Warren Buffett Donates $2.9 Billion in Annual Stock Gift
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four grant makers associated with Warren Buffett’s family received Berkshire Hathaway shares worth $2.86 billion in the philanthropist and investor’s yearly charitable stock donation, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal report.
Suit Claims ‘Looting’ of Donations at Defunct Design Charity
A bankruptcy trustee responsible for recovering assets from Architecture for Humanity is seeking $3 million from the organization’s founders and board in a lawsuit alleging the nonprofit misused restricted donations to stay afloat, according to Fast Company.
Penn State Seeks Money From Sandusky Charity for Abuse Victims
The university filed a court claim for funds from insurance companies for the Second Mile, the youth nonprofit founded by convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky, to help pay a portion of the $92 million in settlements due to the former football coach’s victims, WJAC-TV reports.
Rockefeller Exec Outlines Wide Range of Climate Investments
The foundation, which helped pioneer impact investing, aims to seed or finance efforts to develop renewable-energy technologies, deliver clean electricity to rural India, and create insurance products for extreme-weather events in Africa, according to an interview in GreenBiz.
Hershey Trust Pressured to Expedite Governance Changes
Pennsylvania’s attorney general is threatening to take trustees of the $12.1 billion charity that controls Hershey Co. to court if they do not implement promised reforms by the end of the month, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Central Park Nonprofit Launches $300 Million Drive
The Central Park Conservancy kicks off the public phase Thursday of a 10-year campaign to raise money for renovations and improvements of many of the park’s iconic but aging features, reports The New York Times.
FEC Finds Violations by Formerly Koch-Linked Nonprofits
Three groups formerly associated with Charles and David Koch’s conservative network have been fined by the Federal Election Commission for breaching campaign-finance rules in their funding of political advertisements, writes The New York Times.
Colleges Dialing Down Endowment Spending as Returns Shrink
Bracing for slim investment gains or outright losses, some colleges and universities are scaling back spending from their endowments on financial aid, faculty, and other expenses, Bloomberg reports.
IRS Reduces Fee for Short-Form Charity Application
The tax agency this month lowered the cost of applying for 501(c)(3) status using the 2-year-old 1023-EZ form from $400 to $275, writes Accounting Today.
House GOP Seeks Federal Scrutiny of Clinton Foundation
Congressional Republicans are circulating a letter calling on the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the former first family’s charity for alleged corruption, CNN reports.
Long-Delayed Pa. Industrial Museum Finally Set to Open
After nearly two decades of delay that prompted a grand-jury investigation, the National Museum of Industrial History in eastern Pennsylvania is slated to open its doors on August 2, reports the Allentown, Pa., Morning Call.
Aussie Finance Mogul Donates $75 Million to Alma Mater
The gift from commodities billionaire Graham Tuckwell and his wife, Louise, to Australian National University is the largest donation for higher education in the country’s history, The Canberra Times writes.
World Monuments Fund Cuts Back as Big Donation Runs Out
The international preservation charity is reducing its staff by a quarter as a major source of its funding — a large matching gift from the late hedge-fund mogul Robert Wilson — expires after a decade, The New York Times writes.
Israeli Lawmakers Tighten Rules on Foreign-Funded Nonprofits
The country’s parliament approved a fiercely debated measure Monday that requires groups that get more than half of their financing from governments or political organizations abroad to publicize that fact, the Associated Press reports.
Opinion: It’s Time to Debate Colleges’ Endowment Tax Exemption
Recent congressional inquiries into 56 large universities’ endowments call attention to the fact that many colleges own billions of dollars in real estate but make only small payments to their communities in lieu of paying taxes, according to an opinion piece in The Washington Post.
Critics Question Whether AG Office Demands Will Reform Hershey Trust
Critics are wondering whether voluntary demands made by Pennsylvania’s Attorney General’s office will rein in questionable spending at the embattled Hershey Trust, or if they will be as ineffective as previous attempts, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.