Big Bequests: Burdens or Blessings?

By Leslie Lenkowksy

The $1.5-billion gift to the Salvation Army made by the late Joan Kroc, widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, was just the most recent in a growing list of super gifts that have been made by wealthy philanthropists in the past few years. Instead of using their assets to endow grant-making or community foundations, these donors have decided to give large amounts directly to charities whose work they admired.

Yet, as the Salvation Army has candidly acknowledged, the pros-pect of so much