[MassHistPres] receiving funds at Historical Commission

[Dennis De Witt]

I would suggest that in such a case you consider working with a  
Community Foundation.  Some towns, like Boston and Brookline, have  
them.  Others are regional.  I think there is one for all of Cape Cod.

I believe, any Community Foundation should be able to act as a fiscal  
agent for an Historical Commission or a Friends group and can  
administer a segregated fund.

Dennis De Witt


On Mar 8, 2007, at 9:52 PM, bgreg at comcast.net wrote:

> While many 501(c) 3's assist neighboring organizations and causes  
> by accepting funds on their behalf, they may be doing so at some  
> risk.  Our historical society was recently asked to serve in such a  
> capacity and our Treasurer (a volunteer position increasingly more  
> difficult to fill) said he wasn't comfortable in doing it for a  
> variety of possible accounting, liability, and taxation reasons -  
> unless we received a "coast is clear" legal opinion.  Turns out his  
> suspicions were correct.  After a ten minute preliminary discusion  
> with a tax attorney there were enough potential pitfalls identified  
> to cause any society board member to run for the hills.
>
> After hearing the potential problems, the requesting organization  
> understood our decision to decline them assistance.  We told them  
> we'd rather make a donation to them for a portion of the legal  
> expense it would have cost us to accept donations on their behalf!
>
> Brian Gregory
> Boxford Historical Society
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