Policy Donations

1. Objective

The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (SMA) is in large part dependent on contributions from third parties, including financial contributions as well as gifts in kind. The SMA encourages the donation of gifts that help it to achieve its goals. The objective of the policy described in this memo is to provide clarity to (potential) donors regarding the acceptance of a gift and the acceptance process, and to be as transparent as possible to all interested parties, including donors, the public, and the government. This policy elaborates on the generally applicable guidelines and codes of behaviour as described in the various codes that apply to museums: the Governance Code on Culture[1] (GCC), the ICOM Ethical Code for Museums[2], and the Code on Culture Sponsoring[3].

This policy applies to all gifts and donations that are offered to the SMA or the Stedelijk Museum Fund (SMF). The term ‘gift’ refers to an agreement between the donor and the SMA or SMF, which stipulates that the donor enriches the SMA or SMF at the cost of his or her own wealth. In return for this enrichment, the SMA or SMF does not provide any compensation that can be directly valued in financial terms.[4]

Donations or gifts in return for which compensation is agreed upon that can be valued in financial terms do not fall under the scope of this policy but under the Membership policy or the Sponsoring policy. Contributions from institutional funds do fall under the scope of this policy.

The SMA and the SMF will not accept any gifts that undermine its own artistic integrity and independence in any way whatsoever. Accordingly, they avoid any improper conflict-of-interest between the SMA or the SMF and the donor.

The SMA and the SMF are also aware of the fact that, in addition to name recognition, donors can also derive other benefits from a gift, such as (supposed/potential) value appreciation of their own collection. There is no objection to this as long as the artistic integrity and independence of the SMA and the SMF art not compromised.

In case of a gift, the SMA and SMF will enter into contracts only with the donor himself/herself. They will therefore not obtain any special rights or accept any obligations towards third parties. The SMA and the SMF do not wish to play a direct role in the art market when accepting any gifts.

The policy described here does not apply to bequests and inheritances in favour of the SMA or the SMF. A separate policy will be established for the above.

2. Types of gifts

A gift can consist of:

• Cash amounts, including a gift of cash earmarked for the purchase of a specific work of art, an exhibition, or a project (e.g. education or restorations).
• Monetary gifts in the form of donor-advised funds or an endowment fund[5].
• Gifts in kind in the form of objects such as art objects, design objects, or books.

3. Who can give gifts?

Gifts can be given by private individuals and by legal persons such as family-based foundations, funds, or companies. For gifts from private individuals, we distinguish between individuals who play a role at the SMA or SMF in relation to Governance (members of the Board of Directors or Board of Supervisors) as well as employees on the one hand and individuals who do not fall within one of the above two categories on the other. Additional conditions apply to the first two groups named above based on the regulations (GCC and specific provisions of the ICOM Ethical Code) that apply specifically to these groups. For more information in this regard, please refer to §6 and §7 of this memo.

4. Preconditions for gifts 

The general guideline is that the SMA and SMF accept only those gifts that fully respect their own artistic integrity and independence. Accordingly, any improper conflict-of-interest between the SMA or the SMF on the one hand and the donor on the other is avoided (also see §1 of this memo). The following conditions work out the details of this guideline, but other conditions can also follow from this guideline in specific cases.

• Any gift of a work of art or an earmarked gift for the purchase of an artwork must be in line with the ‘Collection Plan’ set out by the SMA. After receiving advice from the museum’s internal Acquisition consultation body[6], the Board of Directors determines whether the intended gift of art is in line with the Collection Plan. If that is not the case, then the gift is not accepted.
• The SMA and the SMF comply with all (tax) regulations and legislation relevant to the acceptance of gifts. The Development Department carries out a background check[7] for all intended gifts with a total value in excess of €100,000.
• If a donor proposes a (tax) framework for providing a gift that differs from that which generally applies to a gift of a cash amount or a work of art on its own, then the proposed gift will be evaluated by the SMF Advisory Committee for gifts to the SMF for the purpose of compliance with the applicable legislation and regulations as well as via the internal ethical regulations for the SMA/the Department of Legal Affairs for gifts to the SMA. If necessary, the proposed gift will be submitted to external advisers. This procedure will take some time.
• The guideline is that the SMA does not accept any specific conditions with regard to gifts, such as those that apply to the duration of the presentation of a donated work of art.
• Gifts with a value in excess of €1 million or that are subject to complex, additional (organisational) provisions are submitted to the Board of Supervisors for approval.
• If they require it for their tax return, donors are themselves responsible for appointing an independent appraiser and legal and/or tax consultant with regard to the gift[8]. The SMA does not carry out any appraisals on behalf of donors.
• To promote legal certainty, gifts with a total value in excess of €100,000 (including periodic gifts that collectively exceed this amount) will be included in a notarial deed, whereby the donor will be given the opportunity to choose the notary.
• Works of art offered by donors that do not fall within the scope of the museum’s collection policy and that are not intended to become part of the museum’s collection but that the SMA would be allowed to sell are in principle not accepted by the SMA.

5. Procedure

General (Gifts and Fund contributions to the SMA)
Proposed gifts to the SMA are dealt with by the Development Department of the SMA (contact person: Manager Development). Gifts that are offered directly to the members of the SMA’s Board of Directors or Board of Supervisors, the SMF Board of Directors, curators and/or other departments are submitted to the Head of Development, who internally coordinates the acceptance of the gift with assistance from the Collection management assistant

For gifts in kind (artworks) and monetary gifts that are earmarked for purchasing a specific artwork, a positive recommendation is required from the internal Acquisition consultation body before the Board of Directors can decide to accept the gift. The director, the Collection manager, and the curator whose field of expertise applies to the artwork offered evaluate whether the proposed gift should be submitted to the Acquisition consultation body or whether it is immediately rejected. In order to guarantee the independence of the museum’s artistic policy, the Acquisition consultation body evaluates whether the proposed artwork falls within the scope of the SMA’s Collection Plan. If a positive recommendation is received, the SMA Board of Directors decides, in its biweekly management consultation, whether the gift or Fund contribution will be accepted by the SMA. During this consultation, the Board also decides on the acceptance of monetary gifts. Gifts are registered in an agreement between the donor and the SMA. In principle, gifts in kind become the property of the Amsterdam Municipality in view of the museum’s administrative relationship with the municipality. The SMA informs potential donors beforehand of the above.

Gifts to the SMF
The SMF accepts monetary gifts to the SMA from private individuals and family-based foundations subject to the same conditions as described above in Section 4 for gifts to the SMA, whereby the SMF Board of Directors decides on the acceptance of the monetary gifts. The SMA and SMF have agreed that the SMF will distribute any such gifts to the SMA only at the request of the SMA.

A positive recommendation is also required beforehand from the internal Acquisition consultation body for monetary gifts to the SMF earmarked for the purchase of a specific artwork. The SMF Board of Directors requests the SMA Board of Directors to submit such gifts to the internal Acquisition consultation body. The matters agreed upon between the SMA and the SMF are set down in an agreement. For more information on the organisation, working procedure, and accountability of the SMF, click here.

6. Supplement for gifts from employees:

In addition to the applicable standards set down in the ICOM Ethical Code that conflicts of interest must be avoided, that exclude improper conflicts of interest between the donor and the SMA or the SMF, and that the artistic integrity and independence of the SMA must be protected, the ICOM Ethical Code stipulates that employees may not compete with the museum in relation to acquiring objects or activities, in relation to their private collection[9], and that special care needs to be taken when objects are acquired via a purchase, gift, or tax-related framework by members of the Board, museum employees, or their family members or close relatives.

7. Supplement for gifts by individuals who play a role at the SMA or SMF in relation to governance (members of the Board of Directors or Board of Supervisors):

The standards contained in the articles of association of the SMA and SMF as well as the applicable legislation and regulations, including the GCC and the ICOM Ethical Code, stipulate that conflicts-of-interest must be avoided, that no improper conflict-of-interest may exist between the donor and the SMA or SMF, and that the artistic integrity and independence of the SMA must be protected. In addition, the GCC stipulates that improper conflicts of interest must be avoided for the above group of persons (see Definition and Principle 3 of the GCC with recommendations) and that members of the Board of Directors and Board of Supervisors must allow the interests of the organisation to prevail over their own personal interests and ensure that they or their family members/relatives do not receive any personal benefits. According to the GCC, all persons concerned must remain alert in this regard. For these gifts, the procedure described above will be followed and, in addition, the proposed gift will be submitted to the entire Board of Supervisors for approval.

It should be noted that, in 2003, a footnote was included in the Dutch version of the ICOM Ethical Code that prohibits even the semblance of any improper conflict-of-interest that might be visible to the outside world. As this additional note appears with a provision that applies to loans of artwork and as the more recent GCC applies a different Dutch standard for conflicts of interest, it is an open question whether this difficult to apply standard (preventing even the hint of any improper conflict-of-interest) still reflects current opinion. A reasonable interpretation of this standard could be that the mutual rights and obligations must be clearly set down, that the persons involved, when assessing matters, must also take into account how objective outside parties might view the situation, and that great caution must be taken when approving transactions or situations that could involve a potential conflict-of-interest.[10]