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Donor intent at Yale
In an article in today's Yale Daily News, president Richard C. Levin discussed the Bass gift debacle, when the University was forced to return a $20 million gift in 1995. He said, "The main lesson learned from Yale's return of Lee Bass's gift in 1995 is that we must be diligent in complying expeditiously with the specified terms of a donor's gift. It was a painful and embarrassing episode for me and for the University, and we have since made major improvements to the processes we use to ensure good stewardship of any restricted gifts that we do accept."
This is a good start. However, the buck ultimately stops with the Yale Corporation. They--and the trustees of every other university in their roles as fiduciaries--should be closely monitoring large gifts. ACTA recommends that boards supervise incoming restricted gifts to ensure that all funds are spent responsibly and in accordance with the donor's wishes. Furthermore, a reasonable threshold should be set by each board above which gifts would receive continued oversight.
Posted by Noah Mamis on February 23, 2010 at February 23, 2010 06:08 PM
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