Any family considering a “private foundation” should do so only after significant thought has been given to the charitable goals the foundation is supposed to undertake as well as a the level of commitment the family willing to bring to the table. It’s a lot of Money Many well-informed practitioners have recommended to their clients [...]
An interesting argument by William Drennan in the Alabama Law Review, proposing a limit by with the name of a charity can be modified. It starts and makes reference to one of my favortte examples of testamentary excess, Leona Helmsley's gift to the dog world. People put their names on all kinds of things, [...]
The Financial Times notes a new book out by Ray D. Madoff called “Immortality and the Law” which is about the ever-increasing rates of dead people to control the rights of the living. Of course, people cannot take their property with them. However, it does seem nonsensical that individuals have a wide range of obligations to [...]
A recent report from Barclay's Wealth (PDF) addresses the concerns of wealthy philanthropists, and why they may be less so. There is a study on why it is those that donate do so. The top reason, "I can afford to." Religious beliefs came in at number 10 (though it came in on top as an "internal motivator." The [...]
I recently spoke in Chicago on building endowments for Islamic Schools. Its not an easy subject and in fact, many schools would not be able to set up an endowment as they are too new or too small or do not have enough of a donor base. Before delving into the issue, you want to [...]
Last Friday we had a wonderful series of programs at the Muslim Community Association in Santa Clara, CA. The programs focused on Waqf, or the endowment bulding process as well as the 1/3 rule in Islamic Inheritance. It also included a brief introduction to Islamic Inheritance. On Saturday, we had a program called "Islamic [...]
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