Internal Revenue Service regulations prohibit Museum staff from any involvement in determining the value of gifts or loans. Staff shall neither appraise potential or actual donations or loans, nor shall they recommend or endorse specific appraisers to potential donors, lenders or sellers. Museum staff may refer donors to national and international appraiser associations, such as the Appraisers Association of America, http://www.appraisersassoc.org/ (external link), which maintain databases of certified and experienced appraisers.
Though not required to do so by law, the Director, Registrar, or Assistant Registrar for Acquisitions may request that the donor provide the Museum with a copy of any appraisal or documentation of value for the Museum's records. As stated in the University of Illinois Foundation Gift Processing and Stewardship Services Office Training Manual, 2001, on page 3: "The value of the gift should be documented by the donor for the University's and/or the Foundation's internal reporting purposes only. If a value is not given by the donor, the gift will be recorded [by Gift Processing] with a value of $1.00."
University of Illinois Property Accounting requires the Museum to submit values for all objects being added to or removed from the Artifact Collection. The Registrar or Assistant Registrar for Acquisitions shall report any values as they are provided by the donor regardless of the date of the appraisal or purchase date. Even if no value is known, University Property Accounting still requires the Museum to provide a value. University Property Accounting will not accept values of $1.00 as permitted by Gift Processing (see above). For those objects with no known value, the Registrar or Assistant Registrar for Acquisitions in consultation with the Registrar will provide estimated values based on research of comparable items as readily available on the Internet or in auction catalogues. The Registrar and Assistant Registrar for Acquisitions are not expected to be certified appraisers or to have specialized knowledge or training in the appraisal of art, ethnography and antiquities throughout the world. Documentation of any research as well as its restricted purpose shall be included in the Registration Database, Lot Ledger Database and Source/Donor Files. These values shall not constitute an official appraisal and are for internal University Property Accounting use only. The assigned values shall not be made known to the general public.
Museum staff shall not provide value amounts for incoming loans. Since a value is required if the object is to be insured, staff working with lenders will require the lender to provide an insurance value for each loaned object. The insured value will be listed on the Complex Incoming Loan Agreement Form. The Museum does not require an appraisal or any additional documentation of value for loans.
Copies of appraisals and value-related documents are kept in the Source/Donor Files and are confidential.