Did you know that my originals, or those of Howard Terpning, are valued only at the $10 or $20 worth of paint and canvas used to create it - at least according to the IRS? Currently, an artist who donates a piece of artwork - think charities and museums - can deduct essentially just the value of the materials used in the work’s creation. A collector can donate purchased artwork and deduct fair market value for tax purposes, but the work’s creator cannot. (Maybe Congress is worried that there are folks selling $50 paintings on eBay who might take a deduction of $5000 for a donation).
Legislation has been offered before to correct this clearly ludicrous situation, but has always died due to lack of support or interest by artists. Congress is (amazingly) actually doing something and trying again in this regard; it’s (amazingly) easy to take action on these bills, by going to the Advocate for the Arts email action center.
I have to say, though, that the current materials-only-deduction thing has let me weasel out of numerous requests for donations. Why is it that artists - all good souls to begin with, and many lacking much money - get tapped so continually for donations? I get requests often enough that I would have no work left to send to my galleries if I responded to all these. I’ve salved my conscience by telling the requestor:
- about the deduction issue
- that I focus my donations in just one area (that being The Nature Conservancy)
- that if they have a benefactor who is willing to purchase my artwork and donate it to their auction (the typical venue for requestors) I’d give them a small discount, the benefactor would get a deduction, and the auction would get a good painting - a win-win all around. Oddly, no one has ever taken me up on this.
BTW, someone wrote about the whole “artists being tapped for charity” issue not long ago in a magazine somewhere (not that I can remember where or who or when) and suggested that part of the problem is that we’re all too damn eager to fork over artwork to some charity for auction, in the hopes that we might get some recognition for our saintliness. And that we oughta stop being so forthcoming.
This rather resonates with me; I’m not really willing to hand over a nice painting that took me several weeks to paint and that might sell in some two-bit animal rescue auction in Outer Timbuktu for pennies on the dollar compared to my retail prices because the bidders don’t know my work, are not art aficionados, and are (typically) just at the auction looking for bargains. I do donate prints occasionally, but no originals. I have never yet had someone contact me to say “Hey, I saw that nice print of yours in the Outer Timbuktu coatimundi rescue auction!” (let alone “…and I gotta get me some of your work!”), despite all the glowing promises by the charity about how much publicity the event will get, and that I can send along a couple pounds of business cards to spread around.
OK, grump mode off.
P.S. I have yet to paint a coatimundi.
Tags: legislation
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March 17th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Moran
March 18th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
I’ve recently heard that there is legislation afoot to give artists a deduction for donated works commensurate with what that artist’s works have a track record of selling for on the open market. Hooray! As the volunteer Art Chair for the Rocky Mountain PBS Art Auction, I googled to find out more about this legislation and your blog was the second thing on the list. Your remarks are similar to those we hear all the time from our donors and I respect your willingness to support one particular cause over another. Though non-profits are not in the business of being tax advisors, we sometimes whisper to artists that they might exchange paintings with a friend, who then can take a full deduction for the actual value of the piece, and vice versa. We are grateful to talented people such as you who believe in the mission of public television such that they are willing to donate their work. Everyone has to pick and choose their charity. I’m so glad to hear you’ve found yours.
ps - I love the look in your fox’s eye.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
The IRS obviously thinks that if they allow people to deduct the full value of their paintings, everyone will suddenly become a Picasso. They may be right, though I somehow doubt it will be the artists milking the system.
Then perhaps it makes the most sense to simply sell the painting at the normal going price and donate the money or even a significant part of it, which might be more than the auction would bring in. That way everyone gets a better deal (except the IRS, of course)
With regard to “artists being tapped for charity” ,I would just note that in our society, it’s usually the people who make the most money (and are the stingiest with it) who expect struggling artists and others to give things away for nothing. The same way that they expect teachers to buy supplies for their students out of their own pocket money.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Yeah, you gotta think twice about donating to certain events. Most people that show up don’t know much about art and what it is worth. I was asked to donate a painting to a zoo for their annual fundraiser and in return they said they would mail out 200 postcards to their list of wealthy donators (which I provided) to advertise and invite people to an upcoming show I was having. Well, they lied to me and didn’t mail out any of my postcards and the painting sold in their silent auction for a fraction of what it was worth. So I learned from that little lesson not to just hand work over for “exposure”.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Pat, thank you for stopping by and sharing your perspective! It’s good to hear from ‘the other side of the fence’. One of the (very few) nonprofits that I support with art is my local NPR station, KUFM here in Missoula; they do a phenomenally fun job with pledge week…local folks donate all kinds of premiums that are read on the air, and a donor must pay twice retail value to take home that premium. Plus, the range of premiums donated is outrageous! everything from homemade pies, massages, chef’s dinners, balloon rides, and art prints (like mine) to the ever-popular pickup-load of llama manure (apparently really good for your garden). We all listen in during pledge week to hear the entertaining premiums read, hear our friends listed as donors, and listen for the cowbells that signal another $1000 stairstep. But I digress…
Larry, your comments make a lot of sense from the artist’s point of view. I’m sure the nonprofits count on donations to make silent auctions exciting and worthwhile…but, as Joe’s experience shows, the artist has to be extremely careful where he/she donates work. I am very, extremely leery of the term “exposure” when used by a nonprofit.
There are definitely nonprofits that know how to run a good auction and get top dollar for donations of artwork - the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation comes to mind. The Santa Rosa chapter made sure everyone was very well lubricated before bidding commenced at the annual chapter dinner/fundraiser, and I saw the items in both silent and live auctions go for excellent prices. The national event was even more exciting - there were cute little twenty-somethings running around in fishnet stockings with chaps, a cowboy hat, a halter top, high heels, and nothing else…and they knew how to work a room and get bids! Every elk hunter in that room would offer a bid just to get one of these bombshells to come stand next to him.
My main point (now that I’m finally getting to it) is that it behooves us, as artists, to vet the nonprofit carefully: how do they market the event? the donations? do they allow a reserve to be set? how many attendees usually come to the event? net worth? how are the funds used? do you, the artist, believe in the nonprofit’s mission?…and so on.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:01 am
Elk hunters, cowboys, fishnet stockings, fine art, high heels, whine (and cheese?)…Any jugglers?
Sounds like an interesting auction.
Where do I sign up?
Then again, maybe I have to go out and shoot an elk first. Would a squirrel do?
October 28th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Hello people! Nice site!t