Irish woman left €500,000 to non-existent charity
Howard Lake | 10 January 2013 | News
The Irish Commissioners for Charitable Donations and Bequests has had to step in to adjudicate on a significant charitable bequest after money was left to a charity that did not operate in Ireland.
The Commissioners for Charitable Donations and Bequests decided that €500,000 would be split between two animal charities in Limerick, after a women who died in Dublin in 2011 left the money to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals which operates in England and Wales.
Limerick Animal Welfare (LAW) and the Limerick Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (LSPCA) were the two animal charities to receive the money. Ms Burke ran a stud for many years.
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The power to settle Cy-Pres Schemes (as near as possible to the intentions of the original donor) without monetary limit has been vested in the Commissioners since 2002.
Elizabeth Burke, of Ailesbury Road, Dublin, left an estate valued at €12.3 million, €7 million of which went to Barretstown House, a charity that provides recreation activities for sick children. She also donated €500,000 to the Irish Georgian Society.
www.charitycommissioners.ie
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.