Our international acquisition committee meets three times each year to decide which proposed donations will be accepted.

If you wish to make a donation offer, please contact the associate director of the collection in writing.

When a donation offer is received, preliminary discussions with the associate director of the collection or with curators will establish:

a. whether the proposed gift is relevant for the mandate of our collection and can therefore be brought to the Acquisition Committee;

b. whether shipping arrangements are required;

c. whether a tax receipt is required (for Canadian donors only. For donors in the USA, other arrangements can be made);

d. whether a request should be presented to the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board (for Canadian donors only);

e. whether an external evaluation is required. This is the case when the value of a proposed item exceeds $1,000, or when the total value of a donation exceeds $5,000. External evaluations are carried out at the donor’s expense, and are only possible for Canadian donors.

Once brought to the CCA, the proposed gift will be evaluated by our staff and presented to the Acquisition Committee. The acquisition process takes about three months. We thank you for your patience.

If the committee accepts the donation, we will ask the donor to sign a deed of gift, transferring ownership to the CCA. After we have received the signed deed of gift, we can issue a tax receipt, if appropriate. This is possible for Canadian donors only. If the committee does not accept the donation, we will contact the donor to make arrangements for its return.

Please note that in accordance with the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Code of Ethics for Museums, the CCA does not offer financial appraisals or valuations of objects to the general public.

This page was last updated 2 May 2017.