A court order has the Maddox Trust moving back to Tennessee. Here is the full article as published in the Tennessean:

March 28, 2008
Maddox trust back in action in Tennessee

Probate judge OKs steps for new board of directors

Staff Reports

The Dan and Margaret Maddox Charitable Trust is officially restored in Middle Tennessee after a Davidson County Probate Court judge approved several moves late Wednesday.

Judge Randy Kennedy has approved a nominating committee that will recommend a new board of directors to the trust, according to a statement released by the district attorney’s office.

The Maddoxes died in a boating accident in January 1998. Shortly after, one of the foundation’s directors moved the Trust from Tennessee to Mississippi.

Davidson County District Attorney General Torry Johnson filed a civil lawsuit in August 2004 after concerns about the foundation’s spending. Johnson sued using a little-remembered provision of the law that gives prosecutors oversight over nonprofit organizations.

The case was ultimately settled in May 2007. This agreement resulted in the recent transfer of $55 million in assets to the Middle Tennessee Trust.

The Internal Revenue Service agreed to the settlement last year, ending a three-year, tug of war between Mississippi and Tennessee over the Maddox Foundation and its $100 endowment. Under the agreement, Tennessee would get $55 million and Mississippi got to keep the rest.

The five people on the Trustee Nominating Committee are: Lewis Lavine, head of the Center for Non-Profit Management in Nashville; Howard Gentry, former vice mayor and CEO of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce Public Benefit Foundation; Kay Simmons, former executive director of the Nashville Alliance for Public Education and current president of Greenways for Nashville, who has also served with numerous non-profit organizations; Brenda Wynn, community outreach director for Congressman Jim Cooper, and J.D. Elliot, president of the Memorial Foundation of Nashville.

Under the agreement, the trust will benefit charitable, religious, scientific, literary and/or education purposes. The trust has to take into consideration causes that were of interest to the Maddoxes: making a difference in the lives of young people and the conservation of wildlife resources.

The trust will only make grants to organizations whose principal place of business is in Middle Tennessee or whose principal activity is to be performed in Middle Tennessee.

Local charities have been waiting for the foundation’s return so they can apply for funding.

Categories: Nonprofit News
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