# A pledge too far

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/1998/01/24/pledge-too-far/
- Published: 1998-01-24T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago is suing two donors who pledged a $5 million
donation but who failed to hand over the money.
Paul and Camille Oliver-Hoffman 
had argued that their letter of intent was not contractually binding. Nonprofits
do from time to time contest the estates of donors who pledged gifts but who did
not deliver in their Will, but this is one of the first times that a nonprofit has
brought a suit against a living donor. It is all a result of a change in US accounting
regulations which requires nonprofits to record pledges as income.

See also [Nonprofit Sues Trying to Enforce Board Member’s Pledge](http://www.nptimes.com/marfro1.html)
by Matthew Sinclair in the Nonprofit Times (March 1998).

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