There have been many cases where people have given large sums to colleges with specific uses in mind, only later to find out that school officials have used the money for other purposes.
In today’s Martin Center article, George La Noue advises people to be extremely careful in their giving to colleges and universities. He writes, “Savvy donors need to think carefully before entering into endowment agreements, which are difficult to change before death and virtually impossible after death. Several questions need to be answered. First, since money is fungible, will the donor’s gift simply replace a routine institutional expenditure, creating no net gain for the program being supported? Second, is the activity likely to be preserved in the long term as programs, student interest, and curricula constantly change? Third, and most important, will the institutional values once known and cherished endure?”
Prospective donors should not think about how the old alma mater was back in their student days and think about what it is like now. Old values may well have been discarded and replaced with a host of new, “progressive” ones that aren’t at all appealing. Christianity may have been expunged and critical race theory elevated.
Rather than just writing a check, invest wisely with strings attached, for programs you can monitor.
La Noue concludes, “If you decide not to bequeath money for uncertain causes or institutions, take the hard next step and explain your thinking to those who might expect to be recipients. Otherwise your silence will be the sound of one hand clapping, and there will be no awareness that at least some donors no longer regard the recipient as congruent with their values, or as trustworthy.”