taken on, it is pretty much "forever" (in perpetuity) with ongoing need for financial support.  

Presently it sounds as if they will either owned by the County or by a non-profit receiving County support.  Key question will be whether the County wants to take on that obligation.  If so, then by all means form a Friends group at some point (but it wouldn't be as urgent).

If  you apply for non-profit status, all donations given from the time of application will be retroactively tax-deductible once the non-profit status is granted.  I concur with advice to get help with the NFP application if you go that direction. You'll need to form a Board of Directors and create by-laws, which will take some work and care to do it well.

Good luck, and smart thing to ask on the list-serve!

Lucy Sperlin
Retired and serving 
Butte County Historical Society
Oroville, CA


-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Andrew Kirkland
Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2015 9:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Question on Friends Organizations

As to who owns it, it's a little complicated.  The County Commissioners still own the building but the county's tourism council is currently funding us.  Right now we are trying to figure out if we are going to break away from them and be our own independent organization with them giving us funding.  I'm trying to find ways of further funding so we don't have to rely only on them.  Is there a way to start something like that up without having them incorporate just for now?  I'm just wanting to get this done quickly while we are still relatively fresh and have buzz in the community as this area is in a rural part of Ohio so the buzz won't last forever.

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