Some Practical Tips for Charities Interested in Soliciting Works of Art

By NICOLE LEWIS

At California’s Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, fund raisers solicit gifts not only for cancer

research or a new X-ray machine, but for artworks to be placed in a meditation garden.

Donors who give $2,500 to $9,000 can pay for a mural or a six-foot rock sculpture, designed to improve the healing atmosphere in the garden. Several works have already been purchased.

“It’s important in a mature fund-raising program to have many different options for donors,” says Janie Anderson, vice president and director of development for Scripps Foundation for Medicine and Science, the fund-raising arm of the hospital and other related charities. “Not all donors want to give to a new building or a research endowment. Another option for a donor is to provide art for the hospital.”

Museums have long been places where donors contribute art, but recently other charities have started getting into the act, soliciting donors for their artworks or for money to pay for art to display.

Among the incentives: Donors who have never before supported a charity are often attracted by the opportunity to give money for a project related to the arts.

Charities must consider a variety of factors before deciding whether to solicit art donations. Among the questions to ask: Does the charity have enough staff members to deal with the complicated task of working with donors and protecting the artworks? Can it find donors interested in contributing works of art? Would the charity be able to use the artwork as part of its programs — and therefore help donors get the maximum tax benefit available?

For charities that want to start seeking art gifts, fund raisers and legal experts offer the following suggestions:

Know how to say no. Many artworks are not appropriate for certain types of charities. Erotic art may not belong in youth charities’ art collections, while hospitals and nursing homes often shy away from gloomy or disturbing art. And no place wants to become a dumping ground for simply bad art. Early on in its process of establishing a collection, the Union Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter in Los Angeles, received a large collection. The problem was, the work ranged from very good to low quality, but the gift was contingent on the mission’s accepting it all. “What I wish I had known was how to say no,” says John D’Elia, who was a fund raiser at the mission until last month. “We have stuff that’s taking up space.”

Take good care of donated art. Valuable gifts often need museum-quality protection. The Mayo Foundation, in Rochester, Minn., simultaneously installed a donated sculpture by Auguste Rodin and a security camera. Says James Hodge, a Mayo fund raiser and chair of the art committee: “If people are going to trust you with works of art, you have to install all the precautions you can.”

Consider cost. If expenses such as long-term maintenance or insurance will cost more than the gift itself, fund raisers might want to reconsider. “There are definitely going to be instances where the cost of upkeep is higher than the value of actual donated property,” warns Melanie Herman, executive director of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, in Washington. “Before you solicit any donation, you should think about what the true costs are.”

Get a wide range of views. Charities need to reach consensus on what art to buy with contributed funds or where to put artworks that are donated. Everybody has a different idea of how best to decorate public walls, and pleasing everyone is impossible. But a committee with a cross section of viewpoints, including those of staff members, board members, and volunteers, helps minimize friction and offers a clear process for dealing with art gifts says Jane Mayer, chair of the art and environment committee at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Another advantage to a committee is that it takes responsibility for accepting or rejecting works, removing fund raisers from potentially awkward positions with donors who want to see their own art gifts on the walls.

Dana-Farber uses a three-tiered system. First a small executive committee, including Ms. Mayer and an art consultant, evaluates a work. Then a larger review board composed of staff, patients, and board members considers the piece. Last, the work is placed in the proposed spot and the hospital encourages comments from people who pass by to see whether they like the art. Sometimes Dana-Farber also forms a focus group to give feedback.

“If you do all that homework,” says Ms. Mayer, “by the time it goes up on the wall it’s a winner.”