Strapped Nonprofit Groups Seek to Loosen Endowment Rules
February 11, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Hoping to avoid layoffs and deep program cuts in the wake of huge investment losses, universities, museums, and other nonprofit groups are pressing states to loosen spending restrictions on their endowments, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Laws passed in the 1970s to prevent charities from burning through gifts too quickly are now hamstringing philanthropic organizations nationwide, playing a role, for example, in Brandeis University’s controversial decision to close its Rose Art Museum.
Encouraged by nonprofit organizations, 26 states have passed legislation easing the restrictions since the spring of 2007, 12 of them in the past eight months. Similar bills are pending in 21 states.
