New Charity Will Help Donors Manage Use of Their Gifts

The John William Pope Foundation, the Marcus Foundation, and the Templeton Foundation are expected to announce the creation of a nonprofit group, the Center for Excellence in Higher Education, that will help donors attach legally enforceable strings to their gifts, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Recently, several universities have become embroiled in high-profile disagreements with donors’ descendants over the institutions’ use of gifts. After Randolph College, in Lynchburg, Va., asked a local court to decide if it can sell paintings purchased with money bequeathed by Louise Jordan Smith, a group led by Ms. Smith’s descendants argued that the sale does not honor her intent to create a permanent collection. Similar situations have unfolded at Fisk, Princeton, and Tulane universities, among others.

Frederic Fransen, executive director of the new center, which will maintain headquarters in Indianapolis, says the group is advising donors who this year will give about $50-million to higher education, and eventually the group hopes to direct several hundred million dollars worth of gifts each year.

“Anybody who trusts a university on a handshake is a fool,” says Charles Harper, the Templeton Foundation’s senior vice president.

Robert Kreiser, senior program officer with the American Association of University Professors, says that group is “very worried” about the tighter conditions on gifts. “It raises basic questions about academic freedom and institutional autonomy,” he says.