WASHINGTON

UNIVERSITY

LAW

QUARTERLY

Volume

XXIV

DECEMBER,

1938

Number

1

THE

CHARITABLE

CORPORATION

AND

THE

CHARITABLE

TRUST

THOMAS

E.

BLACKWELLt

I.

INTRODUCTORY

The

past

thirty

years

or

more have

witnessed

a

vast

increase

in

the property

and

funds

held

by

educational,

philanthropic,

and

other

charitable

institutions

in

this

country.

Statistics

in

this

field

are

difficult

to

assemble,

but

incomplete

estimates

indi-

cate

the

magnitude

of

the

problem. According

to

a

survey

made

in

this

field

in

1932 by Wood,

Struthers

&

Company

of

New

York,

"the

fact

that

philanthropy's

trustees

have

a

responsibility

of

monumental

size

may

be

grasped

by

examining

the

following

exhibits

* *

*"I

'

Philanthropies

Property

and

Endowment

Religion

------------------------

$3,839,500,000.00

Higher

Education---

..............

2,815,000,000.00

Hospitals

------------------.-------------

1,400,000,000.00

Foundations

----------.--------

1,000,000,000.00

Organized

Charity

---------------

239,000,000.00

Total

-------------------------------

$9,293,500,000.00

It

is

a

matter

of

common

knowledge

that

the

majority

of these

great

institutions

and foundations

are

corporations-charitable

corporations.

In what

capacity

do

these

corporations

hold

their

funds-as

technical

trustees,

subject to

all

the restrictions

and

f

Ph.B.,

University of

Chicago,

1921;

M.S.

in

B.A.,

Washington

Univer-

sity,

1925;

J.D.,

1938;

Comptroller of

Washington

University.

1.

Trusteeship

of

American Endowments

(1932)

6.

According

to

the

Office

of

Education

of

the

United

States

Department

of

the

Interior,

insti-

tutions

of

higher

education,

in

1934,

held

physical

property

and

permanent

funds

totalling

$3,792,605,030.00.

Of

this

amount,

$1,472,946,354.00

repre-

Nented

endowment

funds.

Statistics

of

Higher

Education,

19.3-34,

Bien-

nial Survey of

Education

in

the

United

States

(1932-34).