[MassHistPres] Bank accounts for hist comm

[Wayne Beitler]

Hi Connie –

I think the way to go may be for the town to set up a gift account to accept donations for some reasonably specific public project.

An outside friends group (or a non-profit if charitable donation tax deductions are a concern) could do fundraising, solicit donations, sell t-shirts, etc., and donate the proceeds into the gift account.  Money in the municipal gift account would have to be spent for a public purpose (restoring publicly-owned books or objects, interpretive signage, historic inventories, etc.).  This really only makes sense for things or activities that are pretty clearly in the care and custody of the town to be used for the benefit of the general public.  If these things or activities aren’t really benefiting the general public a non-profit historical society would be the better avenue for the fundraising and the spending.

In Easton, for example, we have four municipal gift accounts that accept donations from groups and individuals for: the Agricultural Commission (primarily the community garden); Conservation Commission trail work; restoration of one town-owned monument (the Rockery, a memorial cairn honoring war dead); and rebuilding one park (Swift’s Park).  The non-profit Easton Historical Society has a museum and conserves and restores historic documents, antiques, etc.

So if there’s some reasonably narrow publicly beneficial project – restoring town hall’s historic murals, conserving vital records from the early 1800s, inventorying the town’s historic resources – then a municipal gift account for a fairly specific purpose could make sense.  Otherwise a (possibly revitalized or reconvened) historical commission or friends group, like in Brimfield, could be the better path.

My two cents from my local experience, anyway. Good luck!

Wayne

Wayne Beitler
Community Planner
136 Elm Street
Easton, MA 02356
(508) 230-0645
www.easton.ma.us<http://www.easton.ma.us/>

From: MassHistPres <masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu> On Behalf Of Dennis De Witt via MassHistPres
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2026 6:21 PM
To: augiedef at charter.net
Cc: MHC MHC listserve <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Bank accounts for hist comm

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At one time Brookline also had such a friends group, partly funded by funds from book publications.  I don’t know how active it is now.

Dennis De Witt


On Apr 27, 2026, at 2:51 PM, augiedef--- via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu<mailto:masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>> wrote:

Hi Connie,

I live in Brimfield. Several people in town, including a former Historical Commission member, created a non-profit Friends of Historic Brimfield (https://fohbrimfield.org<https://fohbrimfield.org/>) for the purpose of fundraising and supporting the Commission’s historical projects.

Mike DeFalco


From: MassHistPres <masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu<mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu>> On Behalf Of Connie Hellwig via MassHistPres
Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2026 1:43 PM
To: Masshistpres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu<mailto:masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>>
Subject: [MassHistPres] Bank accounts for hist comm

Hello everyone - Our Historical Commission would like to have an online fundraising platform to raise funds for our conservation efforts, i.e., 19th century book conservation, antiques restoration, etc. Our financial director has told us we cannot have our own bank account or online fundraising via PayPal or gofundme, etc. Have any of you managed to obtain a bank account for your Historical Commission?

Connie Hellwig
Chairman
Salisbury Historical Commission
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