Donate objects

Ingenium’s objective is to help people understand the ways in which scientific and technological endeavours have transformed Canadian life. To meet this goal, Ingenium acquires, displays, and preserves representative objects, devices, documents, photographs, technical drawings, and other artifacts of Canada’s scientific and technological heritage. Some of these come from businesses and institutions, but many more are donated or sold to Ingenium by individuals like you.

What happens when I offer an object to one of the museums?

When you contact Ingenium to offer an object, a well-established acquisition policy is followed. First, a curator determines whether Ingenium requires the object for its collection and; depending on the nature of your offer, may assess its value. Information such as manufacturer’s name, model, serial number, details of use, or provenance (who owned it or other historical associations of special interest) all help the curator to compare the object with Ingenium’s current holdings and decide how it may fit into the story of technological development in Canada. Since documenting, cataloguing, preserving, and storing artifacts is very costly, the museums do not attempt to collect examples of every innovation or the products of every Canadian company.

What is the role of the acquisition committee?

If a curator concludes that an object should be added to the collection, they develop a proposal and makes a recommendation to the acquisition committee. This recommendation must be accepted by the committee before the object can be added to the collection and Ingenium can issue payment or a tax receipt.

What is the difference between a donation, a donation with a tax receipt, and a sale?

Donation: If you make an outright donation to Ingenium, you have transferred ownership of the object to Ingenium without receiving any payment or other benefit.

Donation with a tax receipt: Under the Income Tax Act, Ingenium may issue you a receipt for income tax purposes for the fair market value of the object you have donated. A curator may assess the value of the object, but if this value is above a certain limit set by the Canada Revenue Agency (usually $2,000), one or more independent appraisers may need to be consulted to establish the fair market value.

Sale: You may also sell the object to Ingenium.

How is “fair market value” determined?

For income tax purposes, fair market value is the amount an object would sell for in an open market between a willing buyer and a willing seller who are both knowledgeable, informed, and prudent and who are acting independently of each other. It may take a few weeks to several months or longer to determine the fair market value, depending on the nature of the object and the availability of appraisers with the required expertise. Income tax legislation does not permit you to include taxes or customs duties as part of the value.

To learn more about the tax implications of a donation or sale (when you may realize a capital gain) you should ask the Canada Revenue Agency for the relevant tax bulletins or consult your financial advisor.

What special provisions apply to “significant cultural property”?

If you donate an item of outstanding significance and national importance, the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board may issue a certificate that enables you to deduct 100 percent of the value of the donation from your income. In such a case, Ingenium will apply on your behalf to have the artifact certified by the Board. Application may be made only after the formal transfer of ownership to Ingenium.

How is ownership formally transferred to Ingenium?

If Ingenium agrees to purchase the object you have offered, you will need to issue a sales invoice. You may also be required to prove that you own the object or have authority to transfer it to Ingenium.

In the case of a donation, transfer of ownership is formalized by a gift agreement, which states:

I, the undersigned donor, hereby give absolutely to Ingenium the object(s) listed herein and, in so doing, I understand and agree that the object(s) may be retained, displayed, loaned, disposed of, or otherwise dealt with in such a manner as Ingenium may deem to be in its best interest.

What recognition do donors receive?

Once an object has been acquired for the collection it becomes the property of Ingenium, which may store, display, or interpret it according to established museum practices.

Donors’ names are listed each year in Ingenium’s annual report. When artifacts are exhibited, the names of donors are recognized in accordance with museum policy and practices. You may not place special conditions on the way the museum displays or labels your donation.

In the case of purchased artifacts, the name of the source is retained in Ingenium’s confidential records. The seller is usually recognized on labels or in publications only if they have played a significant role in the history of the artifact, as its builder or inventor, for example.

When are artifacts removed from the collection and what happens to them?

Curators periodically assess the collection and may decide to remove from the collection artifacts that no longer serve Ingenium’s goals. An artifact may be deaccessioned because of duplication, because its type of technology is over-represented in the collection, or because it is in poor physical condition.

The acquisition committee must approve deaccessioning before any object is removed from the collection. If a curator recommends deaccessioning a particularly valuable object, its disposal must be approved by both the committee and Ingenium’s president and CEO.

Objects approved for deaccessioning are first offered to other Canadian museums. If other museums express no interest, the objects are disposed of in accordance with accepted museum practices.