Enforcement of Charitable Gifts by Donors

Iris J. Goodwin (Associate Professor, University of Tennessee College of Law) has recently published her article entitled Donor Standing to Enforce Charitable Gifts: Civil Society vs. Donor Empowerment, 58 Vand. L. Rev. 1093 (2005).

Here is the summary of the article as provided on Lexis:

The cat is out of the bag: Donors are fast discovering what was once a well-kept secret in the philanthropic sector – that a gift to public charity donated for a specific purpose and restricted to that purpose is often used by the charity for its general operations or applied to other uses not intended by the donor. … The question of donor standing to enforce a restricted gift to public charity is no mean matter. … To return to the particulars of the current law with respect to donor standing, nearly all the modern American authorities – decisions, model acts, statutes, and commentaries – deny a donor standing to enforce a restricted gift to public charity absent express retention of a reversion in the donative instrument. … The UMIFA provision is likely to provide that in a proceeding to release or modify a restriction imposed by a gift instrument, brought by a charity, notice need be given to the attorney general but not to the donor. … Not only did Mr. Smithers not retain a reversion, but the court concedes that New York statutory law (Article 8-1 of the Estates Powers and Trusts Law) designates the Attorney General as representative of undesignated beneficiaries of a charitable trust.