Will Lapse Help the Salvation Army?

When H. Guy Di Stefano died in July 2006, he left his estate valued at more than $260 million equally to eight charities.

One of the charities, Greenpeace International, ceased to exist in 2005.  One of the other charities, the Salvation Army, claims that the gift to Greenpeace lapsed and that its share should be divided among the remaining charities.

On the other hand, Greenpeace Fund claims that it is a successor organization and that via an application of cy pres, the gift originally destined for Greenpeace International should be saved for it. 

The other six beneficiaries are letting the Salvation Army “do the dirty work” of challenging the Greenpeace Fund’s claim to the gift.

See Stephanie Strom, Salvation Army Unit Seeks to Gain More of a Huge Gift, NY Times, Feb. 3, 2007.

Special thanks to reader “WW” for bringing this case to my attention.