Even for the beneficiaries, charity sales can be a mixed blessing. “As curators, we are so grateful for donations,” says Schimmel, who helped solicit works for the Phillips auction. “But there is always a sense of remorse that these things are not going to come to MOCA’s collection.” Schimmel adds that he encourages MOCA patrons to buy at the sales in hopes that the art will eventually be donated back to the museum.

Despite the grumbling, these fund-raisers are lifelines for small arts organizations. “Some people are critical of collectors who feed on these charitable events, but they contribute to the bottom line of the nonprofits,” says the art adviser Cristin Tierney, who is president of the board of the Lower East Side Printshop, which for 40 years has provided new and established artists with studio space, printmaking facilities, training, support and exhibitions. Its last benefit sale raised $150,000, nearly 20 percent of its yearly operating budget. Tierney says simply, “Charity auctions help keep our doors open.”

"Charity Cases" originally appeared in the August 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's August 2008 Table of Contents.