Legal Question in Administrative Law in Pennsylvania

can a donation be returned to an organization

my daughter was invited to go the the Domician Republic to play softball this summer. Along with her, 3 other girls from her high school were also invitied to go. All signed up. Donations were sought by my husband and I through local VFW and American Legions and a business. The 3 other girls have backed out going, so the organization running this trip transferred what was donationed to the other girls to my daughters account. Now after much consideration my daughter doesn't want to go becasue there is no one going she know. So far we have a total of $675 in her account that was donated. The trip costs about $3000. Now that she has decided she doesn't want to go for that reason, this organiztion states no refund will be made to these organizations. They said it stated in the paperword that the first $740 is non-refundable. I have no paperwork that states that out of what I received. Since she is not going are we liable to pay back this money to the local organizations that donated the money. I would be appreciated if you could give me an answer asap. Thanks.


Asked on 2/07/08, 7:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Gibson John W. Gibson, Esquire

Re: can a donation be returned to an organization

Whether the money should be refunded to the donors depends on whether or not the donations were considered conditional gifts or completed gifts.

The question of whether the organization is obligated to return the money is a matter of contract. If the organization running the trip already has the money, then it is unlikely that it will be refunded voluntarily and the amount is so small that I don't think civil litigation is much of an answer. However, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office Consumer Protection Division may be willing to take a look at the situation.

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Answered on 2/09/08, 1:06 pm


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