The Conscience Fund is one of three gift funds maintained by the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

and is used for voluntary contributions from people who have stolen from or defrauded the

United States Government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

. The fund was created in 1811 and received US$5 during its first year and over US$5.7million during its first 175 years. The fund's name comes from a letter sent during the Civil War from a former

Quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land army, armies, a quartermaster is an officer who supervises military logistics, logistics and requisitions, manages stores or barracks, and distri ...

in the Army to then-

Treasurer of the United States The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as the custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage pr ...

Francis E. Spinner with a US$1500 check for previously misappropriated funds saying, "Suppose we call this a contribution to the conscience fund and get it announced in the newspapers, and perhaps we will get some more". Donations given to the Conscience Fund vary in size and reason. A 9 cent donation was made by a person from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

who had reused a 3 cent

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

, while a person from

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

sent US$40,000 in several installments for US$8,000 he had previously taken. Another donor sent handmade quilts in an effort to settle her tax bill. Most gifts to the Conscience Fund are from anonymous donors. Others are forwarded by clergy who have received deathbed confessions. The sincerity of some donors' repentance can be uncertain, as demonstrated by a received letter reading, "Dear Internal Revenue Service, I have not been able to sleep at night because I cheated on last year's income tax. Enclosed find a cashier's check for $1,000. If I still can't sleep, I'll send you the balance." Due to the fund's association with ill-gotten monies, some people object to having the funds they return associated with the fund. An example of this is when then-President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

and his Cabinet volunteered to reduce their pay in 1932 and instructed the Treasury to place the returned salary in the General Fund instead of the Conscience Fund. Donations to the Conscience Fund are not tax deductible, although gifts to the U.S. Treasury through the U.S. Fund are.

References

{{reflist Taxation in the United States United States Department of the Treasury