ACLU loses $20 million donation...

December 10, 2009

Leaving a gaping hole in the ACLU's budget, David Gelbaum, a wealthy investor, has withdrawn his annual gift of more than $20 million for at least the next year because of volatility in the capital markets, The New York Times reported Dec. 9 (see ACLU story). Gelbaum, also a major donor to the Sierra Club, says the change is due liquidity, and does not reflect any discontent with the ACLU.

While new regulations have slowed the trend, "nonprofit shell organizations," sometimes run by lobbyists, still are being used to pay for trips for "lobbyist-financed Congressional junkets," The New York Times wrote in an editorial Dec. 9 (see nonprofit lobbyists story). Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. and his wife visited Liechtenstein this year, financed by the International Development Institute, a nonprofit run by a lobbyist.

Princeton University's endowment saw investment returns of more than 5 percent for the quarter ended Sept. 30, a welcome change from its 22.7 percent loss for fiscal 2009, which ended June 30, The Star-Ledger reported Dec. 9 (see Princeton story). The gains continued through the first nine weeks of the fourth quarter, the school says.

The journalism school at the University of Nevada, Reno, received $8 million from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to provide technology to compete in the ongoing media revolution, The Reno Gazette-Journal reported Dec. 9 (see University of Nevada Reno story). The school will use the funds to construct an all-digital infrastructure.

In spite of the economic downturn, BP America has invested in the future of Colorado through the launch of Helios University and the Being a Leader program, which has provided leadership training to 40 young leaders, most of whom are African-American, Wellington E. Webb wrote in the Denver Post Dec. 10 (see BP America story).

With income down and demand up, almost six in 10 nonprofits in Hawaii have cut staff and more than one in three have cut services, says a survey by a consortium of nonprofits in the state, The Honolulu Advertiser reported Dec. 9 (see Hawaii nonprofits story).

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