Volunteer

Our members, associates, and volunteers are an integral part of the Museum. Volunteering is a great way to meet new and interesting people, learn more about art, and support the Museum. Read below for more about some of our many volunteer opportunities.

You can give your support by volunteering to staff the Museum of Art and Archaeology's Museum Store. Volunteer shifts in the Museum Store are scheduled for two hours once a week. Museum Store volunteers are good-will ambassadors to the public and representatives of community support. Contact Bruce Cox, 573-882-6724, for more information. 

You can also volunteer to be a Museum docent to give Museum tours or help with other educational events. Contact Cathy Callaway, Museum Educator, about becoming a volunteer in the education department.

For more information about volunteering at the Museum, call 573-882-3591.

Giving

Planned Giving
Planned giving lets you support the Museum of Art and Archaeology through an estate gift. You don't have to be wealthy or famous to leave a permanent, meaningful legacy. All that's required is concern for others and the desire to be remembered for more than just the assets you have accumulated. We make planned giving simple, so you can enjoy the benefits of knowing your legacy will live on through the Museum of Art and Archaeology.

The easiest way to create a planned gift is through a bequest. The language for a bequest can be seen here (opens new window). You may either define your bequest directly in your will, or the University's Office of Gift Planning and Endowments will prepare a separate endowment document at no cost to you, which can then be referenced in your will or estate plan. By using this latter planning strategy, you will retain the option to alter the purpose or use of your endowment fund without the expense and inconvenience of amending your estate plan. Through this document the endowment is created now, so you can get all the details right, but funded later through your will or estate.

Retirement accounts and life insurance policies are also effective ways of making a planned gift to support the Museum. The University of Missouri's Museum of Art and Archaeology can be named as the beneficiary of your retirement account. This gift option may provide significant income tax and estate tax benefits. Permanent life insurance policies may also be donated to the University on behalf of the Museum of Art and Archaeology. You generally will obtain the greatest tax benefits by naming the Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Missouri as both the owner and beneficiary of the gifted policy.

Depending on your financial situation and needs, other planned giving options are available and may be preferred.

A charitable gift annuity is a simple, contractual agreement between the University of Missouri and a donor in which assets are transferred to the University on behalf of the Museum of Art and Archaeology in exchange for life payments. Payments can be for one or two persons. Rates are based on age. After the annuitant's lifetime the remainder is available to be used by the Museum as specified by the donor.

When donors transfer cash or other assets to a charitable remainder trust, these funds are invested, and quarterly income from the trust is paid to the donor or to others chosen by the donor. When the trust is terminated, the remaining funds are transferred to the Museum.

The University of Missouri’s Pooled Income Fund is similar to a mutual fund. This fund allows gifts to be "pooled" with those from other donors, and prorated shares of the fund’s earnings are distributed to all donors. After a donor’s lifetime, the remainder of his or her interest in the fund is transferred to the Museum.
A retained life estate allows donors to contribute their home to the University on behalf of the Museum while continuing to live there. Through the University, the Museum becomes the sole owner of the property either when donors choose to move from their home or after their lifetime.

Staff in the University's Office of Gift Planning and Endowments can work with you to ensure you receive maximum financial and tax benefits from your support of the Museum.

Gifts of Art
The Museum of Art and Archaeology welcomes gifts of art to improve its collections. In order to maintain the high standards of the collections, and in order to serve as a responsible steward of the collections it holds in trust, the Museum will accept only works of artistic, aesthetic or archaeological significance which advance the Museum's mission, fit within its collecting and programmatic scope, and for which the Museum can provide appropriate levels of management and care. The Museum of Art and Archaeology and the Board of Curators of the University of Missouri has the right to refuse gifts or bequests.

Donors interested in giving collections to the Museum of Art and Archaeology should contact the Museum in advance, if practical, to determine whether the work or works fit the Museum's current needs, interests, and capacities. The Museum does not generally accept conditional or restricted gifts. Donors warrant to the University and to the Museum of Art and Archaeology that they hold and can pass good title of the work or works of art to the Museum of Art and Archaeology.

Under certain circumstances donations of art may be accepted as commodities intended for sale or other disposition rather than for inclusion in the Museum's collections. If it is likely that the Museum might sell a gift in two years or less, the Museum or University should discuss this possibility with the donor to make them aware of potential tax implications. In cases of bequests of objects which do not fit the needs or scope of the Museum, for which the Museum cannot provide appropriate care, or which do not otherwise meet the standards for acquisition of objects, the Museum or the University of Missouri may ask the executor or administrator of the donor's estate to sell the asset and remit proceeds to the Museum, or to the University of Missouri for the use and benefit of the Museum of Art and Archaeology.

The Museum of Art and Archaeology condemns the destruction of the archaeological record by the looting of sites and illicit import and export of antiquities. In accordance with the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Export, Import and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, the Museum of Art and Archaeology will not knowingly acquire antiquities or ethnographic objects of art exported in violation of the relevant laws obtaining in the countries of origin, if such export took place after the UNESCO Convention of 1970.

Full information regarding the Museum's acquisitions policies is available in the Museum's Collections Management Policy and Institutional Code of Ethics.