The name of this blog is Legacy Matters. And, in our experience, legacy does in fact matter to the clients of Warner Norcross + Judd’s Private Client and Family Office Group when it comes to charitable giving designed to reflect the values and causes they care about most. For many, charitable giving is not simply a matter of generosity — it’s an expression of deeply held principles and long-term goals that might even outlive them. Whether supporting higher educational institutions, community initiatives, religious organizations or cultural nonprofits, our clients frequently seek to attach meaningful conditions to their gifts to ensure their intent is carried out faithfully over time.
However, today’s ever shifting legal and political environment is making that objective more complex.
The Challenge of Changing Regulatory Frameworks
In recent years, both federal and state administrations have introduced or reinterpreted legal restrictions that affect how various charitable institutions —particularly those supported in part by government funding — can spend their capital, including private donor funds. One notable example was the Trump administration’s recent guidance to federally funded higher education institutions that scholarship awards could not be based on certain characteristics such as race or sex. While such policy positions may vary significantly over time from one administration to the next, the trend reflects an increasingly dynamic and sometimes unpredictable environment where donor intent may run up against legal restrictions.
This creates a difficult position for recipient institutions: Honor a donor’s intent and potentially risk noncompliance — or comply with evolving legal standards and potentially violate the terms of a gift. For donors, it raises the real risk their philanthropic contributions may not be used in the way they envisioned, particularly when significant time has passed from the time the gift was made until the potential legal conflict arises.
Planning for the Future
We anticipate these types of tensions will continue — and may grow more even complicated — in the years to come. This evolving landscape makes it essential for philanthropists to consider not only what causes they want to support, but also carefully structure their charitable gifts to withstand competing pressures over time.
The good news is these challenges are manageable — with proper planning. Careful drafting, clarity of intent and various legal mechanisms can help donors, and potentially their heirs or designees, retain greater influence over how their gifts are used. In many cases, creative legal structuring can provide both flexibility for recipients and enforceability for the donor’s wishes.
