NYC charity that gave $25M to CUNY sues to get its money back

A New York City charity that donated $25 million to the City University of New York a decade ago wants its money back, claiming in a lawsuit filed on Friday that the school reneged on an agreement to use the cash to build a new community college facility.

The Stella and Charles Guttman Foundation — started by the late New York businessman Charles Guttman in 1959 — made the donation in 2013 with the agreement that CUNY’s New Community College in Midtown would be renamed after the Guttman family, and eventually would be moved to a new, permanent location to house more students. The donation was one of the largest ever given to a two-year college in the U.S.

The school was renamed Stella and Charles Guttman Community College, but the lawsuit alleges CUNY broke its contract with the charity by declining to build a new campus for the school.

The charity wrote in the lawsuit that $15 million of its donation was tied to the new facility through an endowment fund. The lawsuit requests that money be reimbursed to the charity, plus interest — for a total of $21 million.

“The agreement gives the foundation the right to the refund of the entire balance of the Success Fund, including any additional principal from income or realized gains, if CUNY fails to begin construction of the new GCC facility within 10 years of the date of the agreement,” the lawsuit said.

A spokesperson for CUNY said the school does not comment on pending litigation. The attorneys representing the foundation did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

According to the Guttman Foundation’s website , much of its philanthropy focuses on the improvement of educational programs for children and youth in low-income neighborhoods. The 2013 “investment” to CUNY was made to assist community college graduates in the CUNY system get their degrees, the website states.

This story was updated with a response from a CUNY spokesperson.