Also known as: promoting health · promote health · health promotion · public health promotion
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A recognized charitable purpose consisting of activities that improve or maintain the physical or mental well-being of an indefinite class of persons. The purpose must confer a public benefit rather than primarily advance private interests.
Patrick Phan created an irrevocable trust directing income to subsidize elective procedures at his private rural clinic for repeat patients only. The trustee approved funds exclusively for those patients, with any remainder reverting to Phan's estate. The state attorney general challenged the trust as noncharitable because the beneficiary class was too narrow and tied to a single for-profit facility.
Phuong Pham funded a trust to plant trees and shrubs solely inside the fenced grounds of her manufacturing plants. The trustee spent all income on those private buffers, which reduced some pollution but offered no public access or visible benefit to neighbors. An environmental group sued, arguing the arrangement served only the company's image and property value.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Elena Soto created a trust to fund free wellness screenings at multiple public clinics serving low-income neighborhoods. The trustee distributed income only to those clinics, which served an indefinite and shifting class of residents. The attorney general confirmed the trust qualified because the benefit was public rather than private.
The trust must serve the promotion of health for an indefinite class of persons and produce a genuine public benefit. Limiting distributions to repeat patients of one private clinic or to the settlor's own facilities typically fails this test because the benefit is too narrow or primarily private.
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No. Although cosmetic services can affect well-being, a trust that restricts benefits to repeat patients of one private facility and allows reversion to the settlor's estate is viewed as conferring private benefits rather than serving a charitable purpose under § 405(a).
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Landscaping qualifies only when it produces measurable public benefits such as reduced community-wide pollution or accessible green space. Exclusive use on fenced private factory grounds with no public access or visible community effect renders the trust noncharitable.
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The court examines whether the purpose benefits an indefinite class and serves the community rather than private interests. A directive to fund wellness programs for city residents satisfies the test because the class is broad and shifting. A directive limited to one company's employees or facilities does not.
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…the private sexual lives of single persons."[^maj-3] The Court of Appeals, for reasons that will appear, did not consider the promotion of health or the protection of morals through the deterrence of fornication to be the legislative aim. Instead, the court concluded that the statutory goal was to limit contraception in and of…