Nonprofit news roundup for April 2, 2009

April 2, 2009

If charities really want bigger incentives for the rich to donate to charity, they ought to be promoting higher top tax rates instead of opposing President Obama's proposal to generate revenue to help address health-care needs by reducing the tax benefit wealthy people get for charitable donations, the Center for American Progress says in an article April 1 (see charitable deduction story).

The estate tax creates a big incentive for high-end philanthropy because charitable bequests are exempt, The New York Times said in an editorial April 2 opposing a move by Democratic U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Republican U.S. Senator Jon Kyl to make a big cut in estate taxes for the fraction of the top 1 percent of Americans still subject to those taxes (see estate-tax editorial). Independent Sector has urged the Senate to reject the Lincoln-Kyl amendment and keep the tax as proposed in budget of President Barack Obama.

Harvard University plans to cut annual capital spending by as much as half, or by as much as $500 million, as it faces a 30 percent drop in its endowment, says a report by Moody's Investors Service, Bloomberg reported April 2 (see endowment story). Harvard, the world's richest school, had planned to spend $1 billion a year for three to four years to upgrade its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and expand across the Charles River in Boston.

The endowment pool at the University of Virginia fell nearly $100 million in February, extending its string of declines to nine straight months, the Daily Progress in Charlottesville reported April 2 (see endowment story). In the past eight months, the value of the endowment pool declined to $3.76 billion from $5.1 billion, a 26 percent drop.

The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles says jailed Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff swindled it out of $18 million when it invested funds from a common investment pool with Madoff starting in 2004, the Associated Press reported April 1 (see Jewish giving story).

A former bookkeeper for Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey has been charged with stealing over $300,000 from the organization by creating a fake vendor, issuing checks she eventually deposited in her personal bank account, and using an organization credit card to buy over $3,000 in merchandise for personal use, the Associated Press reported April 1 (see nonprofit theft story).

• Email this page