Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

Naming gifts are so ubiquitous in philanthropy that I fear we’ve lost all ability to analyze them objectively, let alone offer a critique.

In our just-concluded workshops on planned giving we examined the folly of trying to control one’s legacy with financial gifts.  Private schools, universities, symphonies, hospitals, rescue missions, and charities of all types fall all over themselves to recognize major benefactors with very public naming gifts.  Presumably, the donor hopes to secure a legacy through such a gift—in other words, for a monetary exchange, they hope to control what people remember about them.

Setting aside some very important questions about whether this practice is commendable, it seems fair to ask, does it really work?

Quick: without consulting Wikipedia, tell me what you know about Leland Stanford?  John Harvard?  Leroy Purdue?  They may have been great guys, they may have been terrible guys, but a generation or two passes and who really knows?

A few years ago here in Los Angeles, a man named Louis Galen made a large donation to USC to help them build a basketball arena.  In recognition, Galen’s name was carved in stone on all sides of the building, in addition to the larger-than-life bust, the oil painting of the Galens, the bronze commemoration plaque, and the dozen framed and matted photos of the Galens lining the halls.  Seems like a lot of effort to try to secure a legacy, but how long will this building even last?  50 years?  100?  150?

Remember, the city of Los Angeles wasn’t incorporated until 1850, 159 years ago, and you can probably guess how many buildings remain standing from that date.  Further, we live in a time when sports arenas are declared obsolete after well under 100 years of use.  The New York Yankees moved into a new stadium this year replacing the “house that Ruth built”, which opened in 1923.  The new Dallas Cowboys stadium replaced Texas Stadium, which was built in 1971.  The Minnesota Twins and Vikings are desperate to vacate the Metrodome, built in 1982!

So, by the most optimistic of estimates, we can expect the USC Galen Center to last maybe 100 years.

This all pales in comparison to the Biblical teaching that we are participating in an eternal narrative, one that began with the creation of the universe and in which our actions are influenced by the saints who have gone before, and in turn will impact generations to come until the day of Christ Jesus, should he tarry.