Agreement creates a $950 million fund for nonprofit children's health programs in Delaware
The Alfred I. duPont Charitable Trust, The Nemours Foundation and the states of Delaware and Florida announced on Oct. 2 a grantmaking fund that commits $950 million over 11 years. Its grants are to include at least $237.5 million for Nemours' Delaware initiatives.
Wilmington. Nonprofit programs for children's health in Delaware will have a new grant maker, the Alfred I. duPont Charitable Fund for Delaware's Children, under an agreement announced in Wilmington on Oct. 2. The agreement among the Alfred I. duPont Charitable Trust, The Nemours Foundation and the states of Delaware and Florida commits $950 million over 11 years to the health and well-being of the state's children.
The trust, Nemours and the office of Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced it together. Ms. Jennings said her office had worked for roughly 50 years, through seven attorneys general in two states, to carry out the bequest Alfred I. duPont left to Delaware's children.
How the fund will work
The new fund is a grantmaking arm for nonprofit programs focused on children's health and well-being in Delaware. It will be governed by a committee of directors: three appointed by the trust and one appointed by the governor of Delaware.
Its grantmaking will continue beyond the $950 million, 11-year commitment, according to the announcement, and will include at least $237.5 million for Nemours' Delaware initiatives. The announcement does not say when the fund will begin making grants or how nonprofits will apply.
A trust with a long history
The trust was established in 1935 from Mr. duPont's estate. Its sole qualified beneficiary is The Nemours Foundation, which operates Nemours Children's Health, and since 1980 the trust has distributed more than $5 billion to the foundation. Nemours describes itself as one of the nation's largest multistate pediatric health systems, with two free-standing children's hospitals and more than 80 primary, specialty and urgent care practices. Delaware Business Now reported that the hospitals are in Jacksonville, Fla., where Nemours has its headquarters, and outside Wilmington.
The agreement ends a lengthy legal dispute filed in Delaware over the terms of the trust, Delaware Business Now reported. According to The News Journal of Wilmington, Mr. duPont's 1932 will directed that his money establish a charitable health institution giving "first consideration" to Delaware's children and low-income seniors, and since 1971 the trust has been the subject of lawsuits, appeals and settlement talks over whether that priority was being followed.
Over the years, Delaware attorneys general argued that too little of the trust's money went to Delaware's children, as a 1980 settlement among the trust, Nemours and the state required, while Nemours executives said they were meeting the intent of the will, the paper reported.
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