Nantucket Atheneum Inc

“As allowed by accounting principles generally accepted in the united states of america and following the practices of many museums, the atheneum has not capitalized its collection of items of historical nature and other related objects purchased or donated. The collection is held for public exhibition, education, or research in furtherance of public service rather than financial gain. The atheneum continually reviews its collection and may deaccess or acquire additional items. Expenditures for additional collection items are presented as a reduction in the appropriate class of net assets.”

“The atheneum has a large collection of materials about nantucket island, including books, pamphlets, newspapers, logbooks, letters and even an historic collection of books that were read by patrons over 100 years ago. The atheneum actively collects new publications as well as out of print items. Nantucket titles with over 700 titles and growing, from de crevecour's 1782 description of the island in letters from an american farmer to nat philbrick's in the heart of the sea, the atheneum strive's to maintain the best collection of printed material about the island and its inhabitants. Historic newspapers the collection of nantucket newspapers dates back to 1816, the year of the publication of the nantucket gazette and continues today with nantucket's weekly newspaper the inquirer and mirror. Thirty-six of the newspapers existed in the interim. The atheneum preserve's original copies of these papers. Historic newspapers from 1816 through 2013 have been digitized and are available to the public on-line. Manuscript collection the atheneum has a small but important collection of ship's logs, journals, letters and other documents relating to nantucket.”

“The atheneum's endowment consists of individual donor restricted funds established for a variety of purposes. Its endowment includes both donor restricted endowment funds and funds designated by the atheneum to function as endowments. As required by generally accepted accounting principles, net assets associated with endowment funds are classified and reported based on the existence or absence of donor-imposed or legal restrictions. As required by generally accepted accounting principles, the atheneum classifies as donor restricted net assets (a) the original value of gifts donated to the permanent endowment, (b) the original value of subsequent gifts to the permanent endowment, and (c) accumulations to the permanent endowment made in accordance with the direction of the applicable donor gift instrument at the time the accumulation is added to the fund. The remaining portion of the donor-restricted endowment fund that is not classified as non-expendable net assets is classified as expendable net assets until those amounts are appropriated for expenditure by the atheneum in a manner consistent with the standard of prudence prescribed by state law. In accordance with the uniform prudent management of institutional funds act, the atheneum may consider the following factors in making a determination to appropriate or accumulate donor-restricted endowment funds: the duration and preservation of the fund; the purposes of the atheneum and the donor-restricted endowment fund; general economic conditions; the possible effect of inflation and deflation; the expected total return from income and the appreciation of investments; other resources of the atheneum; and the investment policies of the atheneum. The atheneum has adopted investment and spending policies for its board-designated and other endowment assets that attempt to provide a predictable stream of funding for its programs while seeking to maintain the purchasing power of the endowment assets. Under this policy, as approved by the board, the endowment assets are invested in a portfolio of debt and equity securities with the objective of achieving long-term capital appreciation while moderating the level of investment risk. Actual returns in any given year may vary from this amount. To satisfy its long-term rate-of-return objectives, the atheneum relies on a total return strategy in which investment returns are achieved through both capital appreciation (realized and unrealized) and current yield (interest, dividends and net rental income). The atheneum has invested in debt and equity securities that target a diversified asset allocation that places a greater emphasis on equity-based investments to achieve its long-term return objectives within prudent risk constraints. The atheneum has a policy of appropriating for distribution each year 5.0% of the three-year average fair market value of the endowment calculated as of june 30 for the three years preceding the year in which the distribution is planned. In october 2015 the board approved a four year budget calling for appropriation in excess of this amount for investments to improve the atheneum's financial position. In establishing this policy, the atheneum considered the long-term expected return on its endowment. This is consistent with the atheneum's objective to maintain the purchasing power of its endowment.”