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  • 1.  What issues does this arrangement post?

    Posted 05-23-2022 01:39 PM
    Edited by Kathryn Rusak 05-23-2022 01:45 PM
    An alum contacted our college (art & design school). They would like to donate to create an 'acquisition fund'. This fund would provide the college with money to purchase art from current students (during our annual student art show) to then use as the college sees fit (whether that be keep in storage, give away, auction off during an event, etc). The alum feels strongly that when students start to experience having their artwork actually be purchased, it creates a deep sense of accomplishment and may jump-start their career (because ostensibly, the art items would end up in someone's home which might then get noticed etc). The alum's preference is that the pieces the college purchases would be given away to eventually end up in someone's home. 

    I would appreciate your input if you've seen something like this funded, and how the mechanics worked, and/or any challenges we should look out for.

    Thank you, 

    Katie


    ------------------------------
    Kathryn Rusak
    Director Advancement Operations
    College for Creative Studies
    krusak@collegeforcreativestudies.edu
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  • 2.  RE: What issues does this arrangement post?

    Posted 05-23-2022 01:54 PM
    You might want to take a step back and ask, "Would this donation fulfill the mission of the organization?"  Also, you would want to know how this would work?  I cannot imagine it being useful to buy the art and throw it in storage.  And just who are you going to give it away to?  And do those "purchases" really make the artist feel good knowing their art was stuffed in a closet or given to someone as a thank you gift not knowing what they were getting?

    I do not disagree with the part of artists feeling good when their art is sold.  But to create an artificial environment to internally purchase the art does not seem to accomplish that.

    Instead, why not conduct an annual art show or silent auction?  And make it possible for a tax deduction?  Set a nominal FMV for the art and let people bid on the art knowing that whatever they pay over that amount is deductible with the proceeds going for art supplies or future facility expansion?

    John

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  • 3.  RE: What issues does this arrangement post?

    Posted 05-23-2022 04:42 PM

    "Does this contribution have the effect of advancing the mission of the organization?" is indeed the key question.

     

    I'm not sure that it doesn't.  Institutions of higher education provide students with all sorts of experiences that enhance their engagement in their education/career field.  And I guess I would defer to the judgment of an Art & Design school in assessing whether such an arrangement would enhance a student's experience rather than rely on my feeling about whether it would or wouldn't.

     

    If the institution were interested in conducting an art show or silent auction where student artworks could be purchased, that might be a wonderful thing that could well serve a similar interest in providing student artists with the experience of having their artwork be purchased.  But it doesn't seem like a compelling argument to me that the proposed acquisition fund would not qualify as mission-related because there exist any number of different possible activities that might be mission related.  Conducting an art show/silent auction of that sort seems like it would also be a lot of work as well!  And I might even argue that if going to the time and expense of holding such an art show would serve a mission-relate purpose because it would provide student artists with the experience of having their art be sold, then that would be prima facie evidence that providing student artists with the experience of having their art be sold is a mission-related purpose, so other possible activities achieving that result would also be mission-related.

     

    In any case, the question of whether the activity would support the mission is the primary issue to resolve with respect to deductibility (not to minimize the logistical questions and considerations like what you would do with the art and making sure that the students would find the experience positive and supportive).

     

    My US$0.02 worth; the usual disclaimers apply.

     

    Good luck!

     

    Alan

     

    Alan S. Hejnal    (he/him/his)

    Data Quality Manager

     

     




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  • 4.  RE: What issues does this arrangement post?

    Posted 05-23-2022 06:41 PM
    One aspect I'm particularly hung up on is how the price is set, and who makes the decision to buy. If a student sets the price at $100, or at $500, what process is happening to determine whether the art should be purchased? If the whole point of buying the art is the self-proving benefit of the art having been bought, the price is essentially irrelevant - the benefit to the student, and presumably the college, is identical whether the price was $1 or $500. And if that's the case, buying for more than $1 seems like an arm-in-arm transaction for the private benefit of the student. Basically, if the item itself is worth buying, why does the college have to buy it? Someone else will. And if it is not worth buying, the purchase is a sham purchase.

    If, on the other hand, there's a fixed price and every student's art is purchased, the whole project is kind of a sham, and leaves me with ethical questions. Is buying a student's art in this forced fashion actually going to bolster anyone's confidence? Even if it would, isn't it duplicitous? It strikes me as contrary to the mission of the college to pretend that everyone's work is worth buying no more or less than to pretend that everyone's work is worth a passing grade. 

    As for farming out the artwork to people who will hang it, some of the same issues play out. For one, the college is giving something away for the private benefit of an individual. Either the artwork isn't of any value -- in which case buying it was not a prudent expenditure of charitable money, and spending time and effort homing it is throwing away good resources after bad -- or it is valuable, in which case it can't just be given away to private parties for no compensation. 

    To me, the program itself seems like it's full of trouble!


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    Isaac Shalev
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