Connecticut General Statutes 45a-535c – Appropriation for expenditure or accumulation of endowment fund. Factors in making a determination to appropriate or accumulate. Rules of construction
(a) Subject to the intent of a donor expressed in a gift instrument, an institution may appropriate for expenditure or accumulate so much of an endowment fund as the institution determines to be prudent for the uses, benefits, purposes and duration for which the endowment fund is established. Unless stated otherwise in a gift instrument, the assets in an endowment fund are donor-restricted assets until appropriated for expenditure by the institution. In making a determination to appropriate or accumulate, the institution shall act in good faith, with the care that an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would exercise under similar circumstances and shall consider, if relevant, the following factors:
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 45a-535c
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Donor: The person who makes a gift.
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- Person: means an individual, corporation, statutory or business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, court, government, governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality, public corporation or any other legal or commercial entity. See Connecticut General Statutes 45a-499c
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and includes an Indian tribe or band recognized by federal law or formally acknowledged by a state. See Connecticut General Statutes 45a-499c
(1) The duration and preservation of the endowment fund;
(2) The purposes of the institution and the endowment fund;
(3) General economic conditions;
(4) The possible effect of inflation or deflation;
(5) The expected total return from income and the appreciation of investments;
(6) Other resources of the institution; and
(7) The investment policy of the institution.
(b) To limit the authority to appropriate for expenditure or accumulate under subsection (a) of this section, a gift instrument shall specifically state the limitation.
(c) Terms in a gift instrument designating a gift as an endowment or a direction or authorization in the gift instrument to use only “income”, “interest”, “dividends” or “rents, issues or profits”, or “to preserve the principal intact”, or similar words:
(1) Create an endowment fund of permanent duration unless other language in the gift instrument limits the duration or purpose of the fund; and
(2) Do not otherwise limit the authority to appropriate for expenditure or accumulate under subsection (a) of this section.