Nonprofit news roundup April 28, 2009

April 28, 2009

Top U.S. universities, their endowments hurt by the global financial crisis, are selling bonds to raise money to boost their finances, Reuters reported April 27 (see college debt article). Two offset losses in its endowment, the third-largest of any U.S. university, for example, Stanford University just sol $1 billion worth of debt in a sale led by Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act signed into law by President Obama threatens the independence of U.S. philanthropy and nonprofits by luring them with federal funding that carries with it federal directives that would stifle innovation, Howard Husock, vice president for policy research at the Manhattan Institute, said in a guest column April 24 in The Wall Street Journal (see nonprofit innovation column). Many of the "social entrepreneurs" the new bill targets were themselves frustrated with ineffective government social-service programs, Husock says.

The J. Paul Getty Trust, the wealthiest arts institution in the U.S, will cut 205 jobs, or 14 percent of its workforce, The Los Angeles Times reported April 27 (see Getty Trust layoff article). Getty officials say they will lay off 97 current regular employees, and not fill other jobs now vacant or expected to come open through normal turnover.

A New York state prosecutor, in her opening statement at the trial of the son of socialite Brook Astor, accused him and a lawyer he hired of "lining their own pockets" with millions of dollars Astor had wanted to go to her favorite charities, The New York Law Journal reported April 28 (see Astor charity article).

With many laid-off workers and job-seekers turning to volunteerism, the number of volunteers in Massachusetts has surged, the Boston Business Journal reported April 24 (see nonprofit volunteer article). Flooded with volunteers, nonprofit leaders say they are not turning anyone away, but the number competition is tough for some unpaid positions, including those requiring higher skills.

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