Railway Preservation News :: View topic - Selling collections to fund general operations

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Third Rail of Museum Ethics: Selling Collections to Pay for…What?

Is it ethical for a museum to use the money it gets from selling collections to fund general operations?

How about using the proceeds from the sale for “preservation” (the term used by AASLH’s Statement of Professional Standards and Ethics) or “direct care” (cf. AAM’s Code of Ethics for Museums)? Does preservation or direct care include fixing the roof? Hiring a conservator? Paying the salary of your collections manager?

According to Financial Accounting Standards Board regulations (and those of its government counterpart, GASB), using the funds from deaccessioning for anything other than buying more collections means the museum has to capitalize the whole collection, an action that some parts of the field believes to be unethical in and of itself.

(continued...)

5.1 A comprehensive, written Collections Management Policy must address all aspects of
the institution's collections, and relate care and treatment of collections back to the
institution’s mission.

1. Written collecting criteria includes:

a. What the museum will collect, and why

b. How each collection will support the museum's mission

c. How each collection and its individual items will be used and cared for (e.g.,
research, display, operation, education, outreach, etc.)

5.6 A deaccessioning policy recognizing the museum's trust responsibility is to be
developed in advance, for removing items accessioned into the permanent
collections. (Note: Objects not accessioned into the museum's permanent collections
do not need to go through a formal deaccessioning process.) Whenever possible,
and consistent with the museum's fiduciary responsibility, the museum should
dispose of deaccessioned objects to other museums, historical organizations, or
similar education institutions, and by means of gift, trade, or sale, in that order. The
policy addresses:

a. Use of funds generated from deaccessionings, restricting such use to acquisition
of additional objects or care of museum collections.

b. The conditions which must be present for deaccessioning to be considered,
including such concerns as non-relevance to mission, poor condition,
duplication, or lack of authenticity

c. Any conditions or restrictions stated in original deed of gift. If possible, the
donor of an object should be notified of any deaccessioning decisions made
regarding an item he or she has donated, purchased for, or otherwise made
available to the museum

d. Conditions by which members of the museum, its governing body, or staff must
abide in order to receive any deaccessioned object

its time to put out those public service ads radio and TV do to say..hey! Come see our stuff we have some fun things to do! (and those ads are free)

If your a non-profit you should be able to do that.

by the time your done selling you have no displays left and a blank museum.

I noticed some people say in another thread that NRM, Green Bay, should sell their British steamer "Dwight Eisenhower" for big dollars and use the money to house and preserve the rest of the collection. That's the sort of issue the blog post is talking about. Is it ethical? Y/N

Depends an awful damn lot on who you're selling it to... and what THEY intend to do with it.

Once you sell it, it's out of your control. Maybe you sell it to the scrapyard, or maybe you sell it to the Smithsonian, but in either case, you no longer control its destiny.

Author:	rock island lines [ Mon Apr 14, 2014 10:40 pm ]
Post subject:	Selling collections to fund general operations
I was reading, The Center for the Future of Museums Blog, and came across a post that asks, "Is it ethical for a museum to use the money it gets from selling collections to fund general operations?". Well what's your view? Read on. Quote: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 The Third Rail of Museum Ethics: Selling Collections to Pay for…What? Is it ethical for a museum to use the money it gets from selling collections to fund general operations? How about using the proceeds from the sale for “preservation” (the term used by AASLH’s Statement of Professional Standards and Ethics) or “direct care” (cf. AAM’s Code of Ethics for Museums)? Does preservation or direct care include fixing the roof? Hiring a conservator? Paying the salary of your collections manager? According to Financial Accounting Standards Board regulations (and those of its government counterpart, GASB), using the funds from deaccessioning for anything other than buying more collections means the museum has to capitalize the whole collection, an action that some parts of the field believes to be unethical in and of itself. (continued...) Read the entire post here: http://futureofmuseums.blogspot.com/201 ... lling.html (Hint: Use the search box at the very top left of the blog to find other interesting discussions.)

Author:	robertmacdowell [ Tue Apr 15, 2014 4:06 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
Depends an awful damn lot on who you're selling it to... and what THEY intend to do with it. But yes, if you are "scrapping the place out" just to keep the lights on, "yer doin it wrong". That would also be true if the "scrapping the place out" amounts to merely deferred maintenance. Also true if it is just accumulating new debt. Also true if it means settling out old debt for a fraction. All of the above is included in the term "equity stripping".

Author:	Joshua K. Blay [ Tue Apr 15, 2014 8:03 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
Working for a museum, this is a concern I deal with frequently and thought I might share some of my notes: A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections • The prime concern of a museum is the enhancement and protection of its collection. • The common practice to use proceeds only for the acquisition of new collection material has been the subject of intense debate and the profession is split on the use of proceeds. • When museums seek to deaccession for reasons other than collections improvement, the underlying problem is invariably a history of board failure to exercise prudence in fiscal management. National Standards & Best Practices (AAM) • All museums are expected to abide by the AAM Code of Ethics that specifies that proceeds from sales resulting from deaccessions can be used only for acquisitions or direct care of collections. • While the interpretation of “direct care” varies between museums and disciplines, there is a strong consensus that that it does not include use of funds to pay for operational expenses. • AASLH specifies that history museums can use such funds only for acquisition and preservation. ICOM Code of Ethics • Museum collections are held in public trust and may not be treated as a realisable asset. Money or compensation received from the deaccessioning and disposal of objects and specimens from a museum collection should be used solely for the benefit of the collection and usually for acquisitions to that same collection. Deaccessioning should be a very careful, very thought out process with discussion on the use of funds realized. Mission statements, collection policies, and some of titles above should be use to guide the deaccession as well as accession process. Joshua

Author:	dinwitty [ Tue Apr 15, 2014 9:13 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
its time to put out those public service ads radio and TV do to say..hey! Come see our stuff we have some fun things to do! (and those ads are free) If your a non-profit you should be able to do that. by the time your done selling you have no displays left and a blank museum.

Author:	Dave [ Tue Apr 15, 2014 9:23 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
I've never worked for a museum at which any generated revenues from deaccession weren't immediately eaten up with the cost of caring for the collection, and still found to be insufficient. We've all heard the horror stories here about scrappings used to fund the continued operating expenses - in some cases, salaries of those who should be charged with caring for the collections but are authorized to dispose of them without oversight.....anybody see a possible conflict of interest here? Managing collections isn't rocket science - managing the size of the collection to make sure it is manageable is harder, but with an unemotional and rational approach it is certainly possible. Collections evolve - it isn't evil unless there's no mission driven reason for the evolution. Our "GRAB EVERYTHING" strategy turns out to have not been a strategy for long term preservation and interpretation at all. dave

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Author:	Heavenrich [ Tue Apr 15, 2014 11:34 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
This is a real issue in Detroit where some would like to sell art from the Detroit Institute of Art to pay some of the city's bills.... Then you get to the cost of appraising a collection to determine it's book value. Bob H

Author:	rock island lines [ Tue Apr 15, 2014 12:13 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
I noticed some people say in another thread that NRM, Green Bay, should sell their British steamer "Dwight Eisenhower" for big dollars and use the money to house and preserve the rest of the collection. That's the sort of issue the blog post is talking about. Is it ethical? Y/N

Author:	wesp [ Tue Apr 15, 2014 12:56 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
From ARM Recommended Practices: Before answering Y/N you need to have a collections policy. Quote: 5.1 A comprehensive, written Collections Management Policy must address all aspects of the institution's collections, and relate care and treatment of collections back to the institution’s mission. 1. Written collecting criteria includes: a. What the museum will collect, and why b. How each collection will support the museum's mission c. How each collection and its individual items will be used and cared for (e.g., research, display, operation, education, outreach, etc.) Then you need the de-accession policy: Quote: 5.6 A deaccessioning policy recognizing the museum's trust responsibility is to be developed in advance, for removing items accessioned into the permanent collections. (Note: Objects not accessioned into the museum's permanent collections do not need to go through a formal deaccessioning process.) Whenever possible, and consistent with the museum's fiduciary responsibility, the museum should dispose of deaccessioned objects to other museums, historical organizations, or similar education institutions, and by means of gift, trade, or sale, in that order. The policy addresses: a. Use of funds generated from deaccessionings, restricting such use to acquisition of additional objects or care of museum collections. b. The conditions which must be present for deaccessioning to be considered, including such concerns as non-relevance to mission, poor condition, duplication, or lack of authenticity c. Any conditions or restrictions stated in original deed of gift. If possible, the donor of an object should be notified of any deaccessioning decisions made regarding an item he or she has donated, purchased for, or otherwise made available to the museum d. Conditions by which members of the museum, its governing body, or staff must abide in order to receive any deaccessioned object

Author:	fkrock [ Tue Apr 15, 2014 1:05 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
dinwitty wrote: its time to put out those public service ads radio and TV do to say..hey! Come see our stuff we have some fun things to do! (and those ads are free) If your a non-profit you should be able to do that. by the time your done selling you have no displays left and a blank museum. The FCC no longer requires broadcasters to carry public service announcements on radio or television. Many stations no longer broadcast public sevice announcements. Perhaps the best free publicity you can get is talk a local television station to carry a story about some special event at your museum.

Author:	Bob Davis [ Tue Apr 15, 2014 5:12 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
"Selling collections to fund general operations" reminds me of the old farmers' expression "Eating your seed corn". The term "death spiral" also comes to mind. On the other hand, my "home" museum has sold off a number of trolley cars to places where they were A) more appropriate, and B) where they could be the focus of attention rather than one of many relics competing for resources. Most of the funds derived from these sales have gone into buildings to keep the remaining relics out of the weather. As a side remark, when I became involved with railway preservation about 50 years ago, terms like "deaccession" and "mission statement" would not become parts of our vocabularies for many years.

Author:	Alan Walker [ Tue Apr 15, 2014 5:51 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
rock island lines wrote: I noticed some people say in another thread that NRM, Green Bay, should sell their British steamer "Dwight Eisenhower" for big dollars and use the money to house and preserve the rest of the collection. That's the sort of issue the blog post is talking about. Is it ethical? Y/N This illustrates another set of questions that must be addressed. Just because it might be ethical to sell an artifact does not necessarily mean that that is a smart idea. This depends on the nature of the specific item involved. In the specific case of the Dwight Eisenhower, it could well be argued that selling the locomotive could be more harmful then beneficial. The Eisenhower is different in that it was a gift from a foreign nation given in thanks for our support to them in World War II. Seeing such a significant item sold could at the least be very off putting to potential donors and political supporters. Similarly, even transferring the ownership of such an item might be damaging to the organization unless the process is given careful consideration and carefully executed.

Author:	Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:33 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
This. Exactly. Even if it were somehow decided that the NRM's A4 were no longer part of the Museum's mission statement, the loco went to a billionaire who promptly turned it over to the LNER A4 Preservation Society in the UK and paid for its repatriation, and the NRM put the millions raised towards a new climate-controlled display hall that put every last exhibit in a perfect setting, there's still that little matter of the original gesture. I know personally of relationships that have soured VERY hard between museums and groups that acquired and donated artifacts to museums only to see them "traded" or "deaccessioned" off a few years later after a management or policy change.

Author:	Bobharbison [ Wed Apr 16, 2014 3:44 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
robertmacdowell wrote: Depends an awful damn lot on who you're selling it to... and what THEY intend to do with it. Does it really? Once you sell it, it's out of your control. Maybe you sell it to the scrapyard, or maybe you sell it to the Smithsonian, but in either case, you no longer control its destiny. Even if it isn't scrapped, will it be properly cared for? Will it be properly displayed? The only way to truly ensure it's done the way you feel is proper is to do it yourself.

Author:	Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Wed Apr 16, 2014 5:18 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
Bobharbison wrote: Once you sell it, it's out of your control. Maybe you sell it to the scrapyard, or maybe you sell it to the Smithsonian, but in either case, you no longer control its destiny. Not. Necessarily. I recently had the privilege to blunder into the original sales agreement between one history-preservation group and another regarding a certain piece of rolling stock, a piece most American rail preservationists would rate as "iconic." The group that ended up with the piece was just starting up at the time, and made a purchase offer, with good cause, to the group that originally saved the piece from almost certain destruction. The agreement states that the original owner has right/option of first refusal to repurchase the item in question, for the original purchase price. That was nearly a half-century ago. The original price was in the low three figures. Both groups still exist today. The latter group has since put a good six figures of dollars into the piece during a complete restoration. The latter group shows no signs of going away any time soon, but just in case, I happened to have an opportunity to mention the deal in passing to an officer of the latter group, with a smile...... He replied "We'll worry about that if and when it ever happens."

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Author:	Alan Walker [ Wed Apr 16, 2014 5:33 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Selling collections to fund general operations
Bobharbison wrote: Once you sell it, it's out of your control. Maybe you sell it to the scrapyard, or maybe you sell it to the Smithsonian, but in either case, you no longer control its destiny. As Sandy said, not necessarily. Same goes for donated materials. It all depends on the substance of the contractual agreement between the parties.