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by skissane 801 days ago
> You can argue that the giving of a gift is a final act, that the gifted item belongs to the recipient now, and that since you're morally free to do whatever you want with what belongs to you, you are free to do with the gift as you please, including tossing it out.

Gifts/donations can be conditional, subject to conditions. If someone donates $1 million to a university to fund scholarships for disadvantaged students, and the university instead decides to spend it all on first class air travel for university executives, that would in many jurisdictions be illegal (a breach of trust).

If someone donates an item to a museum, I would say the museum has at least a moral obligation to contact the donor and ask them if they want to take it back before throwing it out.