A public charity is an entity that is nonprofit, which has a primary purpose to provide assistance or service benefitting an indefinite portion of the public other than the nonprofit's own membership. In addition to philanthropic organizations and foundations, a few examples of public charities include nonprofit hospitals, universities and schools, churches, social service providers, museums, cultural organizations, and youth sports organizations.
Charities provide vital services in our communities.
They also enjoy certain benefits due to their tax exempt status, and assume certain obligations as a result of those benefits. The Attorney General's responsibility to represent the public interest in the proper use and solicitation of charitable funds includes the authority to take steps, including lawsuits, to ensure that charities are meeting donors' expectations, that charitable donations are not diverted or wasted, and that charities are acting as responsible stewards of their assets. The Attorney General's authority includes protecting the public from both fraudulent or deceptive fund-raising practices and the misapplication of donated funds. In addition, the Attorney General has authority to ensure that charity officials fulfill their fiduciary duties of loyalty to the charity and of due care in properly seeing that the charities carry out their mission. The Attorney General is also a party to lawsuits involving the probate of estates in which there is a charitable interest, lawsuits to modernize the provisions of charitable bequests, and proceedings brought in the Supreme Judicial Court to wind up the affairs of a charitable corporation.