#76 | Why are charities increasingly at odds with their major donors? Part One

Hugh Culverhouse, Jr. recently explained in an Washington Post op-ed that the University of Alabama returned his $26.5 million gift after he voiced his opinion about the state’s recent abortion bill. Some would say that were it not for this particular divisive issue, such things wouldn’t happen.

I beg to differ. This isn’t the only dispute over a mega-donation in the headlines. Thomas Pearson and his brother Timothy Pearson are suing the University of Chicago to recoup $22.9 million. Last year, major donors to UNLV rescinded a $14 million gift after the president resigned.

With increasing regularity, nonprofit organizations seem to be at odds with their major donors. Rather than draw my own conclusions about what’s happening, I enlisted some other voices. Today’s podcast begins a two-part conversation about the UAB-Culverhouse story with two guests who are a lot closer to the story than I - Randy Kinder, former Executive Director of Annual Giving at UAB, and Daphne Powell, Director of Donor Relations at Birmingham Southern College.

If you’d like to download my four frameworks, click here.