I think the key question is whether the money would counterfactually have been available for another purpose. OCB half-implies it wouldn’t have been by saying that buying the property fulfiled an obligation to the donor, but then I’m confused by the claim “we retain the underlying asset”. If EVF holds the asset subject to an obligation only to use it as a specialist conference centre, it’s unable to realise the value. On the other hand, it would seem surprising if the donation was made on the condition that it must be used to buy the building, but then EVF could do whatever it liked with it (including immediately reselling it).
If EVF is in fact able to resell the building now, then the argument that it was an ear-marked donation is weak, because EVF is making a decision now to hold the asset rather than sell it to raise funds for other EA causes.
I think the key question is whether the money would counterfactually have been available for another purpose. OCB half-implies it wouldn’t have been by saying that buying the property fulfiled an obligation to the donor, but then I’m confused by the claim “we retain the underlying asset”. If EVF holds the asset subject to an obligation only to use it as a specialist conference centre, it’s unable to realise the value. On the other hand, it would seem surprising if the donation was made on the condition that it must be used to buy the building, but then EVF could do whatever it liked with it (including immediately reselling it).
If EVF is in fact able to resell the building now, then the argument that it was an ear-marked donation is weak, because EVF is making a decision now to hold the asset rather than sell it to raise funds for other EA causes.