Our foundation, the Hearts and Hopes Foundation, provided a grant to a new research facility at a local university. The university has suggested naming the facility after our donors: i.e., the "John and Mary Smith Research Center." Is this okay or do we have to name it the "Hearts and Hopes Foundation Research Center?" We want to ensure we are not steping into the area that would be perceived as self-serving.

There is no problem with the university providing naming recognition to the donors.  The IRS considers naming recognition/rights as an incidental and tenuous benefit and this alone does not create a self-dealing problem.

Read the full article about name recognition by Andras Kosaras at the National Center for Family Philanthropy.