Also known as: charitable purposes · charitable intent
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A purpose that qualifies a trust or other disposition of property as charitable.
Marie transferred farmland and cash to Dakota as trustee with directions to make low-interest loans to local farms and care for working animals. Horizon Livestock objected that the loans would benefit only selected private operators. The court determined that the arrangement qualified as created for a charitable purpose because it advanced community-wide agricultural interests rather than private gain.
A settlor transferred two million dollars to Stone Trade to subsidize retail leases for artisans on Main Street. After online commerce emptied the corridor, South Commerce asked the court to redirect funds to online platforms. Because the trust instrument stated no particular charitable purpose or beneficiary, the court selected a purpose consistent with the settlor's intent to sustain artisan enterprise in the community.
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Highland Builders held construction assets in trust to subsidize low-cost housing in one Boston neighborhood. New zoning barred that housing type and left only thirty-five thousand dollars after redevelopment. The court found the original purpose impossible to achieve and terminated the trust without reversion to the settlor.
Stone Trade continued paying one hundred eighty thousand dollars annually to subsidize empty Main Street stores. South Commerce petitioned to redirect the remaining corpus to online artisan support. The court applied cy pres and directed the assets in a manner consistent with the settlor's charitable purposes after finding the original purpose wasteful.
Bob Jones University maintained racially discriminatory policies while claiming tax-exempt status as an educational institution. The IRS revoked the exemption. The Supreme Court held that an organization must serve a valid charitable purpose in addition to falling within a statutory category to qualify for tax benefits.
Senator Bacon devised land for a park limited to white children only, with an express statement that the property could never be used for any other purpose. After the racial restriction was held invalid, the Supreme Court refused to apply cy pres because the will showed the testator had no general charitable intent beyond the specific unlawful purpose.
A charitable trust may be created for the relief of poverty, the advancement of education or religion, the promotion of health, governmental or municipal purposes, or other purposes the achievement of which is beneficial to the community.
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If the terms of a charitable trust do not indicate a particular charitable purpose or beneficiary, the court may select one or more charitable purposes or beneficiaries consistent with the settlor's intention to the extent it can be ascertained.
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If a particular charitable purpose becomes unlawful, impracticable, impossible to achieve, or wasteful, the trust does not fail and the property does not revert to the settlor. The court may instead apply cy pres to modify or terminate the trust by directing the property in a manner consistent with the settlor's charitable purposes.
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The settlor of a charitable trust, among others, may maintain a proceeding to enforce the trust.
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…Bacon provided an unusual amount of information in his will from which the Georgia courts could determine the limits of his charitable purpose. Immediately after specifying that the park should be for “the sole, perpetual and unending, use, benefit and enjoyment of the white women, white girls, white boys and white children of the…