The Immortality of a Vision
Throughout history, more people have fought and died on behalf of governance structures than about anything else. They often made this choice because they believed in the vision their governance structure claimed to represent—but what ensures that vision does not drift?
Throughout his life, despite being wealthy, Jonathan Holdeen went without. Until his death in 1967, he cooked in tin cans instead of pots, broke up produce crates to be burned as fuel in the winter, and even trimmed the hole-ridden sleeves from old sweaters, converting them into vests he would defiantly wear until they, too, fell apart.[[42]](#_ftn42)
Holdeen saved so fastidiously in order to execute a visionary plan. He created a fund designed to grow forever until it reached a size capable of covering all the government expenses of the state of Pennsylvania, making Pennsylvania the first tax-free state. He had never lived in Pennsylvania, but picked the state as an homage to Benjamin Franklin, who had had a similar idea.[[43]](#_ftn43)
Holdeen discussed this plan with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boston, which agreed to support it. In exchange for being the conservator of this plan, they would even receive a portion of the fund’s income every year. Given the Unitarian Universalist Church’s reputation and the legal protections he put in place, Holdeen believed his legacy was in good hands.[[44]](#_ftn44)
Of course, good men don’t matter in an organization run by governing structures in which leadership can change. The Unitarian Church eventually decided the amount the fund was paying them every year wasn’t enough—they wanted all its income—so they used the courts to take it. They presented the ridiculous argument that the fund would otherwise grow so large it would pose a danger to global stability.[[45]](#_ftn45) The courts agreed to give the church $1,000,000 of the $20,000,000 fund annually.[[46]](#_ftn46) While it could have ended right there, even that wasn’t enough for them: They went so far as to attack Holdeen’s daughter, who had managed the trust (and in whose hands the trust outperformed the Dow Jones and Standard & Poor’s stock averages),[[47]](#_ftn47) suing her for mismanagement, self-dealing, and fraud in an attempt to get even more money ($12,000,000 more). They kept suing her until she was 84 years old—almost 30 years after Holdeen’s death. The lawsuits were so regular she made a point of attending the Philadelphia flower show on her regular court visits and was able to brighten up her legal trips with visits to the floral extravaganza about eight times (early on, she would bring a friend, but then the Unitarian Church “got snotty about it” and she had to go alone).[[48]](#_ftn48)
Jonathan Holdeen had created a similar fund for Hartwick College. This story has a slightly happier ending. Hartwick College didn’t liquidate the money at least—or sue his children; they just kind of forgot about it. If you go to the school’s website today, there is no mention of Mr. Holdeen, no building named after him, no scholarship named after him, no park bench—not even a luncheon despite his fund paying the college around half a million dollars a year. The money now just goes to pay “annual expenditures related to our physical plant”— essentially things like water bills and groundskeeper carts.[[49]](#_ftn49)
Despite his long suffering, lofty goals, and lawyers’ hand wringing about his plan destroying society, Jonathan Holdeen now lies dead, almost completely forgotten, with dashed ambitions.
The moral of this story is that no matter what an organization tells you, no matter what they claim to believe, it can only be trusted as far as its organizational structure. This story is critical to remember whether you are designing the governing structure of a family office, a country, nonprofit, or a religion. If you have long-term plans that extend past your death, understanding governance is critical. The fidelity of your dreams cannot be defended by a trustworthy person or clear mission statement—only your governance structure has the power to shield and perpetuate a legacy.
Even if you merely want to live a peaceful, happy, moderately productive life, you had better learn to navigate the hectic world of governance, within which we have no choice but to live.