Chateauroux Fellowship Claims to Connect Billionaires with Christian Ministries
Secretive group recently hosted event at Mar-a-Lago, has committed billions to Christian organizations
If the plan of the Chateauroux Fellowship and its director Christian Thomas Lee comes to pass as promised, it would likely be the largest philanthropic initiative aimed at Christian ministries in American history. 
According to the group’s own website, the Fellowship has committed at least $5 billion in future bequests to dozens of Christian groups. But so far MinistryWatch has not been able to determine that any of the groups have received funds, though many of the hopeful recipients have spent thousands of dollars in travel and lodging to attend meetings and dinners with Lee.
The Chateauroux Fellowship is, according to the organization’s website, “an exclusive, private, and by-invitation-only fellowship of individuals who have networked together for over thirty years for the sole purpose of leveraging their circles of influence to draw attention to, and realize major legacy gifts for, highly select nonprofit organizations in the United States and overseas.”
Further, the website proclaims, “On May 22, 2024, we surpassed $300 million in total support for the organizations we love and support. In the remainder of 2024, and through the end of 2025, we have secured and will be committing an additional $300 million+ in planned gifts to the nonprofits we support.”
However, according to its own website, it has already far exceeded its goal. More than $5 billion in future bequests have already been announced on the Chateauroux website.
“Bequests and “planned gifts” seem to be the key words here. None of the ministries contacted by MinistryWatch have so far received any funds. They have, rather, received notification that their organizations will get a bequest from an anonymous billionaire (or billionaires) at an unspecified future date, presumably upon the benefactor’s death. However, other than assurances from Christian Thomas Lee, the ministries do not appear to have received any legally binding documents confirming these bequests will occur.
On the other hand, dozens of Christian organizations sent letters acknowledging the bequests and some of these letters appear on the Chateauroux Fellowship website. Some of the Christian ministries that have received commitments — but no funds — from Chateauroux Fellowship include:
- Grace To You, the ministry of John MacArthur. A letter from Executive Director Phil Johnson to Christian Lee said: “On behalf of Grace to You, John MacArthur, and our entire staff, I want to express our profound gratitude for the extraordinary generosity of the anonymous donor who arranged a legacy donation of $1.5 billion to our ministry.” The letter concludes, “I’d love to meet you someday if the opportunity ever arises.”
- Ashland University. The amount of the announced bequest was redacted from a letter from Ashland President Jon Parrish Peede to Lee. An earlier posting placed the amount of the bequest to Ashland at $1 billion.
- Grace Community School. The amount of the bequest to this Tyler, Texas, Christian school is unknown. However, a letter posted on the Chateauroux Fellowship website from Jay Ferguson, Head of School; Blake Luce, Board President; and Carl Hamm, Senior Director of Advancement, called the bequest “transformational.”
- The Association for Christian Schools International. The amount of this announced gift is also unknown. A letter from ACSI President Larry Taylor and ACSI Board Chair Todd Marrah to Christian Lee described the “two legacy bequests” as the “most generous acts of kindness and support ACSI has ever experienced.” ACSI is the largest association of Christian schools in the nation, with annual revenue of $43 million.
- Back To Back Ministries thanked Chateauroux Fellowship for its $10 million “gift” to serve orphaned and vulnerable children.
- Care Center. This Loveland, Ohio, organization thanked “Christian and the Chateauroux Fellowship” for the “extraordinary legacy gift of $10,000,000 bequeathed to the Care Center.” The letter was signed by Executive Director Greg Knake.
- Council on Educational Standards and Accountability (CESA). This association of 90 Christian schools thanked “Mr. Lee and the Chateauroux Fellowship” for the “extraordinary bequest you have given us.” The size of the gift was not included in the letter from CESA Executive Director Kathryn Wiens and Board Chair Julie Ambler.
Again, MinistryWatch was not able to identify that any of these bequests, or any others announced on the Chateauroux website, had so far been fulfilled.
Who Is Chateauroux’s Director, Christian Thomas Lee?
The biography of Christian Thomas Lee on the Chateauroux Fellowship website claims he was a top classical guitarist with more than “2,000 performances and five recordings to his credit.” This biography says he retired “from the international concert circuit in the 1990s after a final 90-date four-month concert tour in Austral-Asia culminating in a sold-out performance in Canberra’s Llewellyn Hall at the Australian National University.” A representative of Llewellyn Hall told MinistryWatch “we don’t have records on performances that far back.”
The biography also claims he is a collector of fine art “and his personal collection, acquired from Sotheby’s and other international auction houses, includes original works by Rembrandt, Renoir, Picasso, Faberge, and others. The collection also includes old master engravings, impressionist works, American and European historic documents and antiquities.”
However, for someone with such a prolific performance and recording career, he has left a remarkably thin digital footprint. Christian Thomas Lee has no Wikipedia listing, though Amazon does have one album by “Chris Thomas Lee” on its site. It’s a collection of standards, including “Greensleeves,” “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” and “Amazing Grace.”
The few newspaper accounts online mostly relate to presentations Lee has made in schools about the importance of art. His website biography says, “Every year, his personal collection of fine art travels extensively to public and private schools where it is shared with children. Over 80,000 children have experienced Christian’s nationally recognized and award-winning application of Art and History in Schools.”
In 2006, Lee was a “Point of Light” recipient, an award given by the Points of Light Foundation established by President George H.W. Bush. The award cited Lee’s work in schools, but the Points of Light organization said it had no record of any verification of Lee’s claims. A spokesperson for Points of Light told MinistryWatch in an email, “Unfortunately we are unable to provide detailed records this far back.” She added in a subsequent email, “Today, our process for the Daily Point of Light honorees involves a review of information submitted by their nominator, a review of digital channels and records, as well as direct communication with honorees to confirm their service details.”
The Chateauroux Fellowship website lists 14 pieces of art that Lee has donated to The Museum of the Bible, and one piece of artwork to the Guggenheim Museum. MinistryWatch asked the Museum of the Bible if it received these gifts. It acknowledged that it “received them all and they are not currently displayed, and that a full investigation of their provenance has never been executed as we have not determined their final disposition.”
Inquiries to the Guggenheim went unanswered.
Access to MinistryWatch content is free. However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts. To make a donation, click here.
An Evening of Note
One of the key activities of Lee and the Chateauroux Fellowship seems to be events called “An Evening of Note.”
According to Lee’s personal website, he assists nonprofit organizations with “fundraising” or what he calls “friend raising” events. The website explains:
Inspired by the great composer Franz Shubert’s parlor salon and held on behalf of the nonprofit organization with an average audience size of 50 invited guests no less than 47,760 people have attended one of 995 of Christian’s unique ‘Evenings of Note’ in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Mexico. These exclusive and private and by-invitation only evenings are held in homes and estates and include a showing of original fine works of art from The Christian Thomas Lee Collection of Fine Art.
These claims are impressive. They are also difficult to verify. However, some quick math renders the claim of 995 events implausible. If Lee held one event every week of the year, it would take nearly 20 years to hold 995 events.
A recent “Evening of Note” took place Nov. 19, at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Approximately 140 people attended the event. The printed invitation for the event included these words: “This Evening In Honor Of The Mission & Vision Of Moms For America.” The invitation also said, “There is no charge to attend & there will be no solicitation of funds.”
Those in attendance confirmed to MinistryWatch that there was no “hard ask” for funds, but it was made clear where you could go if you wanted to give to the group. Kimberly Fletcher, the founder and president of Moms for America, made a short presentation during the program. MinistryWatch reached out repeatedly to Kimberly Fletcher for a comment, but she has so far failed to respond.
It is not clear who paid for the event. Publicly available information suggests that a dinner at Mar-a-Lago typically costs about $250 per person, which would put the cost of this Evening of Note at about $35,000.
A Commitment to Secrecy
Christian Lee is clear with the ministries involved that they should not talk publicly about the work of the Fellowship.
When MinistryWatch started reporting for this story, Lee sent an email to ministry leaders who planned to attend the Mar-a-Lago Evening of Note that read in part:
I have received word that a reporter with Ministry Watch (www.ministrywatch.com) by the name of Warren Smith is calling organizations with whom Chateauroux Fellowship has a relationship. He is asking inappropriate questions with respect to our relationship with you. He has clearly expressed intent to write a story about our work. We have petitioned him not to do so as such publicity in the public domain does not help us and he has refused. There is always the possibility of litigation post-publishing, so I want to ask you to steer very clear of him and the organization with which he is associated.
I want to remind you that Chateauroux Fellowship has an unbending policy of not engaging media of any kind at any time. Should Warren call you or email you, I would ask that you politely decline and not engage him in anything Chateauroux Fellowship related. To do so would be inappropriate.
We have not been able to fully ascertain his motivations but reports from organizations he has called describe him “looking for dirt” and “asking totally inappropriate questions that if we were to answer would violate our donor confidentiality standards.”
Finally, many of you are my personal guests for the upcoming Evening of Note (www.aneveningofnote.com) at Mar-a-Lago this coming Tuesday evening, November 19. We have found out, and have confirmed, that Warren Smith will be in Palm Beach while I am there. He has been banned from Mar-a-Lago and he will be staying at the Marriott Courtyard Palm Beach Airport. He may try to arrange a meeting with you or seek you out while he is there. Should he make contact with you, I again ask that you politely decline discussing any matters related to Chateauroux Fellowship.
What Philanthropy Experts are Saying
Christian charity experts interviewed by MinistryWatch were not enthusiastic about the approach of the Chateauroux Fellowship.
Fred Smith founded The Gathering in 1985 as a small networking circle to provide support, peer accountability and support, and share best practices in Christian philanthropy. This small circle of high-capacity givers evolved into one of the largest and most powerful groups of its kind. Its annual, invitation-only event conference often attracts more than 500 people. He is now considered one of the “wise men” of Christian philanthropy in the United States.
Smith agrees that the level of commitment by the Chateauroux Fellowship patrons is unprecedented. “I have heard of a number of large gifts to Christian organizations in the past but nothing at this scale.”
Smith is skeptical of Chateauroux Fellowship’s approach. He believes such promises may be distractions to ministry leaders, and — at worst — may “influence decisions about the present and the future” of the organization receiving the bequests.
He says the level of secrecy here is cause for concern. “This is an unusual anonymous gift because it…draws attention to Christian [Thomas Lee] and creates even more [interest] about the donors. There is a difference between true anonymity and being mysterious. Genuine anonymity is to be applauded but anonymity that attracts attention is not. This seems to be the latter.”
Smith also expressed incredulity regarding the sheer size of these bequests, some of which exceed $1 billion. He said the size could create a negative impact. One Christian school leader told MinistryWatch that potential disruptions include teachers who might demand raises and parents who wonder why tuition can’t be lowered. Other donors might wonder if they are needed.
All of this causes Smith to conclude: “I would always recommend a gradual approach. That is healthier for both parties.” He said big gifts that are truly transformative are “more often than not” made after years of preparation and due diligence and a history of smaller gifts. “Big gifts, like the Annenberg, Gates, and Zuckerberg gifts to reform public education were wasted more often than not.”
Are The Patrons Real?
The biggest unanswered question regarding the Chateauroux Fellowship is simply this: Are there really any billionaires standing behind the commitments of Christian Thomas Lee?
Lee himself will not divulge the identity of the patrons, even on background, but in the course of reporting for this story, someone who claimed to be one of the patrons reached out to MinistryWatch. He identified himself only as “B” and described himself as a “Founding Patron” of the Chateauroux Fellowship. He sent a nearly 1,800-word email in which he claims to be one of 26 patrons. He further asserts:
Our Director, Mr. Lee, determines amount to be gifted to these organizations. He alone makes that determination. We, the Patrons, then respond and as a first step, we are making private legacy bequests. We are entertaining some careful potential legacy cash gifts but we are also watching the current model unfold and looking for any friction that might threaten such cash gifts to exposure – like unwanted media attention, such as you have indicated you will be doing.
The email also criticized MinistryWatch’s reporting efforts, saying that our questions of the ministries for additional information would ask “the organizations with whom we have a relationship to engage in conduct so bankrupt of ethics that I would suggest to you that if any organization did do what you asked of them, it would result in litigation for which they would be the defendant – and you, a co-defendant.”
The threat of possible legal action is reiterated later in his email:
I suspect, given what I have been briefed about concerning you by our Counsel and after a brief perusal of your website, ministrywatch.com, that your motivation is not positive and we anticipate that should you go forward with an article, that it would not be of reputational benefit to Chateauroux Fellowship. For this we are prepared.
You can know that any media exposure of our work would do damage to us and to our efforts. This is something to which there would be a response. It would damage our position in the marketplace…even if such an article were positive. It is the position of Chateauroux Fellowship that any organization that approaches us for funding is an automatic decline and further, that organization is permanently placed on a permanent no funding list. You can see this policy clearly on our website. Should you write an article that results in organizations contacting the Fellowship for possible funding, we will inform each of those organizations that we will not and cannot support them and will make clear that the position we are taking is compliments of Ministry Watch and compliments of you, personally. Likewise, if you write an article that damages the Fellowship in the public domain and causes us to lose relationships with organizations or executives, whether those relationships are current or possible, you should be advised that your actions may well be viewed as interference – something we would view with great seriousness. You might want to have this whole matter reviewed by your corporate counsel to include their read of this letter to you.
The email concludes with words of praise for Lee, and a reiteration of his earlier threat against MinistryWatch:
At our request, our Director, Christian Thomas Lee, stepped up and with no favor or gain to himself personally or professionally, architected Chateauroux Fellowship with a quiet grace and selflessness that frankly, none of us have ever seen before. I have known him for 30 + years dating back to his time at the Bohemian Club. He is a very model of what it means to live for the benefit of others. He is a man of means but you might be surprised to know that he abandoned the material of the world and today, he has chosen to live in a small one bedroom apartment. He and his wife, a lovely lady of Jewish heritage, drive a Smart Car! You might also would like to know that he is blind. Yet, in that great struggle, he still quietly serves always insisting that credit be given to others. Frankly… you should be encouraging him and not posing as an adversary.
We have a very good thing going through Chateauroux Fellowship. We are making huge strides and differences not only in organizations, but in the lives these organizations will touch. You have now introduced an adversarial element that potentially will make our work and associations burdensome and in some cases, likely impossible. Again, per our Counsel, this would amount to outside molestation of business relationships – something we would not take lightly.
The email came from an email with a “proton.me” domain name. Proton is an encrypted Swiss-based email service often used by individuals who want to protect their identity.
“B” is not the only person associated with a “proton.me” email address who has communicated with MinistryWatch. Peter Welden claims to be the “Patron Representative.” He wrote to MinistryWatch:
My name is Peter Weldon and I am the personal representative of the family of Patrons that founded and fund the philanthropy through Chateauroux Fellowship. Mr Lee, our Director, answers directly to me. I am writing you this evening from Japan.
In agreement with what Christian has written you, we would ask that Ministry Watch not publish any profile on our work. Our work is private and the Fellowship simply serves to facilitate legacy gifts. These transactions are entirely private and not subject to public review.
This insistence on privacy is hard to reconcile with the more than four dozen letters from Christian ministry leaders and others on the Chateauroux website publicly praising Lee and Chateauroux for their generosity.
Not All Christian Ministries Are Convinced
Not every Christian ministry that has been offered these “transformational” gifts have accepted them.
MinistryWatch has identified organizations that say they turned down these supposed bequests from The Chateauroux Fellowship.
One such ministry politely declined the opportunity for a relationship with Chateauroux and stated the gift did not meet its gift acceptance policy. It said not being able to do due diligence on the source of the funds, even while respecting anonymity, had potential reputational and legal significance it needed to respect.
MinistryWatch asked the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) if it had any standards or guidance for the acceptance of foreign donations, especially anonymous donations. Jake Lapp, vice president of Member Accountability for the ECFA, said, “This is a very technical area, and ECFA would suggest that any organization considering engaging in such activity do so under the advice of legal counsel with significant experience advising exempt organizations in connection with international activities.”
One ministry executive who asked not to be identified told MinistryWatch that the Chateauroux Fellowship has made a commitment to his organization in the hundreds of millions of dollars. He expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of the commitment, but he has been reluctant to speak out. “I don’t want to be known as the guy who cost our organization the biggest gift in its history.”
Main photo: Mar-a-Lago (Photo by Jud McCranie / Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0) / Insert of Christian Thomas Lee via christianthomaslee.com
TO OUR READERS: Do you have a story idea, or do you want to give us feedback about this or any other story? Please email us: [email protected]
