Support Painter's Folly with a Financial Gift

What happens to a landmark this important when the government that owns it can no longer afford to keep it?

The Painter's Folly Preservation Alliance was founded in the summer of 2025 to help answer that question. Increasingly, the answer we hear from neighbors, art lovers, and history buffs alike is some version of: "How can I help? Can I just donate?"

The honest answer is more interesting than a simple yes or no. Because Painter's Folly isn't privately owned — it belongs to Chadds Ford Township — a donation to save it doesn't work like a donation to a typical nonprofit. It works like a donation to your local government. That comes with its own rules, its own paperwork, and its own protections. This post walks through exactly how that process works, so that when you're ready to give, you know what you're actually signing up for.

From Public Purchase to Public Question

Chadds Ford Township bought Painter's Folly in 2018 through its Open Space program, with the goal of preserving it and eventually opening it to the public. Since then, the Township has run a pilot artist-studios program, pursued grant funding, and held public meetings in 2024 and 2025 to gather resident feedback. But preserving a 170-year-old landmark is expensive, and by the summer of 2025, the Township began weighing a public sale of the property — potentially by auction.

That prospect is what brought our Alliance together. We have spent the past year documenting the property's architectural history, ownership records, and archival materials, with the goal of finding an established nonprofit, government agency, school, or other institution willing to take ownership and keep the house accessible to the public. Individual donations are part of that effort too, which is where the legal questions come in.

Can You Just Write a Check?

Not exactly — but the Township does have clear legal authority to accept your gift, and to make sure it's spent the way you intend. As a Second Class Township under Pennsylvania law, Chadds Ford's power to accept donations for Painter's Folly comes from two sections of the Second Class Township Code (Title 53 of Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes).

The first is Section 1541, which specifically covers historical property. It authorizes the Board of Supervisors to "acquire by purchase or by gift, repair, supervise, operate and maintain ancient landmarks and other property of historical or antiquarian interest," and to make appropriations to nonprofits organized for the same purpose. Pennsylvania courts and municipal practice read "gift" here to include monetary donations earmarked for repairing, supervising, operating, and maintaining a landmark — not just gifts of the real estate itself.

The second is Section 1503, the Township's general corporate powers over property. It allows the Board to "purchase, acquire by gift, hold, lease, use and manage, sell and convey real and personal property" in the Township's best interest. Under Pennsylvania law, money counts as personal property. This section gives the Township the standing corporate authority to accept your cash donation in support of a piece of real property it already owns.

Where Your Money Actually Goes

Accepting the gift is only half the story. Because public funds require transparency, the Township uses two more sections of the code, Section 1502 (Current Expenses) and Section 1702 (Budgets), to place accepted donations into a restricted, line-item category in the general ledger, earmarked specifically for Painter's Folly. That structure exists precisely so your donation can't quietly get absorbed into the Township's general operating budget. If you give money for Painter's Folly, it legally has to stay tagged for Painter's Folly.

The Paperwork Behind a Handshake

Here's the part that surprises most people: the Board of Supervisors can't simply deposit a check you hand them. Under the Second Class Township Code, accepting a gift requires a public process. The Board must add the donation to an upcoming public meeting agenda and vote on a formal Resolution to Accept a Gift. That resolution is what actually directs the funds into the restricted ledger category earmarked for Painter's Folly preservation.

In short, three things have to happen, in public, before your donation becomes usable:

The Board exercises its corporate power to accept the gift, under Sections 1503 and 1541. The Board votes on it at a public meeting, per Section 603. And the Board legally segregates the funds from general revenue, per Section 1702. Local governments handle the second and third steps at once through a single Board Resolution — the standard tool for this exact situation.

The One Catch Worth Knowing

None of this means the Board is obligated to say yes. The Second Class Township Code gives the Board of Supervisors final discretion over whether to accept any given gift. If a donation arrives with restrictions the Township doesn't have the staff to administer, or if it would commit the Township to an indefinite financial burden it can't sustain, the Board has the legal right to decline it.

In practice, this is less a warning than a reason to give thoughtfully. A donation offered in good faith, without complicated strings attached, and routed through the process above is exactly the kind of gift the code was written to accommodate.

What This Means If You Want to Help

Painter's Folly's future is still being written. Whether it ends up in the hands of a museum, a school, a preservation nonprofit, or continues under Township stewardship with community support, individual donations remain one of the clearest, most legally straightforward ways for a neighbor to have a direct hand in the outcome. If you'd like to contribute, the next Board of Supervisors meeting is the place to start that formal, public process.

The story of Painter's Folly has always been about people who saw more in this house than its neighbors expected. Its next chapter depends on people willing to do the same.

*This information is provided for general awareness and is not legal advice; we are not lawyers. Anyone considering a donation should consult Chadds Ford Township directly or their own legal counsel with questions about the process.