Donation Disclaimer
Updated 07/13/2019
What is our "Donation Disclaimer"? Basically, the Donation Disclaimer definitively states the legal parameters of ownership for anything donated to the Auburn Area Historical Society. The disclaimer would be similar to the "legalese" of a contractual document or, more simply put, reading the "fine print" before entering an agreement.
ANYTHING donated to a non-profit, charitable organization (such as the Auburn Area Historical Society) transfers its ownership from the donor to the organization at the time of the donation. The donor no longer has any legal claim to ownership, possession or control of the donation AS WELL AS any reasonable expectation the donation will be "returned" to them in the event the organization should become inactive, disband or otherwise discontinue its mission. The donation becomes the legal property of the organization with the owner surrendering all rights to the donation.
ATTENTION! Some donors mistakenly believe that their donation should be returned to the donor in the event the recipient organization becomes inactive, closes and/or disbands. Due to the legalities and complexities of being a "non-profit" and "tax-free" organization (such as the A.A.H.S.), the law clearly states that any material wealth (finances, assets, memorabilia, fixtures, supplies, etc.) automatically defaults to be disbursed by the local legal court systems to similar entities within that geographic area unless otherwise specified within the organization's Charter, Bylaws or Amendments. THIS IS THE CURRENT LEGAL PROCEDURE FOR ALL A.A.H.S. ASSETS IN THE EVENT OF INACTIVITY, CLOSURE OR DISBANDMENT. What this means for the Auburn memorabilia that has been donated in the past is that if the A.A.H.S. ceases to function, all of their assets would be litigated by a local court, first to pay any unsettled debts or claims, but then to be divided between similar organizations within a reasonable geographic distance. For example (this is ONLY an example and is not a presumption of how the assets could be litigated/distributed), the courts may decide that the memorabilia be equally divided between the Orwigsburg Historical Society and the Schuylkill County Historical Society since Orwigsburg's society originally covered the Auburn-area prior to the founding of the A.A.H.S., and the Schuylkill County's society actually includes the geographic area in which Auburn is situated. The court may decide to "share the wealth" with the remaining societies within Schuylkill County by offering display fixtures and equipment to those groups that have displays of memorabilia while dividing the remaining Treasury between those groups that did not receive memorabilia nor display fixtures.
Such an organization (like the A.A.H.S.) can exercise limited control over the transference of their assets to like-minded groups IF this stipulation is clearly documented and legally adopted by the governing group prior to such inactivity, closure or disbandment. For example, the A.A.H.S. could stipulate that in such an event, all of their assets would default to the Schuylkill County Historical Society for continued preservation of their heritage; or their assets would default to the Auburn Borough Council to maintain the memorabilia on site for the sake of preserving the heritage of Auburn, etc. HOWEVER, by Law, the money and/or items which were donated to the A.A.H.S. cannot simply be "returned" to original donors in a worse case scenario.
ANYTHING donated to a non-profit, charitable organization (such as the Auburn Area Historical Society) transfers its ownership from the donor to the organization at the time of the donation. The donor no longer has any legal claim to ownership, possession or control of the donation AS WELL AS any reasonable expectation the donation will be "returned" to them in the event the organization should become inactive, disband or otherwise discontinue its mission. The donation becomes the legal property of the organization with the owner surrendering all rights to the donation.
ATTENTION! Some donors mistakenly believe that their donation should be returned to the donor in the event the recipient organization becomes inactive, closes and/or disbands. Due to the legalities and complexities of being a "non-profit" and "tax-free" organization (such as the A.A.H.S.), the law clearly states that any material wealth (finances, assets, memorabilia, fixtures, supplies, etc.) automatically defaults to be disbursed by the local legal court systems to similar entities within that geographic area unless otherwise specified within the organization's Charter, Bylaws or Amendments. THIS IS THE CURRENT LEGAL PROCEDURE FOR ALL A.A.H.S. ASSETS IN THE EVENT OF INACTIVITY, CLOSURE OR DISBANDMENT. What this means for the Auburn memorabilia that has been donated in the past is that if the A.A.H.S. ceases to function, all of their assets would be litigated by a local court, first to pay any unsettled debts or claims, but then to be divided between similar organizations within a reasonable geographic distance. For example (this is ONLY an example and is not a presumption of how the assets could be litigated/distributed), the courts may decide that the memorabilia be equally divided between the Orwigsburg Historical Society and the Schuylkill County Historical Society since Orwigsburg's society originally covered the Auburn-area prior to the founding of the A.A.H.S., and the Schuylkill County's society actually includes the geographic area in which Auburn is situated. The court may decide to "share the wealth" with the remaining societies within Schuylkill County by offering display fixtures and equipment to those groups that have displays of memorabilia while dividing the remaining Treasury between those groups that did not receive memorabilia nor display fixtures.
Such an organization (like the A.A.H.S.) can exercise limited control over the transference of their assets to like-minded groups IF this stipulation is clearly documented and legally adopted by the governing group prior to such inactivity, closure or disbandment. For example, the A.A.H.S. could stipulate that in such an event, all of their assets would default to the Schuylkill County Historical Society for continued preservation of their heritage; or their assets would default to the Auburn Borough Council to maintain the memorabilia on site for the sake of preserving the heritage of Auburn, etc. HOWEVER, by Law, the money and/or items which were donated to the A.A.H.S. cannot simply be "returned" to original donors in a worse case scenario.