Considering Donor Intent: The Robertson v. Princeton Case

The Robertson v. Princeton donor rights case is examined by Neal Freeman, chairman of the Foundation Management Institute, in this new publication from the Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal at the Hudson Institute. Princeton paid the Robertson family $100 million to settle the lawsuit, which charged that the university diverted proceeds from their $35 million 1961 gift (grown to $930 million by 2007) to purposes they did not intend. Freeman’s remarks are followed by comments from ten philanthropy watchers, including CRC president Terrence Scanlon and CRC senior fellow Martin Morse Wooster, with rejoinders by Freeman.