Lead Stories

In 1944, George G. Averill conveyed 330 acres of land in Kennebec County, ME, now known as Camp Bomazeen, to himself and others as trustees to be used as a camp for the Boy Scouts of America.  The deed allowed the trustees to sell any or all of the property with written consent of the local council of Boy Scouts and provided that the proceeds of the transaction “shall be used for the purposes and under the conditions” of the trust deed.

The value of assets held in donor advised funds throughout the nation rose nearly 10% in 2023, from $228.9 billion in 2022 to $251.5 billion in 2023, reflecting the significant increase in market value of investments during the year.  (The S&P 500 Index was up 26.3% for the year.). But the total value of contributions to DAFs dropped more than 21% from $75.9 billion in 2022 to $59.4 billion in 2023.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that an Accountable Care Organization providing benefits to private parties as a “substantial” part of its activities is not eligible for exemption as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization.  The ruling is the first modern appellate court ruling rejecting the claim that an organization can qualify for (c)(4) status so long as its “primary” activity is promoting the public good. 

A commercial loan between a bank trustee of a charitable trust and the charity that is the beneficiary of the trust is presumptively fraudulent without clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, an appellate court in Illinois has ruled.  The Court has reversed a trial court decision authorizing the bank to proceed with an action to collect on the note and granted the charity’s motion to rescind the note for breach of fiduciary duty.

Penn State University has been prohibited from proceeding with an internal investigation of the conduct of a University trustee without advancing his legal expenses.  A trial court in Pennsylvania has held that the trustee falls clearly within the protections required by the indemnification provisions of the University’s bylaws and has rejected the University’s defenses in part because they were “specious.”

A trial judge in New York has banned former Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre from serving in any fiduciary capacity with the National Rifle Association for the next 10 years, but has refused to appoint a monitor to review the operations of the organization as had been requested by New York state Attorney General Letitia James.  The Court has asked the parties to agree on lesser enforceable remedies to assure that future operations are compliant with the law.