Giving Compass' Take:

• Apollo magazine discusses the nature of naming rights for museums, as well as the transparency required for donors in the arts space in the wake of the Sackler family's Purdue Pharma scandal.

• Is there an imbalance with naming rights? This piece suggests enacting a law that donors who insist on naming rights in perpetuity shouldn't be entitled to the same tax benefits as those who agree to only limited-duration rights.

• Should museums reveal the sources of their donations? This article tackles the issue.

With art institutions under intense pressure due to cuts in public funding, philanthropic giving from the private sector has become an essential lifeline. But, as ever more aggressive fundraising strategies are employed, norms are being questioned and power is constantly shifting. Are we getting the balance right between increasing demands for transparency and commercial reality?

The furor around the Sackler family, a name that has become synonymous with philanthropic activity, neatly encapsulates the dilemma and highlights the risks that are faced by institutions reliant on a single, private-sector donor. Critics have called on recipients to stop accepting donations from those branches of the family (specifically, the families of the late Mortimer and Raymond Sackler) that control a large stake in Purdue Pharma, a company that has been implicated in the opioid crisis in the US. Some are even urging them to return previous funding.

It is imperative that institutions worldwide review their position on naming rights and the due diligence they conduct when receiving and commemorating philanthropic donations ...

If an individual wants publicity and an organization is willing to provide it for cash, the public has a right to ask who the donor is and where their cash has come from. Tainted donations will always be detrimental to the publicly minded ideals that museums are supposed to uphold. Institutions can only avoid being judged if they themselves apply judgment.

Read the full article about museum naming rights by Tanya Tikhnenko at apollo-magazine.com.