Donors Increasingly Seek to Impose Restrictions on Gifts to Colleges
The Wall Street Journal earlier this week published a rather interesting article that detailed an increased effort by large donors to colleges and universities to impose greater restrictions on the uses to which their gifts may be put. Not surprisingly, the article also describes the angst that this is causing college administrators and development officers.
Indeed, perish the thought that a generous benefactor might wish to assure that his or her family's hard earned wealth be put to uses of which the family might approve, or at least not disapprove. In a fit of pointing out the obvious, the Journal author observes that
Campus fund-raising officials far prefer unrestricted gifts, which they can use for pressing needs such as repairs and power bills.
Very inspiring, indeed. Evidently there are also concerns over "academic freedom," which is the usual rallying cry when the university poo-bahs think that the hoi polloi (I mean, alumni) are encroaching on their sacred turf. Heaven forbid that those who keep these institutions running entertain the thought that they should be allowed to have some input as to what an appropriate mission for the institution might be. It seems that those who run and teach at our colleges and universities become more isolated from the real world every day, and they are increasingly hostile to those of us who inhabit that world (witness, for example, Dartmouth's recent moves to assure that its alumni no longer elect independent trustees). I would, without question, advise any clients who are thinking of making a major gift to a college or university to structure the gift in a way to give them maximum control over the uses to which the gift may be put. This might not please the development officer looking to pay a power bill, but it will certainly help to assure that the family's vision for its legacy is honored and respected.
