Donate

I. General Guidelines

Due to the high costs of managing the gift process, the Foundation’s goal in accepting gifts are to acquire only those materials which are highly relevant to the Foundation’s mission and needs.

We accept gifts that:

• Support the Armenian Cultural Foundation’s current and evolving collection interests and principles, titles in other languages related to the region in general and Armenia in particular and the Armenian experience and narrative;
• Sustain the research needs of scholarly needs of the Armenian Studies experts, community and public at-large;
• Enhance the unique and noteworthy holdings of the Foundation’s library’s special collections.
• Enhance the Foundation’s collection of objet d’art, artworks, paintings, as well as historical documents related to the Armenia and Armenian history.

We are not able to accept gifts when:

• Items that are in poor physical condition, e.g., contain mold or mildew, tears, stains, water damage or are in any way impaired in a manner that results in limited or restricted use. These items are potentially harmful to existing collections.
• Materials require significant restoration or conservation or unique storage, unless accompanied by appropriate funding.
• A donor places restrictions that will negatively affect access to and use of the materials.

We also do not accept:

• Photographs.
• Textbooks.
• Popular trade paperbacks.
• Single issues of periodicals or broken runs of bound periodicals, with the exception of rare Armenian language periodicals that they may fill gaps in our current collection.

II: Our process for gifts is:

1. Donors should preferably provide a title list and description of any gift before it can be considered. In the absence of such documentation, the Foundation may require on-site evaluation of the collection by the Foundation curator before a determination to accept can be made.
2. Gifts delivered without prior arrangement or contact with the Foundation’s curator or acquisitions and gifts staff referred to above will not be acknowledged.
3. Potential donors of materials should contact the curator of the Cultural Foundation.

III. Disposition of Gift Materials

1. Once we determine that a gift meets Cultural Foundation’s selection criteria, we will catalog the items and make them accessible in the Armenian Cultural Foundation website’s online public catalog.
2. Appropriate donor recognition may be placed within the online catalog record.  The Cultural Foundation, in most cases, is not physically able to maintain separate named collections.

1. Gifts, i.e. duplicates, that are not selected and have never been part of the collection may be disposed or donated to another institution.

IV. Donor Information

Under current tax law, donors who wish to receive a tax deduction for gifts over $500 but less than $5,000, must file a completed IRS Form 8283 which must then be signed by the Armenian Cultural Foundation’s curator. For gifts exceeding $5,000 the donor must secure a formal appraisal to accompany filing IRS Form 8283. The value of the gift should be determined by the donor prior to transfer to the Cultural Foundation. If necessary (for gifts valued at over $5000), a copy of the appraisal should also be submitted to the Cultural Foundation.  Information on IRS Form 8283 (the form and instructions on filling out the form) can be found at:  www.irs.gov/uac/Form-8283,-Noncash-Charitable-Contributions

IRS law prohibits the Armenian Cultural Foundation and other staff from appraising materials or the Libraries paying for or arranging for appraisals. Pertinent information is available in IRS Publication No. 561 “Determining the Value of Donated Property”. Because tax laws change frequently, it is advisable that donors seek professional tax or estate counsel prior to making a gift.

Donors who offer materials or collections which the Armenian Cultural Foundation cannot accept may be referred to other libraries or book donation programs.

For more information please contact the Armenian Cultural Foundation office.