Also known as: promoting health · promote health · health promotion · public health promotion
Written by attorneys — see sources 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.
Charles B. Henry, a resident of Winchester, Virginia, died testate on April 23, 1949. His will dated April 21, 1949, was admitted to probate and the Shenandoah Valley National Bank of Winchester qualified as the designated executor and trustee. Subject to two inconsequential provisions, Henry's entire estate valued at $86,000 was left in trust to be known as the Charles B. Henry and Fannie Belle Henry Fund. The trustee was directed to invest and reinvest the estate, collect the income, and on the last school day before Easter and before Christmas each year divide the net income into equal parts and pay one part to each child then enrolled in the first, second, and third grades of the John Kerr School in Winchester, with the payments to be used by each child in the furtherance of his or her education. The John Kerr School is a public primary school with an enrollment of approximately 458 pupils. If the school were discontinued, payments would be made instead to children in the same grades of any successor school or schools as determined by the Winchester School Board. The trustee was granted broad power and discretion to retain, sell, invest, and reinvest estate assets as it deemed in the best interest of the trust. Henry left no children or near relatives. His heirs and distributees upon intestacy were first cousins and more remote kin. One next of kin filed suit against the executor and trustee challenging the trust provisions. The bill alleged that the trust did not constitute a charitable trust and was invalid because it violated the rule against perpetuities. Other heirs joined the suit and sought to have the trust declared void with the estate distributed among the next of kin. The cause was heard on the bill and a demurrer filed by the executor and trustee. The demurrer was overruled and decrees were entered adjudicating the principles of the cause. From those decrees this appeal was awarded.
View caseElena 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.
Charles B. Henry, a resident of Winchester, Virginia, died testate on April 23, 1949. His will dated April 21, 1949, was admitted to probate and the Shenandoah Valley National Bank of Winchester qualified as the designated executor and trustee. Subject to two inconsequential provisions, Henry's entire estate valued at $86,000 was left in trust to be known as the Charles B. Henry and Fannie Belle Henry Fund. The trustee was directed to invest and reinvest the estate, collect the income, and on the last school day before Easter and before Christmas each year divide the net income into equal parts and pay one part to each child then enrolled in the first, second, and third grades of the John Kerr School in Winchester, with the payments to be used by each child in the furtherance of his or her education. The John Kerr School is a public primary school with an enrollment of approximately 458 pupils. If the school were discontinued, payments would be made instead to children in the same grades of any successor school or schools as determined by the Winchester School Board. The trustee was granted broad power and discretion to retain, sell, invest, and reinvest estate assets as it deemed in the best interest of the trust. Henry left no children or near relatives. His heirs and distributees upon intestacy were first cousins and more remote kin. One next of kin filed suit against the executor and trustee challenging the trust provisions. The bill alleged that the trust did not constitute a charitable trust and was invalid because it violated the rule against perpetuities. Other heirs joined the suit and sought to have the trust declared void with the estate distributed among the next of kin. The cause was heard on the bill and a demurrer filed by the executor and trustee. The demurrer was overruled and decrees were entered adjudicating the principles of the cause. From those decrees this appeal was awarded.
View caseThe 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.
Supporting sources
…the private sexual lives of single persons." 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…