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Whose Public?: Parochialism And Paternalism In State Charity Law Enforcement, Evelyn Brody

Evelyn Brody

This piece was inspired by the increasing tendency of State attorneys general – backed up by courts and legislatures – to effectively confiscate the assets of wealthy nonprofits through overreaching enforcement actions. The article develops a legal framework for ascertaining the proper State role. It reviews many case studies including, most notoriously, the thwarted diversification of the Milton Hershey School Trust out of Hershey Foods Corporation (an investment worth over $5 billion) – thereby preserving the local operations of a publicly traded company. While few state attorneys general have the funding and inclination to engage in aggressive charity enforcement, the …