Federalization of the Law of Charity

To this day, the law of charity is often thought of as a matter for the states. In fact, the crucial law relating to charity is now almost always federal. For certain purposes, state law still determines whether a given entity is "charitable." It also determines the propriety of a charitable fiduciary's conduct when someone who has standing sues. But federal law determines whether an entity qualifies for various tax incentives, such as exemption from the federal income tax and eligibility to receive tax-deductible gifts, and qualification for these incentives generally determines whether the entity comes into existence and, if so, whether it survives.

Federal law also wields a bewildering array of draconian penalties against both charities and their fiduciaries for failure to comply with federally specified rules of behavior. This Article examines both of these and other ways in which federal law has essentially taken over the law of charity. The point is not whether federalization of the law of charity is good or bad. The point is simply this: During the last century, Congress and the federal courts federalized the law of charity.