Daily News Roundup: Wilson Foundation Starts 20-Year, $1.2 Billion Giveaway

Ralph C. Wilson Foundation Opens Process for $1.2 Billion Spend-Down: The fund began accepting grant applications Monday to start disbursing the windfall bequeathed by its namesake founder, the Detroit Free Press writes. Mr. Wilson directed that the foundation use all its assets within 20 years and support causes and organizations in two metropolitan areas: Detroit, where he lived all his life, and Buffalo, where he owned the Bills football team from its inception until his death in 2014 at age 95. Free Press business columnist John Gallagher talks to David Egner, who joined the Wilson fund as president last year, about the foundation’s strategy in Detroit, including plans to cooperate with major regional grant makers playing key roles in the city’s rebound from bankruptcy. Read a Chronicle article about nonprofit leaders studying philanthropy’s role in Detroit’s comeback.

Records Show La. Officials Critical of Red Cross Flood Response: Government communications obtained by ProPublica detail state and local leaders’ dissatisfaction with the American Red Cross’s performance as parts of the state were inundated by floodwaters in August. Documents and emails include complaints about shelters being understaffed and critically short of food and water. ProPublica has charged in previous reporting that emergency response has suffered as the charity cut staff and closed local chapters. In a statement, the organization said that “given the size, scope and complexity of this disaster, it is not surprising that the Red Cross and our partners would be confronted by a range of challenges.” Since the flooding, Red Cross officials have met with state and local agencies in Louisiana in an effort to improve disaster planning and response.

Clinton Foundation to Lay Off 74 as Signature Event Ends: The end of the Clinton Global Initiative, which held its 12th and final meeting last month, will cost 74 foundation employees their jobs, CNBC reports, citing a WARN (worker adjustment and retraining notification) notice issued by New York State on Monday. The charity announced in August that it would wind down CGI among a raft of changes in preparation for a possible Hillary Clinton presidency and began notifying affected staffers the following month. The workers are not union members and do not have “bumping rights” to take a less-senior staffer’s position, according to CNBC. Read a Chronicle article on the Clinton Global Initiative’s goodbye.

Nonprofits Move to Tighten Finances With Corporate CFOs: Charities are increasingly hiring chief financial officers from the business world as they seek to impose greater fiscal discipline and stretch donor dollars further, writes The Wall Street Journal. Eight of the 30 largest organizations monitored by watchdog group Charity Navigator have CFOs who have had significant for-profit experience in the past decade. Though such a move usually means a big cut in pay, recruiters say more corporate executives are interested nonetheless, both for altruistic reasons and in response to growing demands on CFOs at major companies. The switch often requires a period of adjustment to the different culture and language of nonprofit offices, according to the Journal.

Museum Leaders Deepen Ties With Wealthy Donors: Amid cutbacks in governments’ culture funding and ever greater competition for gifts of cash and art, the heads of major museums are cultivating closer relationships with rich donors and collectors, The Art Newspaper writes. In several recent instances, those ties have led to leaders of institutions like the Tate Modern in London and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art co-organizing or curating exhibitions of donors’ private museums. Experts say such arrangements will likely become more common as museums increasingly rely on wealthy patrons, but some critics say they raise ethical issues about control of programming and collections.

Private Investors to Buy Nonprofit Obamacare Co-op in Md.: Baltimore-based Evergreen Health, considered one of the most successful of the largely troubled nonprofit health insurers established under the Affordable Care Act, is being sold and converted to for-profit status, reports The Baltimore Sun. Evergreen was one of 23 consumer-owned and –operated providers launched in 2013 to compete with commercial firms, and one of six still in operation. It was one of the few co-ops to report positive earnings but was hurt by new federal rules on “risk adjustment” payments, meant to level the playing field for insurers that take on the poorer, sicker customers. CEO Peter Beilenson said the resulting $24 million payment necessitated Evergreen’s conversion, which must be approved by state and federal regulators. He declined to name the investors or the purchase price.