Donor Intent Case Settlement Announcement

A settlement has been announced in the Robertson family’s important donor intent lawsuit against Princeton University.

From the CRC website:

Robertson v. Princeton
A settlement has been announced in the Robertson family’s important donor intent lawsuit against Princeton University. Princeton will give Robertson Family Charities $100 million rather than face trial over the family’s charges that it ignored the wishes of their parents, Charles and Marie Robertson, whose gift of $35 million in 1961 was intended to prepare students for careers in government service. The case is the largest donor intent settlement ever. CRC senior fellow Martin Morse Wooster says the case shows that donors must be very careful in making gifts that will continue over decades. He warns that “universities can and will exploit every available loophole to divert a gift to causes they prefer.” However philanthropy watcher Neal Freeman stresses that Princeton’s six-year war of attrition against the Robertson family failed. “The next time a nonprofit executive is seized by larcenous impulse it may be necessary only to whisper in his ear the magic word, ‘Princeton.'”