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Help needed - update



Good morning, all!

Over the past couple of months I've continued to enhance my reputation for
"doozies," as Daniel Sokolow and Holly Hodges termed my plaintive calls for
help. To update anyone who is interested:

Our Board decided to vacate the Managing Director's position until a
full-time Managing Director can be hired, in order to save the expense of
his salary. The duties of the position will be handled by a committee
consisting of our Chairman, President and First Vice President. It was
decided that my talents can be better used where I am now, and  I would have
to agree with that. I sent the committee members a rather lengthy report
detailing the problems in the Archives - including the trouble I've had with
the outgoing Managing Director - as frankly as I could. Apparently it was a
revelation to all three of them, as all they had known of the situation was
the highly sanitized and heavily sugar-coated spin the outgoing Managing
Director gave everything to keep himself out of trouble. While it's too soon
to tell exactly how this will end up, all three men have expressed
substantial appreciation for and support of my work. They are also keenly
interested in helping improve my situation, which is exactly what was not
done previously, and they promise fireworks when they meet with the outgoing
MD at our next Board meeting.

The other recent problem involved a collection that had been on undocumented
loan to us. After being persuaded of the collection's monetary worth by one
of our directors, the owner decided to terminate the loan and sell the
collection. I asked for advice on the ethics of trying to help him sell the
collection to a buyer who would donate it to us after purchase. Responses I
got were:

1. Have the director who told the owner how much the collection is worth buy
it for donation.

2. If appraisal is needed (something that didn't come into play here): do
not provide an appraisal, do not pay for an appraisal and do not recommend
one appraiser over another. If  pressed on the matter, supply an unbiased
list of appraisers for the owner to choose from.

3.  Don't help him sell it, but find someone who can help.

4. Case in point for use of deeds of gift.

5. Contact an attorney.

6. Consult with the IRS about how to handle donated items which have been
bought by a Board member or local group. A conflict of interest can nullify
a tax deduction, and the situation can cause problems with our 501c3 status.

7. It is okay to contact individuals or organizations willing to purchase
the collection for donation, and then announce and publicize the gift,
usually in the purchaser's name.

8. There are two good approaches to this for tax  purposes. One is for
someone to buy the collection for donation; the other is for a donor to give
cash to us to purchase the collection ourselves. Having the owner give the
collection to us directly raises questions about its value - documenting its
acquisition, validity of appraisal, whether or not any cost of obtaining the
collection had already been deducted, etc.

9. Try to persuade the owner to not sell the collection piecemeal (which he
already says he won't do).

One subscriber said this was a "very interesting" problem. My, aren't they
all! Many thanks to all for continued help, encouragement and moral support.

Best wishes,

Thomas Berry, Archivist
Historical Construction Equipment Association
16623 Liberty Hi Road
Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
Phone 419-352-5616
Fax 419-352-6086
tberry@hcea.net
http://www.hcea.net


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