The Robertson Foundation

 

Incorporated as a private charitable foundation in 1961 with a donation of $35 million – or 700,000 shares – in A&P stock from Charles and Marie H. Robertson, the Robertson Foundation has a unique and specific mission.

 

According to the Foundation’s Composite Certificate of Incorporation, the sole purpose of the Robertson Foundation is to “strengthen the Government of the United States and increase its ability and determination to defend and extend freedom throughout the world by improving the facilities for the training and education of men and women for government service.” In pursuit of this, the Foundation’s money was to be used to “establish or maintain and support [at Princeton University, as part of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs] a Graduate School, where men and women dedicated to public service may prepare themselves for careers in government service, with particular emphasis on the education of such persons for careers in those areas of the Federal Government that are concerned with international relations and affairs.”

 

While Princeton University officials claim the Robertson Foundation’s charter is broader than what is clearly stated in the Composite Certificate of Incorporation, years of correspondence between Charles Robertson and the University, and Charles Robertson and his children, shows that Mr. and Mrs. Robertson wanted – and expected – the Foundation’s money to be used only for the purpose specified in the Certificate of Incorporation.